From Hero to Enemy

If you are joining us for an opportunity this evening to come and worship, that you would bless them as they look at you, and we would be real blessed to give thanks unto the Lord, to show forth thy lovingkindness in the morning.

We can trust heart to him as the motive through faith, that unmerited favor by faith, by grace we're saved through faith, not that of ourselves. Your son, Jesus, will be sent to see us. Jesus said, I'll be in righteousness.

Would you impart your spirit of wisdom to all of us in the realm of the lightened?

God bless y'all.

Good evening. If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 18. 1 Samuel, chapter 18. It's good to be back. We had a great time on vacation. Florida was amazing, except that the humidity always wreaks havoc on my hair and makes it unmanageable. So other than that, it was great. And so much history happened while I was gone. Oh, my gosh.

And I'm going to have to not tell too many jokes, because I think I will. We'll get canceled pretty quickly. But can we all admit the fact that that week was a historical week, right? Like Joe Biden stepped down from the presidential race. And after they told him, I'm sure he was angry. Kamala Harris was chosen to be the next candidate. Ten bucks says they use Venn diagrams to choose that.

And then some naked blue guy was in the opening ceremony of the U.S. Olympics. Like France was like, hey, Sodom and Gomorrah, hold my wine glass, right? Everything was just. Like, it was just nuts. And so every day I would be like, what new historical thing is going to happen today? And I would be like, wow, another one, right? So it was amazing. But it is good to be back.

And I held back on some stuff there. So lots of other things have been going through my head. That was the best that I could do. But as we come to chapter 18 of the book of 1 Samuel, the last time that we were here, which is several weeks ago now, the last time that we were in 1 Samuel, David was on top of the world, right? Everything was going right in David's life.

He had been anointed king. And after he was anointed king, he, of course, kept shepherding the sheep because that's what God had called him to do. But while he was shepherding the sheep, his dad told him to go check on his brothers at the front line because there was a battle going on between the Israelites and the Philistines. And so he goes and he checks on his brothers at the front line.

And there's this giant there named Goliath who is defying the armies of the living God. And as David hears this, he takes up the offense, not of himself, not even of his nation, but of his Lord. He says, how dare he speak? You can't do that. He goes, sure I can because God has done it before and I know I'm going to see him do it again. And that's exactly what he does.

He chose five smooth stones and went into battle. And, of course, Goliath talked some trash on him. And he was like, how are you going to send a little boy against me? And then David talked some trash on him. He said, you come against me with sword and spear. I come against you in the name of the Lord. And I'm about to. Not only cut your head off, but also feed your body to the birds of the air.

And then he dropped his mic, right? And then David absolutely destroys Goliath, cuts his head off, and is carrying the head to Saul. And as he carries the head to Saul, that's where we pick up in chapter 18, verse 1. It says, now it came about when he had finished speaking to Saul that the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. And Jonathan loved him.

As himself. Saul took him that day and did not let him return to his father's house. Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David with his armor, including his sword and his bow and his belt. So David went out wherever Saul sent him and prospered. And Saul sent him over the men of war.

And it was pleasing. It was pleasing in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servant. Now, everything's going great for David. But what we are going to find is that David is going to, in chapters 18 and 19, go from being the hero to being the enemy. Everything that Saul thought was amazing to everything that Saul hated in a matter of a short amount of time.

But it starts off really well. As it starts off here, we see this relationship form between Jonathan. And David. Now, if you remember anything about Jonathan, you know why he was so drawn to David. The last time that we saw Jonathan, Jonathan was going into battle. The nation of Israel was once again finding themselves in a battle against the Philistines. And Jonathan was out one day with his armor bearer.

And he said, you know, God doesn't need a bunch of people to defeat the army. He doesn't need a bunch of people to defeat the enemy. As a matter of fact, God can do with two people what he can do with an army. Let's see if God doesn't want to do something today. And so he calls out to the Philistines. He said, if they tell us to come up to them, then we'll know that that's God.

If they say they're coming to us, then we know that God's not in this. And that's exactly what the Philistines did. The Philistines essentially said, come and get you some. And so they did. Jonathan and his armor bearer went into battle. And so Jonathan was this bold man of faith. He was a bold man of action who believed in a big God that could do big things.

