Tough and Tender

Thank you for listening.

Thank you for listening. Would you stand with me in honor of God's word as I call us to worship from Psalm 90. The psalmist says, Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.

Before the mountains were brought forth, wherever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. This is the God we worship. Let's go to him in prayer. Father, we exalt you.

We bless your name. We confess that we desperately need you in our lives. We need your presence.

We need your comfort. We need your love, your faithfulness. God, you are a holy God who cannot look upon sin and yet you call us your children. We know that transaction can only happen because of what Christ has done for us on the cross. Holy Spirit, would you fill your church now?

Would you take the word of God and illuminate our minds that we might have our souls nourished from it? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we welcome your presence now as your church worships you. In the name of Jesus, we pray.

Amen. Today is Reformation Sunday. Over 500 years ago, Martin Luther, a Catholic priest, nailed his 95 theses to the door at the castle in Wittenberg and kicked off the Protestant Reformation, a reformation that, Lord willing, is continuing to this day as the church has conformed more and more to the image of Christ. Luther and all of the Reformers needed a robust confidence in the strength and the sovereignty of God in order to fight the good fight that they were up against. We need that same confidence to fight the good fight today. I'm sure those attributes of God were in Luther's mind as he penned a paraphrase to Psalm 46 that we know as a mighty fortress is our God.

Let's express our confidence in God as we sing this wonderful old hymn of the faith together. The mighty fortress is unfathomable and never failing. Our helper, he obeyed the flood of mortal ills prevailing. For still our ancient foe doth seem to work us low. His craft and power are great and armed with cruel hate. On earth is not his equal. Did we in our own strength confide our striving would be losing? Were not the right man on our side the man of God's hope to see?

Dost that school that may be drives Jesus? It is he, Lord, some of his name, from age to age the same. And he must win the battle. And all this world with devils filled should pretend to undo us. We will not fear for God hath built his truth to triumph through us. The prince of darkness will tremble now for him. His rage we can endure for love is to be sure.

One little word shall fail him. That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them abideth. The spirit and the gifts are ours to win through with us I have. And goods and kindred grow. It's more to life also.

Nobody may be clear. God's truth our finest skill. His kingdom is forever. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above he can be most. His father's son and Holy Ghost. Amen. Amen.

You can be seated. Our New Testament reading this morning is from 1 Thessalonians 2 verses 1 through 8. We see in this passage how the gospel of Jesus Christ spread through the early church by the witness and labor of the apostles, those men whom God had chosen to build his church. 1 Thessalonians 2 verses 1 through 8, Paul says, For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive. But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak. Not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed, God as witness. Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ.

But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God, but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us. This is the word of the Lord. Let's take a moment this morning to confess our faith together. We're gonna use the Heidelberg Catechism, several questions from this old catechism. And I want you to notice as we go through this that all of the solas of the Protestant Reformation are contained in these questions and answers.

If you're unfamiliar with what those solas are, go home and look it up. It'll be well worth your time. Well, let's confess our faith together, church. How are you righteous before God?

Only by true faith in Jesus Christ. That is, although my conscience accused me that I have grievously sinned against all the commandments of God, and have never kept any of them, and am still prone always to all evil, yet God, without any merit of mind, of mere grace, grants and imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never committed nor had any sin, and had myself accomplished all the obedience which Christ has fulfilled for me, if only I accept such benefit with a believing heart. Why do you say that you are righteous by faith only? Not that I am acceptable to God on account of the worthiness of my faith, but because only the satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ is my righteousness before God, and I can receive the same and make it my own in no other way than by faith only. But why cannot our good works be the whole or part of our righteousness before God? Because the righteousness which can stand before the judgment seat of God must be perfect throughout and wholly conformable to the divine law, but even our best works in this life are all imperfect and defiled with sin. Do our good works merit nothing, even though it is God's will to reward them in this life and in that which is to come? The reward comes not of merit but of grace. But does not this doctrine make men careless and profane?

