Would you please stand to for the call to worship? The call to worship today comes from Psalm 24. Verses seven through ten. Lift up your heads, O gates. And be lifted up.
O ancient doors. That the King of Glory may come in. Who is this king of glory? The Lord. Strong and mighty.
The Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates. And lift them up, O ancient doors. that the King of Glory may come in. Who is this king of glory?
The Lord of hosts He is the king of glory. You may be seated. Please join me in prayer. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. One God in three persons.
We come before you today. To give you praise, honor, and glory. for who you are and what you do. You've created all things for your glory. You created us in your image.
that we may glorify you. You have brought us your people out of darkness into light. You've made us a new creation, given us your Spirit to seal us for the day of redemption. And we pray that this alone would be enough for us to give you praise, honor, and glory today in worship. And we pray that it would indeed truly be worship to you.
We pray that you would Work in our hearts now to keep us from worldly distractions. That we would have our hearts and minds set today here to hear your word. to be encouraged by it. to be encouraged to be obedient to it. to love others.
to encourage others. to love our enemies. And to love you with our whole heart. We do pray now forgiveness for the times where we forget you and your mercies. that we indulge in worldly things.
That We are weak. But we also rejoice that when we are weak, you are strong. that you use the weak things to do your work through your glory. And we pray that today that as the word is preached, that it would penetrate our hearts. to convict us and to encourage us.
to make us more holy. That we might Bear witness to your work in our lives. We pray that uh all the Worship songs that we sing today. Would honor you. would be based in truth in your word.
That we would not stray from that. Lord, we pray for the All the sick and suffering in our church, that you would bring healing. that you would bring hope and strong faith to those that they may trust in you. We pray that you would encourage us to be a light to our neighborhood. to our workplace.
That there are many trials and troubles and tribulations out there that we can be witness to. To bring the light of the gospel to these situations. And we pray you would help us to be faithful to that. Lord, as we recognize and celebrate the Lord's Supper today, that we remember the work that you have done for us. We pray now that this service would be honoring to you.
That you would receive all praise, honor, and glory. And we do pray this in our Lord Jesus Christ's name. Amen. We're here this morning. To meet with God.
Above everything else, we're here to commune with the triune God. In the Old Testament, There was a tabernacle, after that a temple, where God's people would gather together and God would show up and meet with his people. In the New Testament, we, the church, are that tabernacle, that temple, God's meeting place, where two or three are gathered in His name. He is there in the midst of them.
So we are here this morning to meet with God, to fellowship with Him, to sing His praises, to hear from Him. Let's do that. Let's invite his presence here this morning. Come, thou almighty king, would you stand with me as we sing? Uh Called.
Thou almighty King, help us thy name to sing, help us to praise, Father of glory us, Lord, victorious, come and reign over us, patient of grace. Come thou in part and word, burn on thy mighty sword, our prayer attend. Come and thy people bless and give thy words access, Spirit of holiness on us descend. Come, holy, come. Sacred width there in this glad hour, thou who almighty art, thou rule every heart, and nearf depart, spirit of power to the great one in free no praise as we had several His sovereign majesty, may we in glory see, and to eternity, love and a poor.
Come, people of the risen King, who delight to bring him praise, come all and tune your hearts to sing to the morning star of grace. From the shifting shadows of the earth, we will lift our eyes to him where steady arms of mercy reach to gather children in. Rejoice, rejoice, and rejoice. Every time we join one glorious joy his morning sun and goes peeping through the night for his perfect love will never change and his mercies never cease our follow us through all our days with a certain hope of faith rejoice rejoice through every time Rejoice, one heart, one voice, the truth of Christ rejoice. Dark young and old from every land, and women of the faith come with full or empty hands, find the riches of his grace.
Over all the world, his people sea, shore to shore, we hear them call the truth that Christ to every age, our God is all in all. Rejoice, rejoice, that every tongue rejoice. One heart, one voice, all Jews of Christ, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, and every time we rejoice. One heart, one voice, all Jews of Christ rejoice. Amen.
We have the privilege this morning of joining our voices to the countless Christians who have gone before us and confess our faith, confess our confidence in the trying in God to save sinners like us through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Would you join with me? with me as we confess together using the nice Yeah. Christian, what do you believe? We believe.
in one God. The Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things. things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ. The only begotten.
Son of God. God, begotten. The Father before all worlds, God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten. Not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made, who for us men. and for our salvation came down from heaven and was in By the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man and was crucified.