And you can imagine that as Jonathan is watching David, this young shepherd boy who's probably a handful of years younger than David. Than Jonathan at this point in time. Maybe five to ten years at most younger than Jonathan. As he is watching David, and as he watches the boldness of David, looking at Goliath and saying, listen, he may come with a sword and a spear, but I'm coming to him in the name of God.

Jonathan went, now that's a guy I can get behind. Now that's a guy that I can understand. That's a guy that I can relate with because that guy serves the same God that I do. Because that guy serves a God who does big things. And so as David, I always... I always wonder how long he carried the head of Goliath around. You ever wondered that? Like, are we talking the rest of the day?

Was he like, hey guys, we'd like you to take note of what I've got here. I don't know, we're not told that in scripture. But Jonathan finds himself drawn to David. And so after David talks to Saul, Jonathan goes to David and he does something fascinating. The first thing he does is he makes a covenant with him. Now I always have one really big question at this point in time.

Did Jonathan know that David was the next king? I'm going to kind of answer that question in just a moment. But I want you to think about that for a minute. Jonathan is the one who is in line to take the throne should it continue to pass the way that it's supposed to. However, I think Jonathan was a spiritually tuned in guy. And whether he knew that David was the next guy or not,

I think he had heard the words of Samuel when Samuel told him in front of the entire army, why didn't you kill King Agag? Why didn't you obey God? He said, well, I did. And Samuel said, no, you didn't. God told you to completely destroy the enemy and you kept a trophy. God is going to take away the kingdom from you. He would have established your kingdom forever, but now it will end with you.

I think Jonathan probably heard all of that. Did he know that David was the next guy? Hard to say, but he makes this covenant with David. We're going to find that this covenant was so strong that when David does come to power, he remembers the covenant that he makes not only here, but in chapter 20 with Jonathan and shows kindness to his descendants. And so he makes this covenant with him.

And then I want you to notice what happens in verse 4. It says, Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him, and he gave it to David with his armor, including his sword and his bow and his belt. Now, when we hear this, we go, why on earth is he taking off all of his armor and giving it to David? Maybe he just has a great deal of respect for David.

But archaeology teaches us something a little bit different. For a man like Jonathan, who is in a position of leadership, who is in a position of the kingdom potentially being passed on to him, for him to remove his royal robe, for him to remove his armor, and for him to remove his sword and give it to David, was a symbol of the passing of authority. See, I do think Jonathan knew that there was something about this David. I do think Jonathan knew that there was something about this David.

I do think Jonathan knew that there was something about this David. I think he knew that there was something about this David, and he knew the best thing that he could do was step aside. The best thing he could do was surrender to what God was doing, because he could see what God was doing in David. And so he did a very symbolic thing, and it was a great symbolic gesture.

You can imagine David is even more on top of the world right now than ever. But I think that there's a couple of interesting things that we learn from Jonathan in what he does with David. The first thing that we learn is very practical in nature. When your life is about God's glory, it does not matter who gets the credit. When your life is about God's glory, it does not matter who gets the credit.

You see, Jonathan was a man of bold faith, and God had used him in a very powerful way in battles previous to this. But see, Jonathan wasn't all about building a name for himself. Jonathan wasn't about building a kingdom for himself. He was about building a kingdom for himself. He was about honoring and glorifying God in everything that he did, which is why on that day that he stood in battle, he said,

can't God win a battle with two as well as he can with an army? Well, then maybe the best thing we can do is put God to the test and see exactly what he wants to do, because he had one concern and one concern only, and that was the glory of God. And so it didn't matter who got the credit. See, we live in a world right now where everybody wants the credit. We have some races, some presidential races going on right now

where too many people are concerned about the credit. It's because they're not always concerned about the glory of God. But when our number one goal in life is glorifying our creator, then all of a sudden the accolades of the world don't mean anything because it's not about me, it's about him. That's the first lesson that we learned from Jonathan. The second lesson that we learned from Jonathan is very personal,

and spiritual in nature. If we want Jesus to be the Lord of our life, we have to fully surrender our own glory. If we want Jesus to be the Lord of our life, we have to fully surrender our own glory. See, ultimately, Jonathan knew that David, I believe, was the one who was ultimately going to be the king. And the only way that David could move into the place of being the king

would mean that Jonathan would have to lay down any pride, lay down his pride, and say, lay down any glory, lay down any name for himself, and fully surrender that to David. Ultimately, fully surrendering to the will of God in his life. And brothers and sisters, I need us to know something. Too many of us are unwilling to surrender to God. We're unwilling to surrender our rights.

