Leaving Your Enemy Alone

If you have your Bible, turn with me to 1st Samuel chapter 24. 1st Samuel chapter 24, learning to leave your enemy alone. How do you do that? How is it David did that? How do you deal with your enemies? David has a chance to kill his in this chapter and in two weeks from now in 1st Samuel chapter 26. And David spares Saul's life on two separate occasions. And he teaches us how it is to leave your enemy in God's hands and let God deal with him. That's not very easy to do. It's very difficult. We all have enemies.

I'm sure you have them. If you don't have them, you live long enough you're going to have some enemies. And if you don't, let me remind you of the words of Jesus in Luke 6, 26.

Beware if all men speak well of you. Okay? That's what Jesus said. So all of us have enemies to some degree. The question is, how do we deal with those who despise us? Who might even hate us? Who might even have the opportunity to slay us? And we have been able to escape from their murderous thoughts or actions. How do we deal with those people? How do you deal with situations when you have been wronged? Revenge is so natural to us, is it not? It's kind of a dirty word, revenge. And so we've kind of colored it up a little bit.

And we use words like justified retaliation. That sounds better than revenge. Or phrases like, you know, I'm just standing up for my rights. That sounds a lot better than I seek revenge. And so we try to pacify it or pass it off as something that's really not that bad. But revenge is almost sweet to taste. It's very tantalizing. It's very tempting. And it's that way of taking the law of God or the law of man into our own hands and accomplishing what we believe is the best possible scenario. To settle the score is something that's at the base of all of our carnal natures.

We love to get back. Revenge, as sweet as it sounds, is sour to the soul. It begins with an injury. I've been injured. It could be physically, it could be emotionally, it could be mentally, but I've been injured. And as soon as I've been injured, I now look for that one person's vulnerability. Once I find their vulnerability, I take advantage of that and my human depravity takes over so that I can get the upper hand on that person. It's as old as Genesis chapter, what, 4 with Cain and Abel, right?

Cain offered a sacrifice that wasn't acceptable to the Lord. And so he was injured emotionally. And so Abel's sacrifice was accepted and therefore he looked at the time in which Abel would be the most vulnerable when he was alone and he killed him because his depravity, and by Genesis chapter 4, man's depravity had been full-blown and that's the way it's been from the very beginning. That's man. He wants to be the best. He wants to be the alpha dog. He wants to be on top. He doesn't want to be injured and have to face all the negative aspects of that.

Well, David was injured. He had been injured over and over and over again. Saul had tried to kill him on three separate occasions. He had done nothing wrong. He was innocent. And yet Saul threw a spear at him on three separate occasions. Saul even threw a spear at his own son to try to kill him. And Saul would pursue David relentlessly, going after him. So much so that David had to become a fugitive. He lost his position as the commander of Saul's armies. He lost his position as the chief musician in Saul's palace.

He had lost his wife because he had to flee from her. He lost his parents because he had to flee from his hometown. He lost everything. He had been injured to the highest degree. He had nothing left. He lived in the wilderness of Paran. He lived in the wilderness of Ziph. He went from mountain to cave to valley. There was no place for him to go. And now on this occasion, he has the opportunity to right all wrongs. And what is before him is an opportunity that is so tantalizing, so tempting, so sweet, that if it was you or me, we probably would have done things differently than David did.

But David provides for us an example, an illustration on how to handle this situation. If I was a vengeful man, I'd get back at that person whose phone went off. But I'm not, see? I'm a nice guy. I don't call that person out and embarrass them in front of the church. I just don't do that kind of stuff, see? I'm not a vengeful person. I'm a kind guy. And so David leaves an illustration that should be indelibly etched in all of our minds. Let me read to you the story, and then we'll look at how to leave your enemy alone.

1 Samuel 24. Now, it came about when Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines. He was told, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi. Then Saul took 3,000 chosen men from all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the rocks of the wild goats. And he came to the sheepfolds on the way where there was a cave. And Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the recesses of the cave. And the men of David said to him, Behold, this is the day in which the Lord said to you, Behold, I am about to give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it seems good to you.

Then David arose and cut off the edge of Saul's robe secretly. And it came about afterward that David's conscience bothered him because he had cut off the edge of Saul's robe. So he said to his men, Far be it from me because of the Lord that I should do this thing to my Lord, the Lord's anointed, to stretch out my hand against him since he is the Lord's anointed. And David persuaded his men with these words and did not allow them to rise up against Saul. And Saul arose, left the cave, and went on his way.