Also us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried. And the third day he rose again. according to the scriptures. And ascended.
to heaven. And sitteth on the right hand. of the Father and he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead. whose kingdom shall have no end. And we believe in the Holy Spirit.
The Lord and Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son. Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified. Who spoke by the prophets? And we believe in one holy Catholic and apostolic church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins, and we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.
Amen. Stand with me again as we sing of our faith in God. By faith we see the hand. of God. In the light of creation's grand design, in the lives of those who prove his faithfulness, who walk by faith and not by sight by faith, our fathers roam the earth with the power of his promise in their hearts of a holy city built by God's own hand, a place where peace and justice reign.
We will stand as children of the promise. We will fix our eyes on him, our souls. Reward till the race is finished and the work is done. We'll walk by faith and not by sight by faith. The prophet saw a day when the longed-for Messiah would appear with the power to break the chains of sin and death and rise triumphant from the graves.
By faith, the church was called to go in the power of the Spirit to the loss. To be led captives and to preach good news in every corner of the earth. We will stand as children on the promise. We will fix our eyes on Him, our soul's reward. Till the race is finished and the work is done.
We'll walk by faith and not by sigh by faith. This mountain shall be moved, and the power of the gospel shall prevail for we know.
So, in Christ, all things are possible for all who call upon his name. We will stand as children of the promise. We will fix our eyes on him, our soul's reward. Till the grace is finished and the work is done. We'll walk by faith and not by sight.
Amen. We ask you to remain standing in honor of God's word as we read it together this morning. Before I share the scripture with you, I'd just like to uh tell you a special blessing that I had this morning. My friend, Uh walk in and Worship with us this morning. And we have been praying for Stephanie.
in a mighty battle. And the Lord is getting her through that battle. She's fighting a good fight. And Stephanie and Y'all borrowers, we are just glad to have y'all here with us this morning. If you have your Bibles, turn with me if you would, to 1 Samuel chapter 24.
I'm going to start with verses 1 through 7. Yeah. When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engeti. Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel. and went to seek David and his men in front of the wild goats' rocks.
And he came to the sheep folds by the way. where there was a cave. And Saul went in to relieve himself.
Now, David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave, and the men of David said to him, Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand. And you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you. Then David arose and stealthily cut off a Corner. of Saul's Rogue. And afterwards David's heart struck him.
because he had cut off a corner of Saul's robe. He said to his men, The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my Lord. The Lord's anointed. to put out my hand against him. Seeing he is the Lord's anointed.
So David persuaded his men with these words. It did not permit them to attack Saul. And Saul rose up, and left the cave. and went on his way. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, the Lesson you had for David in 1 Samuel 24 has Jesus written all over it. You're calling your servant David to do what we consider to be almost impossible. You are teaching David how to love his enemies. Unlike us, David did not have the example of the man Christ Jesus. David did not know that Jesus would be nailed to a cross.
and with horrible pain shooting through his body. He would look at the people who mocked him and spit on him. and beat him and nailed him to the cross. Then he would look up into heaven and say, Father, forgive them. For they know not what they do.
We have that godly example. And yet we get offended by a snub. or someone's offhand comment. And we want to retaliate. We want to get revenge.
We don't naturally desire to forgive. We don't like passing over an offense. We say stuff like, I'll forgive but not forget. Help us to see the hopelessness in that worldly, ungodly attitude. Help us to shun bitterness.
and hunger after Christ's likeness. Convict us. Comfort us. and conform us into your image. For it isn't a precious In the holy name of Jesus, that we pray.
Amen. You may be seated. David is still running from King Saul. Saul has made a commitment to kill David. And he is doing everything in his power to be sure that that goal is accomplished.
So David has taken his men and he has sent them off with him leading to the wilderness of Engeti. Where is Engeti? Engedi is in the south part of the nation of Israel. It is on the west bank of the Dead Sea. It is surrounded by just stark white hot desert sand.
But the area of Engeti itself is very mountainous, and these are high. Uh rough Tough, craggy, hazardous, and cavernous mountains. That's where David is. That's where his men are with him. And you know, if you're going to travel through that area today, you'll travel around in Getty.
You don't want to travel over it because it's just tough, tough traveling.
Now you may have heard of this little town of Qumran. Qumran is near is right in the center of Engeti. And Qumran is the place where the Dead Sea Scrolls, or at least most of them, were found in a cave by a little shepherd boy. But this is where David and his men are. They are hiding out in different caves in the mountains of Engeti.