We're unwilling to surrender our glory. We're unwilling to surrender our desires. We're unwilling to surrender everything of who we are. And so we can't surrender. We can never live as he has called us to live. Because until we can truly come to a place where we say, Lord, not my will, but your will be done, we will never be in the place of Jesus truly being the Lord of our life.

You see, there's, I believe, a couple of different things that take place in our life. The day that you came to Jesus to be your Savior, he became your Savior. But now you spend your life making him your Lord. Now you spend your life surrendering yourself to his love. Lordship. And ultimately bowing down and saying, Lord, you do what you want to do. Even if that means I have to surrender all of my rights, all of my glory, all of my honor,

everything of me to you.

And I think each of us is going to have to start making those decisions in the world that we live in today. Because we're getting to a point, and I don't know if you're sensing this or not, but we're getting to a point where you can't be halfway one way and halfway the other. We're getting to a point where the lukewarm are going to start to show themselves even more clearly. And I've watched it over and over and over again as I see people post things on social media where they say, well, you know, I think Jesus would have.

And it's like, yeah, I bet you do think Jesus would do that. The problem is that's not what he did. The problem is that's not what he said. The problem is you've only taken one dimension of Christ and not the full story of Christ. And as I see those things happen, I go, that is a heart that is not fully surrendered to God. That is a heart that is not fully surrendered to following Jesus.

And brothers and sisters, we need to know the time has come. The time has come to start making decisions. The time has come to start making dedications. The time has come to start to surrender to Christ. Because if he is not the Lord of your life, listen, there's only one other option. And you have to choose who you're going to serve. And that's exactly what Jonathan does.

He lays aside all of his glory. He lays aside all of his rights and he gives them to David. What a powerful moment. And what a beautiful friendship for David to have in what is about to become the hardest season of his life. And that brings us to this next section. It says in verse 6, It happened as they were coming when David returned from killing the Philistine.

That the women came out of all the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet King Saul with tambourines, with joy, and with musical instruments. The women sang as they played and they said, Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands. And Saul became very angry for this saying displeased him. And he said, they've ascribed to David ten thousands, but to me they've only ascribed thousands.

I added the word only. That's my fault there. Now, what more can he have but the kingdom? And Saul looked at David with suspicion from that day on. Everything was going right for David right now. He's well honored among the soldiers. He's now well honored among the women. And as Saul comes riding into town, remember what happened the last time that Saul won a great victory?

Who did he build a statue for? Do you remember? Himself. He built himself a statue because of the victory that he had won. Meaning that he tended to make things a little bit about Saul. And so he comes riding in and you can imagine, I want to know what the tune to this song was. Anybody else want to know what the tune to this song was? I want to know exactly how this song was sung.

And because they're beating tambourines, you can picture it. If you've ever been to anything Jewish in nature where you've watched Jewish dances and things, like you can sort of start to picture how the dancing and the timbrels and everything would have gone as they're, you know, beating on things. And they're singing this song and Saul's kind of into it. When they get to Saul slaying his thousands, he's like, that's my favorite part.

And then like in David's his 10,000s, he's like, what? Anybody else pick up on that? Two weeks. Rewrite, right? I mean, he's really upset because what? They just described to me thousands and to David 10,000s. The only thing left is for him to take the kingdom. See, I think they kind of knew. I think so. Saul kind of saw the handwriting on the wall of what was going on here.

He says, there's only thing left for him to do is to take the kingdom. And so Saul looked at David with suspicion from that day on. And remember, David's not just some random kid at this point in time. David is one of his now trusted warriors. David is the one who killed Goliath. David is the one who would come and play his harp for Saul when things weren't going very well.

He was, if you will, the comforter for Saul. And now, the one who had been his comforter has now become his enemy. And that brings me to an interesting point. The exact opposite of what happened with Jonathan. When it's all about your glory, it absolutely matters who gets the credit. When it's not about God's glory, it absolutely matters who gets the credit.