Now afterward David arose and went out of the cave and called after Saul saying, My Lord the King. And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the ground and prostrated himself. And David said to Saul, Why do you listen to the words of men saying, Behold, David seeks to harm you? Behold, this day your eyes have seen the Lord had given you today into my hand in the cave. And some said to kill you, but my eye had pity on you. And I said, I will not stretch out my hand against my Lord, for he is the Lord's anointed.

Now my father, see, indeed see the edge of your robe in my hand. For in that I cut off the edge of your robe and did not kill you, but you know and perceive that there is no evil or rebellion in my hands. And I have not sinned against you, though you are lying in wait for my life to take it. May the Lord judge between you and me, and may the Lord avenge me on you, but my hand shall not be against you. As the proverb of the ancient says, Out of the wicked comes forth wickedness, but my hand shall not be against you.

After whom has the King of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing, a dead dog, a single flea? The Lord therefore be judged and decide between you and me, and may he see and plead my cause and deliver me from your hand. Now it came about when David had finished speaking his words to Saul, that Saul said, Is this your voice, my son David? Then Saul lifted up his voice and wept. He said to David, You are more righteous than I, for you have dealt well with me while I have dealt wickedly with you. And you have declared today that you have done good to me, that the Lord delivered me into your hand, and yet you did not kill me.

For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safely? May the Lord therefore reward you with good in return for what you have done to me this day. And now behold, I know that you will or shall surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. So now swear to me by the Lord that you will not cut off my descendants after me and that you will not destroy my name from my father's household. David swore to Saul. Saul went to his home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

Quite a story. It's all true. It did happen there in the oasis of En Gedi in one of the caves located there. Some believe they know where that cave is because of how big it is, but we don't necessarily know which cave it was. All we know is the location of En Gedi and all the caves that are there. And the first thing you need to notice is that David recognized Saul as his enemy.

It's important to recognize your enemy and all that transpires in their lives. David did. From that time that he rode into the city and the people began to sing, Saul has slayed his thousands, but David is ten thousands. Everything turned for David. He had saved Israel from destruction for the Philistines. He had won the battle against the giant, but that battle against the giant was not near the battle this was in 1 Samuel 24. This is David at his best. You will never see David any better than you see him today.

This is David at the height of his spiritual commitment. This is David who knows his enemy, has recognized his enemy, knows that Saul has pursued him relentlessly and knows this about his enemy. His enemy is prosperous. His enemy is persistent and his enemy is powerful. His enemy is prosperous. Know this because the last time we left David and Saul and the pursuit of Saul on David, when Saul was about to surround him and destroy his life, one of Saul's servants came to him and said, you know, we got to go because the Philistines are taking over the land and Saul had to stop his pursuit of David.

And we talked about the rock of escape back in 1 Samuel 23 and how that rock symbolizes the refuge, the fortress that David referred to as God as the rock of his salvation, that God had protected him and God had delivered him because God is in the process of delivering his people from the affliction that comes their way from their enemies. And so we saw that and yet Saul went back to fight the battle and he won. He won. And now we read in 1 Samuel 24, he's back. Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines.

He was told, saying, behold, David is in the wilderness of Ein Gedi. Then Saul took 3,000 chosen men from all of Israel. Saul was prosperous. He was not defeated. He keeps winning. Don't you hate it when your enemy keeps winning? That just sticks in your crawl. Can't God cause him to lose every once in a while? That's why over in Psalm 37, these words are written. Verse number 1, Do not fret because of evildoers. Be not envious toward wrongdoers. For they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green herb.

Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Don't fret yourself over evildoers. Folks, God's going to allow the evildoer to prosper because God is a God of mercy and grace along suffering and patience. So don't be all upset when your enemy seems to be prospering. It happens a lot of times in divorce situations, right? Two people who have been married for a long period of time and there's a divorce and one party seems to be more evil than the other party and they seem to get everything and everything the judge says goes the way of the evil party.

They seem to get it all and you get nothing. And you wonder why the enemy prospers. David recognized that about Saul. He recognized his enemy was prospering. He recognized his enemy was powerful. The text says that Saul came against him with 3,000 chosen men. These are specialized men. These just aren't a bunch of farmers. These aren't a bunch of husbands just getting together for a little get together for a men's afternoon. These are Caesar's soldiers. These are guys who are fit for battle and they're going to kill David.