And they are scared to death. They know that they are in danger. They know that they could easily be killed in this situation. And what does King Saul do? He finds out that David is in Engeti.
He chooses 3,000 top-notch soldiers and he sends them out on a hunting expedition to kill David and to do him in. That takes us to the points that I want to look at today, and there are five of them. And point number one is this: the temptation to get revenge. And look with me at verse 3 and first part of verse 4. And he came to the sheep folds by the way, where there was a cave.
And Saul went in to relieve himself.
Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave, and the men of David said to him, Here is the day of which the Lord said to you: Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him. as it shall seem good to you.
Now you've got to picture this in your mind. David and his men are hiding themselves in these caves, and Saul's army is coming after him. They're walking through all these woods and all these high rocks. They're looking for David's men. David's men are hidden back in the caves.
And let me tell you, they're being as quiet as they can because they are outnumbered five to one. They better be quiet. They can hear every step that these soldiers take. And every once in a while, they'll see a soldier go right in front of the cave in which they are hiding. Then all of a sudden something strange happens.
David looks out of the cave that he and several of his men are in. And who does he see but King Saul? He sees King Saul out there. Saul looks into the cave, kind of looks around, and then he walks into the cave. The scripture says in the King James Versions that he went in to attend to his needs.
That's a nice way of saying he went to use the bathroom. They didn't have Porta Johns then, they had Cavajohn's. And so that's where he went. And he got into the cave. And it was cool.
And it was shady. And it was out of that hot mid-eastern sun. And he says, I got a good idea. I'm going to take a nap. And so he takes his blanket, he rolls it out, and he lays down on the blanket.
And there he is in this dark cave. David and his men are in the back recesses of this cave, and they can see everything that's going on. It's a dark cave. How dark is it? Cindy and I went on a trip to the Linville Taverns a couple years ago, and we took the tour.
We got about halfway through the tour, and the guide said, now stand still, don't move. I'm going to turn the lights off. And she turned the lights off, and my goodness. You could not see the hand in front of your face. It was like a darkness that could be felt.
I'd never seen such darkness as that.
Well, that's where these men are in the back of this darkness, and they're looking out at Saul. Saul dozes off on that blanket. And then he goes into a deep sleep, starts snoring like a bear in hibernation. And I mean, he is just dead to the world. And when that happened, David's men get all excited.
And they run over to David and they very quietly are shaking him by the shoulders and they're saying, David, look what God has done for us. God has brought our enemy right to our doorstep. All we've got to do now is take his life. All we've got to do now is to gag him and then slit his throat, throw him in the back of this cave, and then David, our persecution will be over with. You will be the king and everything will be wonderful.
Roger Elworth had some great, great insight here. Listen to this. Many of David's men had no trouble interpreting God's design in this particular providence. God had steered Saul to the very cave so that Saul, so that David could kill him.
Someone whispered, This is the day of which the Lord said to you, Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, and that you may do to him as it seems good to you. And all the other men whispered, Amen. But wait a minute. When did God ever say such a thing to David? There's no record of it.
God had promised David would be the king of Israel. He never said anything about when. or how this would take place. He certainly had not said that he would deliver Saul over for David to do with him as he pleased.
Someone had apparently taken it on himself to read into that promise. I can hear the powerful voice of temptation whispering sweetly in David's ear. Saul didn't deserve to live. He has tried to kill you on several occasions. He has already killed several innocent people in Israel.
The sooner you come to the throne, the sooner you can bring to an end the chaos and hardship Saul has created. Humanly speaking, This would have been a case of justifiable homicide. if there ever was one. I tell you, I'm absolutely amazed at how many times people tell me. God told me to do something.
And It's in something that's diametrically opposed to God's word.
Now, if you come to me and you tell me, God told me not to lie. God told me not to commit adultery. God told me not to murder. I'd say, okay, I believe you. God told you those things because the word of God in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 line up with that.
That's what God said. But so we need to be very, very careful. when we say, God told me this, just because I have a feeling about it. We need to be really careful with that. But you tell me that um God told you and your girlfriend that it was okay for you to have an abortion.
I can tell you this for sure. God did not tell you that. God was not speaking to you. Folks, here we need to see what's going on. That David is in a situation where his men are talking to him, trying to convince him of something.