And again, we live in a world that makes it all about... me. Matter of fact, the world tells us you should make it all about... you. You're the most important thing. Everybody should look at you. You should make it all about you. And that's exactly what Saul does at this point in time. And so he's very angry. Now, watch how Saul responds. Verse 10. It came about on the next day that an evil spirit from God came mightily upon Saul.

And he raved in the midst... of the house, while David was playing the harp with his hand, as usual, and a spear was in Saul's hand. Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, I will pin David to the wall. But David escaped from his presence twice. Now Saul was afraid of David, for the Lord was with him, but he had departed from Saul. Therefore Saul removed him from his presence and appointed him as the commander of a thousand.

And he went in and came out. Before the people, David was prospering in all his ways, for the Lord was with him. And when Saul saw that he was prospering, he dreaded him. Now, again, paint the picture of what's going on. Saul's in a really bad way. As a matter of fact, I find the word that's used here in the New American Standard Translation very fascinating.

It says that he raved in the midst of the house. I don't know if you all have ever been around somebody that gets a little funky in their head. And they're just kind of pacing. And they're just kind of running around, like yelling at stuff. And you're kind of going, I don't know where that came from. Why are you so angry? But that's kind of what Saul's doing.

He's kind of like running around yelling at things, right? He's just in a really bad mood. And he's angry at everything. And David knew what to do because he'd been in this situation before. And so he starts playing his harp like he's supposed to. And while he's playing his harp, did you take note of what's in Saul's hand the entire time? A spear. Now, I don't think too much about a spear.

But I want you to imagine, if you will. You have to play the guitar for somebody who's really angry. Now, that would go really bad for me because I can't play the guitar. I would just make him more angry. But let's say you're good at it. And your job is to play the guitar for somebody who's really, really angry. And the entire time that you're trying to play the guitar for this person who's really, really angry,

they have a Glock in their hand. Well, that seems dangerous. Right? That's essentially what's going on here. He has a spear in his hand. And I don't know if David at any point in time was like, feels like a bad thing. Right? This is me playing the harp, by the way. I don't know if you noticed that or not. But it feels like this could end bad. That he's got a spear.

What's he going to do? And then he whips back and hurls that thing. Now, I do want you to remember, Saul's a big dude. And he's a warrior. Right? There's no question about that. He was a mighty man of valor. So, it was nothing for him to hurl a spear. And he could do it. He had the physical ability to do it. And he was a warrior. So, when he whipped this spear, it wasn't like the kid that was on the pommel horse whipping the spear.

Right? Right? He got some power behind him. So, he throws this spear and he misses him. Only, did you take note of how many times he missed him? Twice. Dude, that is one faithful servant. Right? You chuck a spear at me, we're done. Right? I'm just, there's no second time. There's no third time. The first time you throw a spear at me, game over. Right? Matter of fact, the first time you sit there holding a Glock in your hand while I'm trying to teach you the Bible, game over.

Right? I'm like, guys, let's just wrap this thing up right now. I'm going home. It feels like this is going to end bad for me. But David stuck around twice. Now, again, I want you to think about something about who David is right now. David is the anointed king of Israel. David is one of the most trusted warriors of Saul. And he has proven himself to beat, arguably, the most difficult warrior, the toughest warrior in the known world at the time.

And what does David go back to doing? Playing the harp for Saul. You know why? Because in his heart, he's a servant. He never got too big to be a servant. And if you ever get to the place where you're too big to be a servant, well, then you're too big to serve. You're too big to be used by God. And that's where David found himself. He found himself right there playing the harp, dodging spears from Saul.

But I want you to notice the thing that protected David. The thing that protected David was not that he was a mighty warrior. The thing that protected David was not that he was so skillful. The thing that protected David was given to us. It's right here in verse 12. Saul was afraid of David. Why? Because the Lord was with him, but had departed from Saul. I do want to remind us again in the world that we live in today that our greatest protection is the presence of the Lord with us.

That when you're in the will of God, you're in the safest place that you can possibly be. And I know that it's a fearful world in a lot of ways that we live in right now. Right now, there's a lot of unknown variables in the world. But we don't have to live in fear because God is with us. That even in the most difficult of times, God is with us. As a matter of fact, I think it was earlier this week that we read in the book of Psalms, David say,

I was young and now I'm old and I have never seen the children of God begging for bread. Because he had seen the faithfulness of God over and over again in his life. And he had seen the protection of God over and over again in his life. That's why David could write the children of God. And he could write the 23rd Psalm at the end of his life and say, the Lord is my shepherd.