No, for it is impossible that those who are implanted into Christ by true faith should not bring forth fruits of thankfulness. Since then we are made partakers of Christ and all his benefits by faith only. From where comes this faith?

The Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts by the preaching of the Holy Gospel and confirms it by the use of the Holy Sacraments. Let's stand together and sing about our confidence in God's strength and power. Our God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast and our eternal home. Under the shadow of your throne, your saints have dwelled secure.

Sufficient is your arm alone and our defense is sure. Before the hills a Lord has stood, poor earth we seek her frame. From everlasting you are God to endless years the same. Time like an ever-rolling stream bears all its sons away.

Fly forgotten as a dream dies at the opening day. Our God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, O be our God while troubles last and our eternal home. Amen. Let's remain standing in honor of God's word as we read it together this morning. If you have your Bibles with you today, turn with me if you would to 1 Samuel 26.

We're going to start with verses 1-5. Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, Is not David hiding himself on the hill of Hakkala, which is on the east of Jeshaman? 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 Hakkala, which is beside the road on the east of Jeshaman.

But David remained in the wilderness. When he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness, David sent out spies and learned that Saul had come. Then David rose and came to the place where Saul had encamped. 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. Bow with me as we go to our Lord in prayer. Father, we are learning some tough truths as we study the life of David. We are learning to expect persecution and to refuse to fear it.

We read about the horrors that Saul put David through, reminded of the words of Jesus, Fear not that one who can harm the body, but fear that one who can destroy both body and soul in hell. You taught David that, and his inspired courage in the face of danger has been used in our lives to strengthen and encourage us. Father, we pray for our nation this morning.

This upcoming election may be the most important election that we've ever had. Give us wisdom, and Lord, fill our national leaders with the hunger to know and please you. We pray for our doctors and our nurses, that you would protect them as they selflessly serve others. We pray for our policemen and law enforcement.

Help them to realize that the vast majority of Americans are deeply grateful for their work and sacrifice. Help me this morning to preach your word as a dying man to a dying people. Keep my lips from error. Anoint me with your spirit, for it is in the precious and holy name of Jesus that we pray.

Amen. You may be seated. On May the 11th, 1685, 18-year-old Margaret Wilson was sentenced to die because she would not declare that King James VII of Scotland was not only the king of Scotland, but he was also the sovereign head of the church. She said, no, he is not the sovereign head of the church.

Jesus Christ is the sovereign head of the church, and I will bow only to him. For this so-called crime, Margaret Wilson was taken out to the Solway River. She was roped up to a big post out in the water where the inrushing tide would drown her. Several hundred feet from there was another lady that was being drowned also, tied to a post. Her name was Margaret Lackleson. She was a dear Christian friend of Margaret Wilson, and her hope was that Margaret Wilson would see her friend being drowned, and then she would recant, and she would acknowledge that James VII was indeed the sovereign head of the church.

Well, their little scheme did not work. Instead of acknowledging that he was the king, what did she do as she was out in that water? Margaret Wilson began to quote Romans 8, and the last verses say this, For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor powers, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. As the water began to come up, and as she began to choke, they went out, the persecutors did, and untied her, brought her back to the beach, and threw her down on the sand. She was choking, gasping for air, and then they said to her, Okay, Margaret, will you now confess and proclaim that James is the head of the church, and will you pray to him? She said, No, I will not pray to him. She said, I'll pray for him, that the Lord would save him, but I am not going to pray to a mere man.

One of the persecutors took her head, pushed it down into the water, and drowned her to death. Margaret Wilson was a woman who understood the words of Jesus, the words of Jesus who said, Fear not that one who can kill the body, but not the soul, but fear that one who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Psalm 118, David said in verses 8 and 9, It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes. Where is that kind of Christian courage in the church of Jesus Christ in America today?

How does the church respond to persecution? We cower, we cringe, we shake, we compromise, even when the authorities tell us that our tax deductions might be affected. What in the world are we going to do if our lives are threatened? Folks, we say, well, we're in America. America is a free nation. We don't have anything to worry about.