He needs not to listen to his men. He needs to listen to God. David thinks back of how he's treated Saul over these years, and he's treated Saul very well. He has killed Goliath, the great enemy of Israel. He has killed thousands of Philistine soldiers.
He has played the harp for Saul when Saul was in a great depression and soothed his nerves and lifted his depression off of him. His best friend was Jonathan, Saul's son. He was his covenant brother. He's even married Saul's daughter, Michael. Everything that David has done for Saul has been good.
And yet what is all done? Saul has taken a spear. and tried to spear David to death. Saul absolutely hates him. He's tried to turn his own son and his daughter against David.
He has put a bounty out on David's life. He took the priests of Nob, 85 of them, who had just been nice to David and given him food to eat and given him a sword of Goliath, and had every one of them put to death and all the rest of the people in Nob just because he was mad at David. David could have said to himself at this point in time, and it would have been very easy for him to do so. Aye. This is payback time.
I'm tired of the way that you've been treating me. I've done you nothing but good. You've done me nothing but bad. Ah, this is not right. This is not right that you've treated me this way.
And I could just kill you, and then I wouldn't have to worry about this anymore. I could clean this mess up. and it would be done with. Surely that went through David's mind. As his men were encouraging him with all their heart to take Saul's life and stop all this terrible persecution.
You know, I look at our society today, and we become a people who are developing this attitude of loving revenge. We've got all kinds of lawyers today that are ambulance chasers trying to get us to sue somebody. We have thousands of movies and thousands of novels that are built around the plot of revenge. If somebody does something to you, then kill them. If you don't, you're a wimp.
In We got the bumper stickers now. And the bumper stickers say, I don't get mad, I get even. I heard a murder not long ago. that was being questioned about why he did what he did. Why did you kill this man?
And the murderer said, because he didn't show me respect. The motto of our society is this. Don't take anything. off anybody. David is being tempted to do that very thing.
And the men that are tempting him are saying, this is God's will. This is what God wants you to do. That could not be further from the truth. All right, that takes us to point two. Think with your head.
and not with your emotions. Look at verse 4. The last part of it. Then David arose and stealthfully cut off a corner of Saul's robe. Years ago, I did a study on the subject of the hem of the garment.
Had no idea that the Bible had so much to say about this great subject.
So let me develop this. It's going to take a little bit of time here, but I think it's worth it. In Numbers chapter 15, verses 37 through 40, the Scripture says this, The Lord said to Moses, Speak to the people of Israel and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations. and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. And it shall be a tassel for you to look at, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after.
So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God.
Now, if you've never seen this before, this idea of the hem of the garment might seem as exciting as castor oil. But the truth is we don't really know what's behind this. In the passage that I just read, God is commanding Moses to teach the people of God that they are to wear a special garment with them at all times. That garment is called a tallit. It is a prayer shawl.
And they are to wear it around their waist when they're not praying, and they have an outer garment over it so you don't see it then. But then, when they get ready to pray, they'll reach up, they're to take that prayer shawl, that tallit, and then they are to drape it over their head. And they are to pray that way. The prayer shawl has a hymn on it that has tassels in it. and they are to take a tassel of royal blue and put it in each corner of the prayer shawl.
Now where did they get that royal blue from? Back in Jesus' day and back in Moses' day. Uh there was a little sea snail called Amurex. And they would drill through the back of the shell of the murex, and they would extract one little. Drop of royal blue liquid, very deep royal blue liquid.
How many drops did it take to make a pound of that stuff? 3,887,000 drops. How expensive was that? In American currency, it would be about $36,000 a pound. That's why they call it royal blue.
because only the royalty could afford it. But the idea of royalty is really, really important in this part of the hem of the garment. Because it represents kingship. It represents authority. And so when the people would pray, they would put that prayer shawl over their head, they would reach up, they would touch, and hold on to the tassel of royal blue.
And they did that to say, I'm tapping into the authority. of Jehovah. All the way through the scripture. you will see this great emphasis on the hem of the garment. The priest wore long vestments and these long robes.
And the longer the hem of the garment was, the more authority they had. And so the high priest had the robe with the very longest hem of the garment. Several years ago, there was an archaeological dig that was going on in the Middle East, and they went and some archaeologists dug up some stones, and on those stones, tablets, there were written some inscriptions about how a king had been deposed and kicked out of his office, and another king had replaced him. And the way they described it was this, that he had had the hem of his garment cut off. In the Old Testament days, when a prophet of God was sending a message to a king.