I don't need anything else. Because he was so protected by God. And there's nothing that comes into our lives that has not already been filtered through the hands of that loving shepherd. And that God will not use for good. And that brings me to my next point. Because what we're going to find here is that David is going to come to a point where he is constantly on the run from Saul.

This isn't going to be the last time that we see a spear hurled at David. And it's not going to be the last time that we see Saul try to kill him. But what we're going to find is the man who would become David's greatest enemy, the man who would become the greatest threat to David's life, would be the greatest instrument of instruction that God would use. Would be the greatest instrument of revealing the character and the nature of God to David than anything else.

Because God's protection of David, as he is going to flee from Saul, as he is going to see his life constantly protected by God, from this maniac that wanted to kill him, that will teach him more about who God is as his shepherd than anything else that he'd gone through in life. And you and I, we try to insulate ourselves from the hard things in this world right now. We try to insulate ourselves from the difficult things in this world right now. And we hope, Lord, please don't let anything bad happen.

But we have to remember that the most difficult circumstances that we go through in life are what God uses in the most powerful ways to reveal himself. To reveal his character to us. To teach us what we need to know. To fashion us into who he wants us to be. Don't fight against the hard circumstances. Embrace them and let them become your teacher as the Holy Spirit uses them in your life.

Because that's exactly what God is going to do with David. And so, we find that David is prospering in all of his ways because the Lord was with him. And then in verse 16 it says this, But all Israel... Let's start in verse 15. When Saul saw that he was prospering greatly, he dreaded him. But all Israel and Judah loved David. And he went out and he came in before them.

Then Saul said to David, Here is my older daughter, Merab. I will give her to you as a wife. Only be a valiant man for me and fight the Lord's battles. For Saul thought my hand shall not be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him. And David said, And David said to Saul, Who am I and what is my life for my father's family in Israel that I should be the king's son-in-law?

It came about at that time when Merab, Saul's oldest daughter, should have been given to David that she was given to Adriel, the Maholothite, for a wife. Now, remember, part of the reward for defeating Goliath was to be the son-in-law of the king, to marry his oldest daughter. And so, Saul, in kind of a plot against David, says, You can have my oldest daughter. But you have to keep going out against the Philistines for me.

Saul thought, I can keep my hands clean from murder. I'll let the Philistines do my job for me. But I want you to notice the humble heart of David. He said, Listen, who am I? Who am I to marry the king's daughter? I don't even think I'm worthy to do that. So, the king's daughter was given to someone else. But Saul has another plan. Verse 20. Now, Michael, Saul's daughter, was given to David.

And his daughter loved David. And when they told Saul, the thing was agreeable to him. And Saul thought, I will give her to him that she may become a snare to him, that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Therefore, Saul said to David for a second time, You may be my son-in-law today. Then Saul commanded his servants, Speak to David secretly, saying,

Behold, the king delights in you, and all his servants love you. Now, therefore, become the king's son-in-law. So, Saul's servants spoke these words to David. But David said, Is it trivial in your sight to become the king's son-in-law, since I am a poor man and lightly esteemed? Then the servants of Saul reported to him, according to these words which David spoke.

And Saul said, Thus you shall say to David, The king does not desire any dowry except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines. So, to take vengeance on the king's enemies. Now, Saul planned, To make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. Okay, let's stop there real quick. Okay, let's deal with the awkwardness, shall we? First of all, so Saul's other daughter,

one of his other daughters, Michael, she loves David, right? And Saul's like, she'll be a snare to him. I don't know what kind of a girl this was, but the phrase high maintenance comes to mind, right? I mean, maybe she was just that kind of girl. Like, she was going to cause him some issues. Like, I don't know if she was just like extra emotional. I don't know if she was just extra difficult to deal with.

Like, she had her own Nordstrom card. I don't know. Like, I don't know what it was that made her, extra difficult, but he was like, I'll get him. She'll be a snare to him. And of course, David's still humble. And he's like, I still don't know that I'm fit to marry the daughter of the king. And he's like, this is what you need to tell David. Tell him the only way that he can marry her

is if he brings to me 100 foreskins of the Philistines. Now, I just want you to think about this. You know his boys had to have been like, come again? You, do what now? A hundred, you heard me. That is super weird. Of course, the only way he's getting them from the Philistines who, by the way, mocked Israel for being those that were circumcised, right? And so this is sort of a slap in the face.