Persecution is not a possibility. Let me encourage you, let me counsel you to open your eyes and to brace yourself. There is a wicked anti-God movement that is creeping into this nation right now that is stealing away the hearts of our young people. And how are they doing it?

Through the promise of free stuff, through the indoctrination of revisionist history, and through deification of pseudo-science. Folks, we have the old people in our nation right now that are very, very concerned about what's going to happen to their Social Security. And they're deeply concerned about that. What is going to happen if we have an economic collapse and the violence that we see that is taking place in America today continues to get worse and worse and worse? I have a feeling that Christians will be blamed for this. And if Christians are blamed for that, then persecution will deepen. If persecution deepens, will God be with us?

Let me tell you this, if persecution deepens and we are trusting God through it, God will be more intimate to us than we've probably ever experienced before. I remember back in 1987 I went to Communist Czechoslovakia on a mission trip. We went back behind the Iron Curtain and on that Sunday morning we were taken out to an underground church. It was way out in the boondocks in an old barn.

And it was way out away from everybody else. All these people started coming, these Christians. And I saw an excitement and an energy and a joy like I'd just never seen before.

It made me just ashamed of myself as I worshiped with these people. The worship began and I had snuggled in a little Bible, a little New Testament, Gideon New Testament. And I pulled it out and started reading it.

There was a girl that was sitting beside me, probably an 18-year-old teenage girl. She looked at that Bible. Her eyes got as big as saucers. She said, could I touch it? And I handed it to her.

I said, check it out. And she opened it up. She started caressing the pages, caressing the pages like they were pure gold. Finally she gave it back to me. After the service was over, I handed it to her. I said, here, you take it.

I want you to keep it. Tears started rolling down her cheeks. She hugged my neck. Then she ran off.

She showed it to a friend. She came back. She hugged my neck again. Then she ran off, showed it to another friend.

She came back, hugged my neck again. Let me tell you, persecution had not squelched the faith of this young Christian. And her and her brothers and sisters in Christ were just on fire for the Lord. It was exciting being around them.

The Communist government in Czechoslovakia had not dampened their faith. In fact, it drew them closer to Christ. I see that same thing with David. Saul is still after David. Saul is still trying to kill him.

He's trying to take his life. And the persecution is teaching David some important truths. He's learning how to move from fear of Saul to trust in Jehovah.

You remember about three weeks ago we were studying 1 Samuel 24? Saul had chased David, and David was up in the area of Engedi. And there were a bunch of caves there in that mountainous region. And David and several of his men were in one particular cave way back in the back of the cave. And it just so happened by the providence of God that Saul came into that particular cave to relieve himself. While he was in there, he decided to take a nap. He laid down, he took a nap, and he fell sound asleep. And during that time, David went over to him, took his sword, and cut off the hem of Saul's garment.

The symbol of his authority. Saul walked out of there a little bit later, woke up, and walked several hundred feet away. And David came out of the cave. And he screamed at Saul, and he held up that hem of the garment. And he said, look what I have, Saul. I have the hem of your garment. He said, you were in the same cave where I was.

You went to sleep. I could have killed you, but I just took the hem of your garment. I did that to show you that I am your faithful servant. That you don't have to fear me.

That I would never touch the hand of God's anointed. And Saul fell under deep conviction. And Saul was broken. And he promised David that he would not try to kill him again.

What's going on here? It's two chapters later in 1 Samuel chapter 26. And we see something that happens that's almost identical to what happened in 1 Samuel chapter 24. David is now in the wilderness of Ziph.

He's in a place where there's a lot of caves, a lot of hiding places there. That's a very wise place for David to go because Israel didn't have a whole lot of hiding places. So King Saul finally finds out where David is. And he musters up three thousand men. And he marches them to Ziph for the purpose of killing David and taking David's life. I want to share with you what Richard Phillips had to say about this. Listen carefully to this.

What explains this about-face? The answer is that man in sin is ever ready to commit evil. This reality is all the more true of men and women who exercise great power. And whose graceless hearts carry the weight of privilege and authority.