He would write the message out. Then he would take a strand of his own hair. And a thread from the hem of his garment, put it together, and sent it to the king. That was a statement saying, I'm speaking to you. by the power and the authority of God Almighty Himself.
Do you remember in Isaiah 6, when Isaiah went into the temple of the Lord? The scripture says that he saw the Lord high and lifted up on his throne, and the train, his train, filled the temple. It's not talking about a locomotive there. He's talking about the hem of his garment. And there is the Lord sitting on his throne.
And how far does the hymn go? All the way down to the floor? No. It flows and it flows and it flows and it flows until it fills the entire temple. Folks, that's a statement that is being made about our God, that He's not just a king.
He is the King of kings, He is the Lord of Lords, and He is sovereign over all. of his creation. You remember in 1 Samuel chapter 15? Uh King Saul had to just disobeyed the Lord. rebelled against God.
Samuel the prophet came to him and said, Because of your rebellion, your disobedience, God is going to take the kingdom away from you and give it to a man after God's own heart. And what did Saul do? Samuel turned around to walk away. Saul reached over and he grabbed his robe, and when he did, he ripped off the hem of the garment. Samuel turned around to him and he said to him, You hold in your hand the hem of my garment, the symbol of my authority.
But he said, God has taken away your authority, your real authority. He has taken the kingdom of Israel out of your hand. given it to a man after God's own heart. Then in the New Testament, you remember the woman who had the issue of blood. 12 years she suffered with this.
She went to doctors, spent all of her money, no help whatsoever. And so finally she heard Jesus was in town.
So she went to where Jesus was, a huge crowd that was there. She weaseled her way through the crowd, and then she reached through a couple people, and what did she grab? She grabbed the hem of his garment. I used to think, well, she's just trying to touch Jesus anywhere on his body. She just wanted to touch him.
No, no, this is symbolism, and she understood it. She wasn't just trying to touch him on the arm or stroke his face or touch his beard. She reached over and she grabbed on to that blue tassel. in the hem of his garment. Yeah.
because she was tapping into the authority of Christ. in order that she might be healed. And brothers and sisters, she was. She she made a statement. She was saying, Jesus, I know who you are.
You are the Messiah. You are the king, king of kings, and lord of lords. You are my high priest, Jesus. You are my savior. You are my Lord.
You are my healer.
Now, with all that in mind, I want you to think again to what is going on in that cave with David. He cuts off the hem of Saul's garment, the symbol of Saul's authority. He would not yield to the temptation to take Saul's life. He just took the hem. David was thinking with his head.
and not with his emotions. And he thought, surely, that when Saul wakes up. He is going to realize now that I am not his enemy. All right, point three. The blessing of a tender conscience.
Look at verse 5 through 7. And afterward, David's heart struck him because he had cut off a corner of Saul's robe. He said to his men, The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my Lord, the Lord's anointed. To put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord's anointed.
So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul. And Saul rose up and left the cave, and he went. and went on his way. After David cut off the hem of Saul's garment. He felt bad about it.
His heart hurt about it. Folks, this man, David, had a conscience that was extremely tender. The rest of David's men were drooling over the idea of killing Saul. Man, they could have taken his life just like that, not thought a thing about it. But David just cuts off the hem of Saul's garment, and David feels all this guilt.
He says, oh, I wish I hadn't have done this. This is not right. I was wrong to do this. We need to ask ourselves a question here. Was David wrong or was David right?
And if he was wrong, what was the problem?
Some people have what the scripture calls a weak conscience. And that's a conscience that is very, very tender. and overly sensitive.
Some people, the Scripture says, have a seared conscience. And that is a conscience that has been calloused and hardened by repetitive sin.
so that they don't feel what they should anymore. They don't feel bad about doing bad things. We, as God's people, need to be developing a good and healthy conscience, a conscience that pricks us when we do wrong. but a conscience that applauds us when we do right.
Now, as I said, some people have what the Bible calls a weak conscience. And I think that's probably what David had. a a very overly sensitive conscience.
So they can perfectly be in the right about a situation. And somebody can say something negative. and they get thrown on a guilt trip. and they can be spiritually unproductive for days, months, or years. That's a danger.
Let me give you a great verse. This comes from Ezekiel chapter 13, verse 22. And the Lord is speaking here to false prophets. Why don't you listen to what he says? He says with lies You have made the heart of the righteous sad.
whom I have not made sad. Wow. He said, You false prophets are manipulating God's people. By telling them lies about themselves that I have not said. You ever seen a preacher do that?