Sorry, that's terrible imagery. To the Philistines, I'm telling you, sometimes you just got to deal with the awkwardness of the Bible, right? And so he goes to David and he tells him, this is what you got to do. And Saul's like, there's no way he's going to survive this. The Philistines are going to kill him. I want you to notice what David does. When his servants told David these words, it pleased David to

become the king's son-in-law. To become the king's son-in-law. Okay, remember that part. Before the days had expired. David rose up, verse 27, he and his men and struck down, not one, but 200 men among the Philistines. And then David brought their foreskins. And they gave them a full number to the king, that he might become the king's son-in-law. So Saul gave him Michael as his daughter.

For a wife, I have so many questions right now. I don't know if I'm allowed to ask the questions that I have, but I'm going to do it anyway. It says he gave them to them by number. Does that mean he counted? Is he? Sometimes you just got to move on in the Bible, right? Because ultimately, I'm a 14-year-old boy. Okay, so he finds himself in the place where he now gets to marry

the daughter of the king because he brought to Saul not 100, but 200 foreskins of the Philistines because David is the man of the man. Verse 28. When Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David and that Michael, Saul's daughter, loved him, then Saul was even more afraid of David. Thus Saul was David's enemy continually. Then verse 30. Then the commanders of the Philistines went out to battle

and it happened as often as they went out that David behaved himself, and pay attention to these words, more wisely than all the servants of Saul. So his name was highly esteemed. Remember, David was a very young man at this point in time, probably about the age, probably about 20, and he's behaving himself more wisely than any of the other seasoned warriors that were around him. And he had no idea that learning to behave himself wisely as a warrior and to lead men would be the very thing that would save his life over the next 10 years of running for his life.

So we come to chapter 19, verse 1. Verse 1. It 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. 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.

And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are. And I will speak with my father. If I find out anything, then I will tell you. 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, 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 people? What is the sin against that kind of nation that failing to gramify an ancient word? 44 Peter 5i-7. It says, Saul gave the command. This is biblical law and incident Company now shows you

it— that all the soldiers are willing to kill him. Before you do that, let me give you a couple of examples. David never served the people of Israel. Back then, he needed him eagerly. There's not an official divine command of being�무�ish. But now David was tailor-made. David didn't even think like a soldier at all. If a soldier was tailor-made in the vrai sense of his heart, then

he would not believe the promise of the devil. Do you think that the military would tell you how we have to kill before. covenant that Jonathan had made with David, this is why that was so important. This is why God putting a man like Jonathan, who feared God more than he even feared his own father, who feared God more than he feared anyone else, went to David and said, listen, buddy, you better hide somewhere because they're coming and they're coming strong because my dad has put out a command to kill you.

Now, listen, I'm going to go talk to my dad and I'm going to see if I can't sort this whole thing out. But until then, you better lay low. And then Jonathan goes and talks to his father. Now, there's a beautiful picture that's given to us here. I don't know if you've noticed this picture or not, but did you notice a beautiful picture here of an advocate going before the

father for another? It's a beautiful picture of Jesus right here. Jesus, who advocates for us before the father. And that's exactly what Jonathan does for David. Jonathan, who knew David was about to be the one who would ultimately become king. Jonathan, who had now lost his place. He lost his place. He lost his place. He lost his place. He lost his place. He lost his place.

As the next ruling king of Israel, Jonathan, who is standing up for his friend against his father goes boldly to his father and says, what are you doing? What, what are you doing here? David hasn't done anything to deserve death. As a matter of fact, he has risked his life for you. And can we all bear one thing in mind? David has already defeated arguably the most powerful

warrior in the known world at that point in time. Do you think Saul would have been difficult for him to take out? I don't think so. He goes to him and says, he's done nothing to deserve death. Why are you doing this? Jonathan's taking his life in his own hands at this point in time, bear in mind. But because of his love for his friend and because he stood up for what was right, he was willing to risk his life. And so Saul responds and says,