And what's David have? He's got 600 men who came to him. He never chose them. They found him in the cave of Adullam. They went to him. They were in debt, the text says. They were distressed, right? They were discouraged. They were down. How do you go to battle with a bunch of guys who are discouraged, down, distressed and in debt? Against chosen men of Israel who are warriors. How do you do that? And David recognized his enemy was powerful. His enemy was prosperous. And his enemy was persistent. He was persistent.

Saul never gave up. We've told you from the very beginning of this whole scenario that Saul's whole life is built around the pursuit of David. He lives for that. And wherever he finds out where David is, he goes after him. His whole life is fit around pursuing David that he might rid David of his life. That he might still be king over Israel. He's persistent. Notice this about Saul's persistence.

He misunderstood the guidance of God. Saul should have known what God was doing. He did not. Saul threw his spear three times at David and missed him all three times. After the third time, he'd think, you know what?

Maybe I'm not that good with this spear. And then whenever he pursued David, when he finally got to where David was, David was gone.

David kept eluding him. Whenever he would arrive, David was gone. Fouled again, he missed it again. And when he surrounded David and just was about to kill him, he was called away because of the Philistines' raid on his land. You see, he didn't get God's guidance. God was moving him away. But you see, Saul didn't know the Lord, the Spirit of God had departed from him. He had totally missed how God was guiding him away from David. You'd think he'd get the message. You'd think he'd realize, you know what?

I can't kill him with my spear. I can't hunt him down and find him because he's always gone. And every time I get there, God calls me away. You know what? Maybe this isn't worth all the effort I'm putting into it. Maybe I ought to put my effort into something else, like my marriage, or my men, or the palace, or my work, or something. My relationship with God I don't have. But that's not what he saw. So he was one, in his persistence, who misunderstood the guidance of God, and he misinterpreted the grace of God.

Saul misinterpreted the grace of God. Remember the book of Ecclesiastes, the 8th chapter, the 11th verse? It says, "'Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.'" God had departed from Saul, and every time he did evil, he deserved death, and God allowed him to live. That's the grace of God. He didn't see that. He missed it. And then he misused the goodness of God. Romans 2, verse number 4 says, it's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance, right?

And God was so good to Saul to allow him to remain on the throne for 10 plus years after David had already been anointed. Ten plus years, an opportunity to repent, to turn, and to realize the goodness of God. But he didn't. And David recognized that. He recognized all that about Saul. Very simply, Jesus said these words in Matthew 5 about your enemy. "'You have heard that it was said, "'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy, "'but I say to you, love your enemies "'and pray for those who persecute you, "'in order that you may be sons of your Father "'who is in heaven.

"'For he causes his son to rise on the evil and the good "'and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. "'For if you love those who love you, "'what reward have you? "'Do not even the task-gatherers do the same? "'If you greet your brothers only, "'what do you do more than others? "'Do not even the Gentiles do the same? "'Therefore you are to be perfect "'as your heavenly Father is perfect.'" That's Christ's commentary on how to deal with your enemies. And David lived that, although he had not heard those particular words of Christ.

David recognized Saul was his enemy. And number two, David reflected the wisdom of piety. David reflected the wisdom of piety. Piety is a spiritual devotion, and his whole life was devoted to God. And he reflected that in his actions. This whole story is about his spiritual devotion, his commitment to God, his willingness to submit to God. See, David wasn't a phony. He wasn't a hypocrite. He was authentic. He was a true man after God's own heart. Did he sin? Oh, you bet. Did he fail? Miserably, many times.

But just because you sin and you fail doesn't mean you're not a man after God's own heart, because David exemplifies that. That's how he's characterized in Scripture. And the commentary on Engeti is Romans chapter 12, which says in verse number 16, Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends upon you, be at peace with all men.

Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God. For it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. That's the New Testament commentary. On Engeti in 1st Samuel 24. That's the wisdom of piety. That's what David reflected. That's how he lived his life. And that's what is seen in 1st Samuel 24.

Which caused him to leave the enemy alone. Now before I go any further, I got to warn you. In the very next chapter, David's not this way. Next week you come back, you're gonna see a different David. Because Nabal doesn't give him any reward for watching over his sheep. He decides he's gonna kill Nabal. See, this goes to show you that you can't live your Christian life on yesterday's victories. Each day you must learn to walk in the Spirit. So I'm gonna warn you that next week you're gonna see a little bit of a different David as you come to hear what the Word of the Lord says.