Consider the never-ceasing news of political leaders today. Who one after another fall prey to sexual sins, dishonesty, fraud, and cover-ups. Despite the proven likelihood of their being caught. Why do they leap at opportunities to sin? Because having inflamed themselves with the hot passions of power and pride. Their deprived natures draw them into self-destroying sin. Had Saul not figured out by now that God was not going to permit him to take David's life.

As he himself admitted after that last meeting. Yet how irrational sin is in the mighty. How can communist despots in China today fail to notice that their persecution of house churches only causes them to grow. The problem is the corruption of man's depraved nature. It is ever ready to commit sin and forget God's punishment for those who do evil. This is a problem not confined to the high and mighty. You having seized the sovereign reigns of your own life and choices. Not realize the peril of sinful desires. It is sin not faith that is blind and ever ready to follow one disaster with a renewed zeal for another.

Alright there are two points I want to share with you this morning. Number one is David's growth in grace. Look at verses four through sixteen. David I will go down with you. 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.

Then David went over to the 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 Nur 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. The 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 the jar of water that is at his head. Didn't take Saul long to renege on his promise not to kill David. Saul did not have real repentance.

He was not experiencing that. He was experiencing remorse, maybe regret, but it was not genuine repentance. David on the other hand remembered two things. God had protected him against Saul many times. Over and over again God had protected him. God had given David a promise that he would be the next king of Israel and God does not break his promises. But he also did something else. Number two, David had just experienced near catastrophe himself. For he had just about killed Nabal.

He was up in the area of Carmel and something happened to his heart because Nabal made him mad, so mad that he was willing to take his life and to kill a man that he should not even been worried about. He just about did that. But he didn't do it.

Why not? Because Abigail, Nabal's very beautiful and godly wife, came out and set out a whole huge banquet for David and his men. She got David's attention and then she shared with David the word of God and told David not to ruin his testimony and not to do such a wicked horrible thing. And David was convicted and David repented and David said, I will not do that. David said, why in the world should I ruin my testimony and ruin my name when I'm going to be the next king of Israel?

And now he's in a situation where a very similar opportunity comes up. He can take Saul's life. He can stop all of this, but he doesn't do it.

Why not? Because he's convicted by the word of God. And he says, I'm not going to ruin my testimony.

I will not lift my hand against God's anointed. So he finds out that Saul has his 3,000 soldiers. He's taking them up to the mountains of Zeph and late at night, David says, I'm going to sneak into his camp and I'm going to find out what this situation is firsthand. He says, is there anybody that wants to go with me? And Abishai says, I'll go with you David. And they go into the camp.

This is an interesting thing for me. There are 3,000 men there. Where are the guards? Where is anybody that's guarding and watching in case somebody might try to get into camp? Nobody is even awake at this time and when David goes in, they are all sound asleep.

How in the world does that happen? I'll tell you, this is either insane bravery on David's part or it's the epitome of godly faith. And I believe it's the epitome of godly faith. David and Abishai walk into the camp. They walk right over to where Saul is. Saul is laying on the ground, sawing logs, asleep, snoring and his spear is right there beside his head and then right beside his spear is his jug of water. Abishai sees that spear and he gets excited. And I can imagine him whispering in David's ear. He said, David, that might be the spear that Saul threw at you when you were playing the harp for him trying to relieve his depression.

He was trying to kill you. He wanted to pin you to the wall, David. He said, David, let me take that spear and let me pin him to the ground just like he tried to pin you to the wall. He said, David, I'll kill him just like that and there'll be no more persecution.

David said, no, no, don't do that. David said, you take his spear which is the symbol of his authority and you take his jug of water which is the symbol of his comfort. And still nobody is awake.

How in the world does that happen? Well, verse 12 tells us. Verse 12 tells us that the Lord put a deep sleep on all that were there.

Three thousand people. Folks, we need to learn to quit doubting God's unlimited power to take care of his children. We need to understand that God knows exactly how to take care of us. Reminds me of Acts chapter 12. Remember Peter was in prison. King Herod Agrippa had him thrown in prison.