A preacher puts a burden on a congregation. Over something that God has not burdened that congregation over. And he does it to manipulate them through guilt. Brothers and sisters, that's wrong. before God.
I think that's what's the matter here with David. I think his conscience is very tender, very, very oversensitive. Yeah. He, I think he was. in danger here.
of getting himself in trouble i if he let that go on. What he did was right before God. R. C. Sproll said the following about the conscience.
I want you to listen to this carefully. He said, conscience insists on judging us. and insist on judging us by the highest standards we know. Hence, we call it God's voice in the soul. And in a sense, it is.
The judgment of conscience are only to be received as God's voice when they match God's own truth and law in Scripture. The conscience must be educated to judge scripturally. Superstition or scruple may lead a person to count as sinful an action that, according to God's Word, is not sinful. I think that's what David was experiencing. I I think this false guilt was manufactured through a weak conscience.
And let me just say something here. This is what our culture is doing to many of us right now. Our culture is accusing every white American of systemic racism. I am not a racist.
So don't use false guilt. to try to manipulate me. The white man, the black man, the red man, the yellow man, the brown man all have this in common. We were born in sin. And our only hope out of that is through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's Jesus Christ. is the answer to racism. Jesus Christ makes us colorblind. Christians, don't let the culture deceive you. Don't buy into false guilt.
If racism is an issue with you, then repent. Repent. But if it's not, then you treat everybody of every race with the same respect. in which you would treat Jesus Christ himself. Quit listening to Hollywood.
Quit listening to the professional athletes. Quit listening to two-faced politicians. Quit listening to the college professors that think they are the final word. The word of God is the final word. And folks, the Word of God will melt racism.
into agape love. That takes us to the fourth point. which is the fruit of discernment. Look with me at verses 8 through 15. Afterwards, David also arose and went out of the cave and called after Saul, My lord, the king.
And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth and paid homage. David said to Saul, Why do you listen to the words of men who say, Behold, David seeks your harm? Behold, this day your eyes have seen, how the Lord gave you today into my hand in the cave. And some told me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, I will not put out my hand against my Lord, for he is the Lord's anointed.
See, my father, see the corner of your robe in my hand? For by the fact that I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you, you may know and see that there is no wrong or treason in my hands. I have not sinned against you, though you hunt my life to take it. May the Lord judge between me and you. May the Lord avenge me against you.
But my hand shall not be against you. As the proverbs of the ancients say, I am And of the wicked Come wickedness. But my hand shall not be against you. After whom is the king of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue?
After a dead dog, after a flea? May the Lord, therefore, be judged, and give sentence between me and you, and see to it, and plead my cause, and deliver me from your hand. I tell you, turning the other cheek and loving your enemy. is some of the very hardest things that the Christian is called to do. But when we do that There is unbelievable supernatural spiritual fruit.
Saul finally wakes up, stretches himself, walks out of the cave. When he walks out of the cave, David and his men are still back there. They're still very quiet. He walks out of the cave. He gets off in a distance, and David goes to the front of the cave.
Finally, David steps out. David steps out of the cave and he yells at Saul. And to paraphrase, he said this: Saul, I am not your enemy. I am your friend. I loved you.
I care for you. I would never raise my hand against God's anointed. I will never try to take your throne.
Now, then he said this. He picked up that hem of the garment. And he held it up. And he said, Saul, look at this. He said, you were asleep in the cave where we were.
Dead asleep. He said, I could have killed you. I could have taken your life. We could have hidden you back in the corner of that cave, and nobody would have ever known where you were. then all of our persecution would have been over with.
Then all this mess would have been done. Then we wouldn't have to worry about this anymore. But I didn't do that. I didn't take your authority. I didn't take your life.
I just took the symbol of your authority to let you know what. to let you know that I am your loyal servant. To let you know that you can trust me. that I will be faithful to you as my king. What did this non-retaliatory spirit done for David.
Well, I think it had a profound effect on Saul. But I think it also had a profound effect on David's men. It would have been very easy for David to have listened to them and killed Saul, but he refused to do it. He refused to do it because he believed that that was not God's will. God had told him not to.
So he didn't. and his men looked up at him, I think, with a new respect. I think they say, here's a man who loves God more than he loves himself. Here's a man who loves God more than anything else on the face of the earth. Here's a man that loves God enough that he's going to be obedient to him no matter what it costs him.