you're right. You're right. I don't know what I'm doing. I will, I will withdraw the order on David. David's life. He will be safe as long as he's with me. And David, I think tiptoed back into the palace because he was restored to his former position. And it seems like, at least for the time being, all is right with the world. And so now we pick up in verse eight. It says, when there

was war again, David went out and fought with the Philistines and defeated them with the 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 and his hand. 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

the spear stuck into the wall and David fled and escaped that night. Now, again, it, I can't run by it this time without making a little bit of a point here, because I want you to take note of the things that are in each of their hands, right? In the hands of David is an instrument of worship, an instrument that is allowing him to praise God, that is allowing him to glorify God and to ultimately bring peace to the people that are around him. And in the hand of Saul is a spear, an instrument of death, an instrument of destruction. What's in your hand today?

What, what seems to come the most naturally and easily to you, because that's probably what's in your hand, is what comes easily to you, worship to the Lord and peace to other people, or is what comes naturally and most easily to you, destruction and death to those that are around you? You see, sometimes it's not just what we hold in our hands. Sometimes it's what comes out of our mouth, because usually what we hold in our hand and what comes out of our mouth is usually what's going on in our heads. What's coming from you all the time?

What is it that is the most natural to you? Because if what's coming the most natural to you are words or actions of death and defeat and discouragement, I would tell you, you have the wrong thing in your hand. But if what comes most naturally to you is words and actions that bring peace, that bring praise, and that ultimately bless the people around you, I would say you've got a good thing going. But the only one that can determine that is you. What comes most

naturally? What's in your hand? What was in Saul's hand was a spear. And David was playing the harp once again, and he hurls a spear at him, and David escapes, undoubtedly by the hand of the Lord, because God was with him. And as David escapes, this time it seems to be a little bit more permanent. It says in verse 11 that 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 night you will be put to death. Now, if you're somebody who likes to make notes in the margin of your Bible, in the margin of your Bible, you might write Psalm 59. Psalm 59. Because if you read the heading of Psalm 59, which, by the way,

many of those headings, they're divinely inspired because they tell kind of what's going on. It says, a psalm for when David's house was being watched by Saul. In other words, Psalm 59 was written while these men are outside of David's house waiting for him, spying on him so that they can kill him. As a matter of fact, if you're going through the Bible in a year with us, you should really start taking note of the different headings of the psalms.

Because as we're going through 1 Samuel and also reading through the psalms, you're going to find that they line up. Because the psalms that were written were not just some praise song written out of thin air. They were songs that were written from the real-life experience, the experiences of David and many of the other psalmists as they poured out their hearts to God in the most difficult of their circumstances. So you might just write Psalm 59 over there in the margin of your Bible because that absolutely brings life to those psalms that we study.

And so Michael finds out what's going on and she tells David, listen, you better save your life because otherwise you're not going to have your life anymore. Verse 12. So Michael let David down through a window and he went out and fled and he said, 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. When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, And then Saul sent messengers to see David saying, Bring him to me on his bed that I may put him to death.

And when the messengers entered, behold, the household idol was on the bed with the quilt of goat's hair at its head. And so Saul said to Michael, Why have you deceived me like this? And let my enemy go so that he has escaped. And Michael said to Saul, He said to me, Let me go. Why should I put you to death? And David fled and escaped and came to Samuel at Ramah

and told him all that Saul had done. And he and Samuel went and stayed in Naoth. Now, Michael has this plan, right? She says, You escaped through the window. I will put something in here to hide for you. Did you notice what she put in there? It's called a household idol. Now, initially we might go, Why does David have an idol? It's not in his house. But remember,

Why did Saul give Michael to David? Because she would be a snare to him. I don't believe that this household idol belonged to David. After all, David's sins are pretty well laid out for us. And I think if that were one of his sins, God would have had no problem telling us that since later he'll tell us about murder and adultery. I think that this household idol belonged to Michael

because her spirit was not in the same place that David's was. And we'll find that later in 2 Samuel. But she lies for him at this point in time and says, Hey, he escaped and told me that if I didn't let him go, he would kill me. Because she was trying to save her own life at that point in time. And so David escapes. And where does he run to? I love where he runs to.