But before we get too far ahead, let's just relish the moment we have right now. Because this is a good moment in the life of David. Point number three.

David refused an opportunity for treachery. He reflected the wisdom of piety, having recognized his enemy, and now is gonna refuse the opportunity for treachery. It's right before him. Now, you have to understand this situation and the magnitude of the temptation. You must understand how forceful this temptation was upon David. What are the chances? What are the chances of Saul entering the same cave as David and his men just to go to the bathroom? What are the chances of that? You know, when we go to Israel, one of the questions people ask me is, you know, are there enough bathrooms and bathroom stops?

Because, you know, we do a lot of walking and traveling. They say, you know, there's a porta-potty on every corner. Well, in the first game of 24, there were no porta-potties.

Okay? There was no place to go to the bathroom except in the caves, right? So where else you gonna do that? Now, I love how the Bible just depicts this for us because this is such a vulnerable position for somebody. I want you to think about it for a moment. The next time you go to the bathroom and someone wants to get you, that's the best time to get you, right? I mean, the Bible just puts it right out there for us. It doesn't throw any punches. Saul goes in the cave, you know, to go to the bathroom.

I don't have to say that. But nobody wants to go to the bathroom with an audience, right? There's 600 men in this cave. This is a huge audience, man. He's like on national television here in this cave. And the situation around this temptation is unbelievable. Why? Because the cave is dark. You know, when Saul goes into the cave, it's not like he takes off his sunglasses, you know, his Maui gyms that he had on, and he can see okay. When you've been around that white limestone there in Nengedi, and the sun is as bright as it is, it takes a while for your eyes to adjust to the darkness of a cave.

So David has the advantage. It is so dark in there. And his eyes have got to adjust to where he is. And he's so defenseless when he stops to go to the bathroom. The situation is perfect for David. Absolutely perfect. And not only is the situation perfect, but what the men say to him is unbelievable. They're like, can you see this? God has delivered him into your hands. What more could you ask for? He's put him right in front of you. You can slay him now and everything will be yours. Think about this temptation.

Think about this. Think about where David is, where he's been. He's been on the run for three, four years at this point. It's going to continue on until 2 Samuel chapter 3 or 4 when he finally ascends the throne after Saul dies at the end of 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel chapter 30.

And so when you begin to look at this, you think, wow, man, this is the time. But look what David has missed. He's missed his position as the king of Israel. If he kills Saul, he now ascends the throne. He is the king. He has been in the wilderness of forests and caves and deserts. And now I can finally sleep in a bed and people will serve me.

He hasn't had that. Finally, he'll have peace. He's lived in constant turmoil, always having to sleep with one eye open. Where is the enemy going to come from next? Saul's dead. He can go and sleep with both eyes shut for once. His whole life has been filled with poverty. He's got to search for food. He's got to fight for food. That will no longer happen. He'll have it all at his disposal. It's all his. And for his parents, they'll finally be able to go home, back to Bethlehem and be able to stay at home and sleep in their own beds at night.

This is such a great advantage for him. Everything smells yes. This is it. And not only that, think of the country. Think of Israel itself. They've been under lousy leadership. If you can rid the country from lousy leadership and then ascend the throne and provide godly leadership, wouldn't that be the right thing to do? It would seem so. I mean, after all, look where they're at. Look how Saul has led them. He doesn't even have the Spirit of God upon him. He can't even lead them into the worship of God, into the knowledge of God, but David can.

So now is your opportunity. Now you've got to do it. As men come and say, man, David, this is right. You can't mess this one up. This one's easy. I mean, you had to sling a stone at Goliath and hit him in the forehead. You don't even have to do anything of the sort with this one. It's so incredibly easy. The temptation for him was so great. It provides for him a shortcut to the throne. And that's how temptation really works. It allows you a shortcut to gain what you ultimately want. Wasn't that Satan's temptation with Christ back in Matthew 4?

Listen, bow down to me, Satan says, and I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world. Just do it right now.

You could bypass Gethsemane. You could bypass beatings. You could bypass the cross. Who wants to go through all that anyway? Come on, Jesus, you don't want to go through all that pain. Listen, bow down to me right now, and we've got a shortcut to the kingdom, and you're the king. Just worship me right now.

That's what temptation does, and everything was pointing to the fact that, David, it can be yours now.