Sentenced him to die on the next day for preaching the gospel. So Peter is lying there in prison asleep and all of a sudden an angel of the Lord walks in. The scripture tells us that God put a deep sleep on all the guards. There's one guard that is actually in the prison cell with Peter and he's handcuffed to Peter. And all of a sudden the shackles fall off Peter's hands and off his feet and the angel tells him to get up and then the door of the prison opens up. They go out that door. And then the gate of the prison opens up and they go out that gate and Peter's a free man.

Absolutely a free man. Remember he goes to the home of John Mark and they're having a prayer meeting, praying for him there and they go to that home and that's where he is. But they don't even arrest him the next day.

They can't even find him. So Peter goes on for 30 more years after that to faithfully preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Folks, if we have a promise from God, we need to learn how to stand on that promise. And David and Abishai walked right into Saul's camp.

They walked right past 3,000 sleeping soldiers. They take his spear, they take his jug of water and nobody lifts a finger against them. Let's know what David said in Psalm 34, 7-8. Now let me point out two proofs of David's spiritual growth here. Number one, he realized that it would be sinful to take personal vengeance. Where did he learn that from? He learned that from Abigail, who is now his wife, who taught him well not to take vengeance into his own hands.

Second thing he learned was this. David learned this truth. God's people don't have to force God's providence. In verse 10, listen to what David says to Abishai.

So we don't need to kill David. God's got it. God's going to handle it. God knows exactly what to do. Look at verse 10. In other words, they argue if God is sufficient, there's nothing for us to do except sit back and let God do everything.

Sufficiency does not preclude difficulty. The account of David's visit to Saul's camp provides us with a much needed balance on this matter. First we can see that David did not take the sufficiency of God to mean he should have no difficulties. David was in the crucible of many harsh difficulties. Saul wanted the people of Israel to fear him.

A couple of things I want you to see here. David took, first of all, the spear. He took it up in his hand.

Abishai pulled it up, gave it to David. What was that spear about? It was a symbol of his kingly reign.

It was a symbol of force. And that's how Saul wanted to rule the people of Israel. He wanted to rule them by force. He wanted to say, you bow to me or I'll kill you. You bow to me and you better be afraid of me or I will take your life. Sounds a lot like King James VII of Scotland, doesn't it? By pulling up the spear and by removing it from Saul's presence, I think David was making a statement of his own.

I think David was saying this. I want my people to respect me, not fear me. I want my people to feel safe, not scared. I want my people to feel protected, not picked on. I want my people in Israel to love God. And I want my people in Israel to love me as a shepherd king. And David became that kind of king.

Notice something else. David rebuked Saul's army, especially Abner the general. He said, look at what you've done, Abner. Your carelessness and your negligence could have gotten your king killed. Somebody came sneaking into your camp and stood right before King Saul. They could have taken his life. And what were you doing? You and all your men were sound asleep.

You were careless. You deserve to die, Abner. David is speaking with great spiritual authority here. And Abner and his men probably did not like getting rebuked like that, but they knew that what David said was absolutely truth.

Folks, spiritual leaders do have authority. But I want you to know that authority is built on the foundation of faithful service. David's godliness in refusing to kill Saul was an attention-getter for the army of Israel. And I want you to know it was also an attention-getter for Israel as a nation. When David became king of Israel, the people remembered back to what David did. They remembered that David would not lift his hand against Saul, that many times David could have taken Saul out, he could have stopped the persecution, he could have ended it and become king, but he absolutely refused to do it. And so his people followed him because they knew David was faithful to God.

And that meant something. May that be a wake-up call to the leadership here at Grace Church. Folks, godliness is what God has called us to.

And it is not a preference, it is not an option, it is an absolute imperative. Let me just speak a moment to those of you who are in leadership here, to the teaching elders, to the ruling elders, to the Sunday school teachers, to the deacons here. Folks, it is important that people look at us and they respect our leadership. But that respect has to be earned. How is it earned? It's earned as they watch us in service to them.