Because he goes and runs to his faithful friend, Samuel. He goes and runs to Samuel and tells him everything that had been taking place. Listen, brothers and sisters, one of the greatest things we can do is find that one friend that is our place of sanctuary. It's to find that faithful person that when everything's going wrong in your life, you know that they are a steady rock and that you can go to them and you can lay everything out to them and they won't tell anybody else in the world.

They will keep your secrets for you. They will hold on to all of the things that you need to tell them. They will be that place of sanctuary for you. We all need to be there. We need that. We need that kind of a person in our lives. And if you don't have that kind of a person in your life, you need to start praying about who that can be. And sometimes it's somebody that doesn't live in the same town as you.

Sometimes it's someone that doesn't live in the same place as you. Because they need to be separated from everything. But he had that place of sanctuary in Samuel. I can almost picture the reunion between the two of them. As David's running for his life, he sees Samuel and wraps his arms around him and says, Oh, you are never going to believe what's going on in life right now.

And Samuel says, I bet I can. And just listens as David pours everything out to him. We need that. You need that. And so he goes to Samuel and he does all of that. He pours those things out to him. And so it was told Saul, verse 19, saying, Behold, David is at Naoth and Ramah. And Saul sent messengers to take him. Take David. But when they saw, verse 20, 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. And when it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. So Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied. And then he himself went to Ramah and came as far as the large well that is in Siku. And he asked and said, Where is Samuel and David? And someone said,

Behold, they're at Naoth and Ramah. And he proceeded there to Naoth and Ramah. And the Spirit of God came upon him also, so that he went along prophesying continually until he came to Naoth and Ramah. And he stripped off his clothes. I'll address that in just a moment. 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?

Now listen, if you don't think God doesn't have a sense of humor, you've never read the Bible, right? So they're like, where did David go? Oh, he escaped to Samuel. Okay, you five guys, go find him. And so the five guys bent on killing David go to find David, and they show up, and it's almost like they show up to, let's picture it this way, okay? It's like they show up to a worship service, right?

Like they show up to this worship service, and everybody's praising God, and they're like, we're here for David. And they're like, sweet man, we're just worshiping Jesus, right? And they come in, and all of a sudden they find themselves going, but we're here for David. Praise the Lord, right? And like they can't help themselves. They just start praising God.

That's what prophesying is, right? Speaking forth the works of God. And they just start praising God with everything that they're doing, and they're like, what am I doing, right? And so they leave, and Saul's like, where's David? Like, we have no idea, but we were praising God. And so Saul sends some more. Same thing happens. Sends some more. Same thing happens.

And Saul goes, if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. And so Saul, in all of his roles, royal robes, goes down to figure out where they are. They're like, where's Samuel and David? And they're like, they went that way. And the entire time he's going that way, Saul starts praising God. He starts prophesying too, right? He can't help himself.

He's just like, what is going on? And the whole time he's going on his way there. And then dude starts taking his clothes off, right? He gets naked. Now listen, we need to understand something. He didn't get totally naked, okay? It wasn't like everyone was going, whoa, that's a situation, right? This wasn't the Paris Olympics or anything. He took off his. Gone now, right?

Come on. He just took off his outer royal robes. That's what he took off, right? It would be like if he took off the outer royal robes and he's just wearing himself some shorts and a T-shirt, right? And so he just starts prophesying before the Lord. Because whether it's Jonathan protecting David, whether it's Michael protecting David, or the absolute work of the Holy Spirit protecting David,

brothers and sisters, we are safe in the presence of the Lord. We are. We are safe in the presence of God. And we don't have to be scared to stand on the truth. We don't have to be scared to be who God has called for us to be. We don't have to be scared to live out the truth in the world that's around us. Listen, even though they'll call you bigoted and hateful for what you're doing,

you don't have to be scared of that. I love the fact that all of the power went out for a little while in Paris except for in one church, right? Did you see that? That was amazing. God's like, not on my watch, right? Like, it was awesome. Because there's ultimate protection in the presence of God. We can find ourselves resting in Him, just like David finds himself resting in the Lord

in the most difficult of situations. Amen? Father, thank you so much that you have given us these stories. And Lord, I thank you so much for who you are. And so, Father, whether we need to surrender, whether we need to focus on your glory, not our own, or Lord, whether we need to learn to rest in the protection that comes from the presence of the Lord, may your Holy Spirit do in us what only your Holy Spirit can do through your word.

We just thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.