Now. And all the advice from his 600 soldiers was, now's the time. Look what God has done. Just because someone gives you counsel doesn't mean it's godly counsel, right? Even Peter tried to give the Lord counsel in Matthew 16 when the Lord said that he must suffer and die, and Peter had to take him aside and say, you know, Lord, that's not really what's going to happen with you. You're the Messiah, and evidently, you're having an identity crisis, so let me help you with your identity.

You're the Messiah of Israel. You're the king. You're the Christ, the Son of the living God. You are going to ascend the throne, and Christ said, get behind me, Satan. Why? Because you don't have in mind the purposes of God, and Peter was Christ, for all practical purposes, best friend, right? But Peter was even used of Satan because whenever you don't have in mind the purposes of God, you are directing someone away from that purpose. You inevitably are being used by Satan to move them away from the purposes of God.

And these men, the same way. God has delivered him into your hands. They perverted the promises of God, and they perverted the providence of God. They perverted the promises of God by twisting Scripture to fit the occasion. How often does that happen? Oh, by the way, Satan did that in one of the Temptations with Christ, too, in Matthew 4. You know, jump off the building. Remember that? Took him to the highest place there of the temple. And said, you know what? Just throw yourself off the wall. For the Bible says, his angels will have charge over thee.

You'll be protected. And Satan would twist the Scriptures. That's exactly what the men did. They perverted the promises of God, and they perverted the providence of God. Now it's time, and it wasn't the time. It wasn't time. And so David takes his knife and cuts off a piece of his robe. Now, how he does that without Saul noticing that is quite unbelievable. I mean, that's one sharp blade, okay, to be able to cut off a corner of his robe without Saul ever knowing it. But he did. And as soon as he did, and this is how he left his enemy alone.

His heart was smitten. As soon as it happened, his conscience spoke. Folks, listen, when your conscience speaks and your heart is smitten, if you don't act upon that, that's how the heart becomes calloused and cold. When the heart is smitten, you don't act upon that, a thin veneer of callousness just flows over your heart. So the next time something happens and you are smitten in your heart, you are less likely to subject yourself to the truth of God's Word. And another thin veneer falls over your heart until your heart becomes so cold and callous that when temptation comes, you automatically fall into it because you have no intermechanism that says you're wrong.

And David had that heart that smitten him. He was smitten. He knew he was wrong. He knew it. And not only that, he submitted himself to the authority of God. He knew not to lay his hand against the Lord's anointed. That's from Genesis chapter 20 verse number 7 and quoted in Psalm 105 verse number 15. David knew the Word of the Lord. And when the temptation was there, you got a choice. I'm going to submit to what God's Word says or I'm not going to submit to what God's Word says. And because his heart was tender, same thing was said of King Josiah.

Remember the story about Josiah when they found the Book of the Law in the temple, on the temple ruins and they came and read it to him. They tore his clothes. And hold it, the priest came back to him and said, you know, because your heart was smitten, because it was tender to the Word of God, God will deal well with you, Josiah. And Josiah's reign was precious because his heart was tender to the Words of God. Later on in 2 Samuel 24, when David numbers his men, when God says don't count your men and David counts them anyway, there's a great plague that sweeps over his men and thousands of them are killed.

His heart was smitten. And he asked forgiveness from God. Folks, you learn to leave the enemy alone when the conscience is smitten by the Spirit of God and you submit to the Word of God because ultimately it was not, it was not the circumstances that caused him to leave Saul alone. It was not the compensation he would receive that led him to leave his enemy alone. It was not his comrades that caused him to leave his enemy alone. It was the commands of Scripture. And folks, when it comes right down to it, that's all that matters and that's all there is.

It's either I'm going to do what God says or I'm not. And David chose to do what God says. Now notice this.

It says, Far be it from me, verse 6, because of the Lord that I should do this thing to my Lord, the Lord's anointed to stretch out my hand against him since he is the Lord's anointed. That's Psalm 105, verse 15. Can't do that. And David persuaded his men. Folks, the word persuade is a word of strong force. David had to hold all 600 men at bay. David persuaded his men with these words and did not allow them to rise up against Saul. And Saul arose up the cave and went on his way. David won his greatest battle in the recesses of that cave.

This is a far greater victory than ever in the valley of Elah with Goliath where everybody would see him kill and slay the Goliath and everybody would sing his praises. Nobody's going to sing his praises here. Nobody's going to see it except God. He sees it. And that's why it's the greatest victory because there's a bigger passion in his soul. There's a bigger giant in his soul that he has to overcome. And once he begins to overcome the giant of his soul, he wins that victory. He is the ultimate victor, see?