And it's earned as they watch us love and be faithful to Christ. Folks, that's so important. Don't forget that. Don't forget that. Don't let it get by you because it's extremely important.

We must realize that every day is a battle. I think of David. David, for his first 20 years of his reign, did so many things right, but then he got spiritually lazy. And when he got spiritually lazy, he committed a heinous sin. He committed adultery with Bathsheba. He had her husband Uriah the Hittite killed.

And you know what happened? The people of Israel lost respect for David. And David never did get all that respect back. We need to watch what we do. We need to be careful of what we say. Because when a Christian sins, it doesn't just hurt him. It hurts Christ. And it hurts the church. Christian, protect your testimony. Watch over your testimony and realize that Satan wants to destroy it.

Point two. David's last words with Saul, verse 17 through 25. Saul recognized David's voice and said, Is this 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? For 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 is 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 flee, like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains. Then Saul said, I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will no more do you harm. Because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Behold, I have acted foolishly, I 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 today, and I would not put out my hand against the Lord's anointed. Behold, as your life was precious this day 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. In David's last conversation with Saul, he calls Saul to repentance. He said to Saul, Why do you pursue your servant? What have I done to you, king Saul? What have I done to you? What evil do you see in my hands?

Then he said something I think is very interesting. He said, You drove me out of the presence of the tabernacle. In other words, David has not been able to go to the tabernacle, and he's not been able to have for him offered atoning sacrifices. In other words, Saul is stifling his worship.

Saul is hindering David's fellowship with God. Now in the New Testament times, we don't have to go to a tabernacle or a tent or a temple to worship. We don't have to do that. We don't have to worry about where to worship. We don't have to worry about a theology of geography. You remember when Jesus was at the whale in Samaria, and the woman at the whale was there, and she began to talk to Jesus, and she said, Oh, we here in Samaria, we worship on this mountain, but you Jews, you worship in Jerusalem.

Let's know what Jesus said to her. But the hour is coming, and now is here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. So Jesus came to die on the cross in order that he might stop the theology of geography.

Jesus came and died for what purpose? One of the purposes was so that the Holy Spirit of God could indwell us, so that the Spirit of God would indwell not a building, not a temple, not a tabernacle, not a tent, but dwell the hearts of every true child of God. Folks, we don't need a building. This building does not contain the Holy Spirit. We don't need a tabernacle. We don't need a temple. We can worship in a barn. We can worship in an open field. It can be a God-anointed, glorious type of worship. Some of the sweetest worship that I've ever experienced was in a barn in Czechoslovakia.

Communist Czechoslovakia, no heat, cold, dark, that didn't matter. The Spirit of God was indwelling the hearts of God's people. But in David's day, it was necessary to go to the tabernacle. It was necessary, but David could not go, because all these soldiers were surrounding the tabernacle. David couldn't get there. If he tried to get there, they would have killed him. They would have put him down.

They would have taken his life. And so what does David say? David says, Saul, what are you trying to get me to do? Are you trying to get me to go out and find other gods to worship?

He said, I will not do that. I would rather die than worship another god, for there is no god but Jehovah. Look at what David said in verse 19. 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.

I think what David is implying is this. I think he's saying, I'll go with you, Saul. I'll go with you to the tabernacle. We can both confess. We can both repent. We can both go and have sacrifice offerings of atonement made for us, Saul.

We can do that together. What kind of effect did that have on Saul? A very powerful effect. For it broke him. And what did he say in verse 21? Saul said, I have acted foolishly and I have made a mistake.

So that's a good step. But David knew he still could not trust Saul. Why couldn't he trust him? He said he's sorry. He said he made a foolish mistake. He said that he had sinned.

Let me tell you what he didn't say. He didn't say, I've sinned against God. He didn't say, I need God's forgiveness. He didn't say, I'm repenting. I'm turning from this junk. I'm turning from this junk in my life and I'm asking forgiveness from God Almighty. Folks, I want you to know that regret and remorse is not repentance. And remorse that is not filled up with brokenness can never be trusted.