And this is his greatest victory. Of the life of David, 1 Samuel 24, is his greatest victory. Not the valley of Elah, not with Goliath and not what took place there, right here in the recesses of the cave when all of his friends, all 600 men said, now's the time, kill him. He says no and they rise up against him and he holds them all back, says, we're not doing this. And they submit to him. And Saul walks out that cave unscathed. Quite a story. But it's not done. Next, Saul, or David reminded Saul of his final accountability.

Saul is far enough away and David out, goes outside the cave and yells to Saul. He simply says to him these words, my Lord the King. My Lord the King, really? Saul looked behind him. David bowed with his face to the ground and prostrated himself. Are you kidding me? Why would he do that? And you will note, he calls Saul, my Lord, my King, my Father and the Lord's anointed and he prostrates himself before him. Folks, that's amazing. What would you do? How would you react? David understands authority.

David understands submission to authority. Now, I'm going to say something that's absolutely going to rub most of you the wrong way. And the rest of you are going to think I'm a madman. But here it goes. I've warned you in advance. Because you see, in our country, we don't have that kind of respect for our King or our President. Among the, quote, evangelical circle. Because our President came out with a statement just this past week in favor of gay marriage. And Christians were all up in arms about that.

All angry about that. And our President said, you know, having counseled with my wife and with my girls, I've come to the conclusion that gay marriage is okay. And so we get all up in arms about that. You know what I do? I say, praise God for that. Praise be to God for that statement. This is the greatest statement he has said in his presidency. This is the best thing he could have ever said as the President of our country. Now, you think I'm a madman, don't you? Until you hear the words of Jesus.

See, when you hear the words of Jesus, everything changes. See, I'm a man that believes in perspective. And you must always have a biblical perspective when the President speaks. Jesus is standing before the Pharisees in Luke 17. And they say, where's the kingdom? Jesus says, the kingdom doesn't come with signs.

The kingdom is in the midst of you. We'll spend a couple of weeks talking to you about that invisible kingdom when we get there. And then he talks about, listen, the manifestations of the kingdom and the coming of the King. Listen to what he says. This is so good. He says, verse 28, it was the same as happened in the days of Lot. They were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building. But on the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.

It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. Jesus says, I want to tell you about the signs that are going to happen when the Son of Man is revealed.

It's going to be the same way it was in the days of Lot. Where did Lot live? Lot lived in Sodom and Gomorrah. Where's Sodom and Gomorrah? It's been destroyed. You can go to the Dead Sea now.

There's nothing there. It's been destroyed. Why was it destroyed? Because God said, if you find 10 righteous, I'll spare the city. There weren't 10 righteous there. It was a cesspool of homosexuality, gay rights, gay pride, gay marriage, you name it. It's nothing new. It's always been the same. And God destroyed them, right? And Jesus says, here it is.

Here's the perspective. Listen, before I come back, this is how it's going to be. Gay marriages and gay people are going to be eating and drinking and living the way they want to live. And then all of a sudden, bang, the Son of Man is going to be revealed. So the president says, I believe in gay marriage. And I say, go for it, brother. Why? Because that means Jesus is coming right around the corner. That's my perspective on it. Now, you might think I'm wacko, and that's okay. You wouldn't be the first.

My wife sleeps with this wacko. So I understand that. But you need to understand, you've got to keep perspective. And here was David. He was the enemy. Put it this way. What did Peter say to those he wrote his first epistle to?

Honor the king. Who's the king? Nero. What's Nero doing? He's throwing Christians to the lions. They're being eaten alive. He's wrapping them in pitch. He's impaling them, lighting them on fire so they light his gardens at night. And they're screaming and yelling. Other Christians are hearing them scream, hearing them yell. And Peter says, honor that king. See, we won't do that. We won't do that. That's what Peter says. That's what David did. And Jesus said, listen, I'm coming back. Just keep looking up.

I'm coming back. And David goes out, my Lord the king. He bows before him in prostration on the floor in honor of the position, not the person, but the position, because he was the Lord's anointed. Boy, this is amazing testimony for David, for him to go out there and do that. I'm going to tell you right now, I couldn't do that. I'd have a hard time doing that. But David did. And David reminds him, see, look with your eyes. Why are you believing, Saul, what everybody said? Why are you listening to bad counsel?

I don't want to harm you. I'm your friend. I'm your friend. You're my father. You're my king. I'm not here to hurt you. I could have killed you, but I didn't. I honor you as my king. And he says these words, 1 Samuel 24. He says, the Lord therefore be judged and decide between you and me, and may he see and plead my cause and deliver me from your hand. Saul, you need to know something. This is all about the sovereignty of God. God will deliver me. God will plead my case because I'm accountable to God just as you are accountable to God.

And you read Romans 14, you can read 1 Peter 2, you can read Isaiah 45, you can read Philippians 2, that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. We are all accountable to the same judge, to the same king. And David reminded Saul, you're accountable for all your actions, which leads us to our next point, and that is Saul realized God's sovereignty. It's amazing. Now, it came about when David had finished speaking, verse 16, these words of Saul that Saul said, is this your voice, my son David?

Then Saul lifted up his voice and wept. Now, these are not the tears of repentance because Saul doesn't repent, but he realizes that his life was almost snuffed out, and he realizes he escaped by the hair on his chinny chin chin. He said to David, you are more righteous than I. Correction, you're not righteous at all. But he saw himself as righteous. For him to say, David, you're more righteous than I, would assume that he is righteous, right? But he's not. He is so far from God. For you have dealt well with me, while I have dealt wickedly with you.

Really? That's an understatement. And you have declared today that you have done good to me, that the Lord delivered me into your hand, and yet you did not kill me. For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safely? May the Lord therefore reward you with good in return for what you have done to me this day. Wait a minute. Saul, you can reward him with good. You can say, David, thank you so much. Come on back. Let me reunite you with your wife.

Let me reunite you with your family. Come on back and be my chief musician. Come on back and lead my armies. David, I'm going to reward you for what you did to me. But that's not Saul, because he's not going to go that far. The Lord can reward you for what you did, but I'm not going to reward you for what you did. I'll leave that in the Lord's hands. And then he says, And now behold, I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. What a statement.

Wow. You're the king. You're it. What a powerful statement. The problem is, he never acted upon that. He makes a statement. He realized that God is sovereign, that God has a plan. He realized that God's in control. He realized that David's the king, and he's not. But a true repentant heart, and you'll see this so clearly in the next few weeks, on Sunday morning, Luke 15, has no agenda and makes no demands. Whenever someone comes and repents, they can't come back and say, Okay, now here's what I want you to do.

Here's my agenda, and these are my demands. That's how you know Saul wasn't repentant, because he says, So now swear to me by the Lord that you will not cut off by the sons after me, and that you will not destroy my name from my father's household. This is his demand. This is his agenda. David swore to me. He's already admitting defeat, but he's not yet willing to live a defeatist life. He admits it, but he's unwilling to live it. But he makes a demand. Take care of my family. You know what David does?

He honors it. That's the next point. David respected Saul's identity and his family. You can go back and you can read 2 Samuel 21, verse number 7, where he saves Jonathan's son, which is Saul's grandson, and takes him into his own home, and David honors his word, because David was a man of forgiveness. He was a man of meekness. He was a man of faithfulness, and he honored his word. David respected Saul's identity and his family. Saul could have very easily begged for forgiveness, but he didn't. He could have said, David, I was so wrong.

Please forgive, but he never did. And David could have said, You know what? I'm done with your family. It's over. But he will spare his life again in two chapters, which leads us to our last point. David remains a man of singular identity. He remains the man of singular identity. But he truly was a man after God's own heart. God said, Vengeance is mine. I will repay. You never, never have the right to seek revenge. That's God's job. And whenever you do, you say, God, I'm going to be God for now.

Let me take matters into my own hands, because I can do it better than you can. And David didn't. David didn't. Have you learned to leave your enemy alone? David did. Have you learned to leave your enemy in God's hands? David did. And that's the lesson of 1 Samuel 24. And may God give us the grace to accomplish that in our lives. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for tonight, the chance to be together. Truly, Lord, this is so convicting. It is so convicting. There are so many, so many things here that we didn't even touch on tonight, Lord, that really draw out our ugliness, our nastiness, our wanting to take revenge and be the best and rid ourselves of those things that we haven't had for such a long time.

And yet, Lord, your words speak so contrary to our fallen nature. I pray for the man, for the woman here this evening who's contemplating revenge at work, revenge in the marriage, revenge at school, revenge at church. I pray for them that, Lord, they would learn to leave their enemy alone and leave them in your hands for you to do what you please. And may we honor you with our lives. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.