Can never be trusted. So David doesn't run to Saul for a hug. He's still a long way away from him but he holds his spear up and he says, Give me the spear, Saul. He said, You don't come get it but you send a young boy over here to pick it up.

And you know, if Saul was repentant, I think Saul would have said to David, Forget it, David. You keep it. You keep it. In fact, you can take it and break it in half, David. For that spear is a symbol of my force. That spear is a picture of my corruption. Forget it, David.

I don't ever want to see it again. I repent. He didn't say that. In fact, he took his sword. He took his spear back. This was the last time that David would ever speak to Saul. It was the last time that he would ever see Saul. And he knew that Saul at this point in time was not broken. He was not repentant and he would have killed David if he could.

In closing, let me share this very quickly. On May the 11th, 1685, Margaret Wilson was martyred for her faith. On that very same day, there was a young teenage boy, 17 years old, whose name was Andrew Hislop. He also was martyred for his faith in Scotland for the same crime that Margaret Wilson had committed.

He had stated that King James was not the sovereign head of the church. For that, they brought him before the royal firing squad. And when they brought him there and they pointed the guns at him, they said to Andrew Hislop, take your hands and cover over your eyes.

And Andrew Hislop said, absolutely not. And he took his Bible and he held it up in his hands. Let me share with you what he said. I'll put you in the face, he answered.

I have done nothing of which I need to be ashamed. But how will you look in that day when you shall be judged by what is written in this book? The muskets fired and the bullets tossed Andrew's body to the ground, his hands still holding forth the word of God to his murderers. I submit to you today that we here at Grace Church need to prepare. We need to get ready to stand like David, like Margaret Wilson, like Andrew Hislop.

Why? Because I believe persecution is coming. And it may come sooner than later. Folks, if persecution is coming, we need to be ready to glorify God through the persecution. Are you ready for that?

Are you ready? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, most of us sometime in our life will have to deal with a person like King Saul. Perhaps a boss, teacher, maybe a spouse, maybe even a parent. They for some reason don't care for us. It may be jealousy, it may be pride, it may be arrogance, but whatever it is they seek to do us harm.

Perhaps they put our job at jeopardy. Perhaps they desire to hurt a relationship that we have with another person. But whatever it is, it's hurtful.

It causes us pain. Too often we don't handle it in a very Christ-like manner. May we learn from David the calling that you have on us to be both tough and tender.

Help us to focus our affection on you and not our attentive anger on them. Help us to fight for reconciliation, but to do it without compromise. And Father, we pray for our nation. We ask forgiveness for our ungodliness and our weakness in proclaiming truth. Put love in our heart and steel in our backbone for it is in the precious and holy name of Jesus that we pray.

Amen. Let's stand together and prayerfully sing Holy Spirit, Living Breath of God. Holy Spirit, Living Breath of God, breathe new life into my willing soul. Let the presence of the risen Lord come, renew my heart and make me whole. Cause your Word to come alive in me.

Give me faith for what I cannot see. Give me passion for your purity. Holy Spirit, breathe new life in me.

Holy Spirit, come abide within. Joy be seen in all I do. Love enough to cover every sin, in each thought and deed and attitude. Kindness to the greatest and the least.

Gentleness that sows the path of peace. Turn my strivings into words of grace. Breath of God, show Christ in all I do.

Holy Spirit, from creation's birth, giving life to all that God has made. Show your power once again on earth. Cause your church to hunger for your ways. Let the fragrance of our prayers arise. Lead us on the road of sacrifice.

That in unity the face of Christ may be clear for all the world to see. Thank you for coming and worshiping with us today and let me encourage you to be back with us tonight. We have scheduled Steve McCullough to preach tonight.

If they have that baby, he might not. But somebody will. Me or Eugene or somebody will be here to preach tonight.

So six o'clock you come on. In closing, let me encourage you with these words. Remember this and stand firm.

Recall it to mine, you transgressors. Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done. Saying my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose. Calling the bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken and I will bring it to pass. I have purposed and I will do it. And all God's children say it. Amen.