Later on, when we get to 2 Samuel 16. We're going to see another man, his name is Shimei. Shemei was a man who took up an offense for Saul. And he got mad at David. Threw rocks at David, cursed David.
And this would have been. extremely tough on David. If David had killed Saul. But David knew that he was totally innocent. He knew that he had done the right thing.
And so when all those accusations came, He didn't have to deal. with a guilty conscience. Brothers and sisters, it's important for us. to live so by the word of God. that we don't have to be under the bondage.
of a guilty conscience. Fifth and last thing that I want to mention is this: God honors us. when we love our enemies. Verse 16 through 22. As soon as David had finished speaking these words to Saul.
Saul said, Is this your voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. He said to David, you are more righteous than I. For you have repaid me good. Whereas I have repaid you evil.
And you have declared this day how you have dealt with me. In that you did not kill me when the Lord put me into your hands. For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safe?
So may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. And now, behold, I know that you shall surely be king. and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. Swear to me, therefore, by the Lord, that you will not cut off my offspring after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father's house. And David swore this to Saul.
And then Saul went home. But David and his men went up to the stronghold. even King Saul, This wicked man that hated David so desperately. Even King Saul was touched. by David's love.
Paul said it this way. Love. never fails. I want to close with a word of commentary from Dr. Alan Redpath.
He said this. The practice of love in your life liberates spiritual power. as nothing else can. It is not simply the distributing of a tract. It is not the preaching of a sermon or the teaching of a Sunday school class.
It is something far deeper. A life saturated with love. A life that has learned the principle that David learned: to love not merely your friends. But also your enemies. and a life that is also learned How to wait on God.
Hmm. May God grant to us the love. that we see here in David. Love never fails. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, the psalmist encouraged us to number our days. We desperately need to remember that because this life is short. Help us to remember that only one life will soon be passed, and only what's done for Christ will last. Help us to remember that you are most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in you. And one of the greatest ways that we glorify Christ is by loving our enemies.
Your call for us to forgive. does not negate our responsibility to protect our families. Your call for us to forgive is not an excuse for us to compromise with the world. and bow to the devil's lies. Help us to be tough.
yet tender. Help us to shun bitterness. and fight the flesh's pull to get revenge. Naturally, We are unlike Lord Jesus.
So do the supernatural within us. and make us like Christ. We love you, Lord. Thank you so much. For loving us.
For it's in Jesus precious. And holy name that we pray. Amen. This time we're going to celebrate with our Lord's Supper, and we're short a few elders. I'm going to ask John Key if you would help us out today, and Steve Caldwell, if you don't mind, if you would help us out as well.
Eugene's going to officiate, so I'll ask Eugene to come forward. Dan, would you and John remove the cloth for us, please? Thank you.
Well, the table before us this morning is not the table of Grace Church, it is the table of the Lord Jesus Christ. And He welcomes all who are part of His holy bride, the church, to. Take communion and enjoy his uh promised spiritual presence here this morning. If you are here and you're not united to Christ by faith, The scriptures warn you that to eat and drink these elements in an unworthy manner, in a manner not properly discerning the body and blood of Jesus Christ, is to eat and drink judgment to yourself. And so we would ask that if you aren't united to Christ, you don't know him as your Lord and Savior, that you would abstain from these elements, but by all means watch.
and learn as the gospel is visibly demonstrated. before you this morning. Let me read from Mark's Gospel, chapter 14, as we remind ourselves again that this is not man's invention. This sacrament is a meal that Christ himself, the head of the church, gives to his church. The setting is the upper room shortly before Christ went to the cross.
And it says, As they were eating, he took bread and, after blessing it, broke it and gave it to them and said, Take, this is my body. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. As we prepare our hearts for this sweet meal, let me read from our own confession several things that are happening. as we take this bread in this cup.
We are proclaiming that the death of Christ brought forgiveness to sinners. We are strengthening ourselves against sin. We are encouraging ourselves to obey with love and zeal. We are increasing our faith and confidence in the sufficiency of Christ. We are properly soothing our consciences by confessing our sin and running to God for mercy.
And we are reminding ourselves that this world is not home. Heaven waits for us where we will see Jesus face to face and worship at the throne of God our Father and of His Spirit. Forever. Let's take a moment to bow in God's sweet presence and just ask His Holy Spirit to search us, to try us, to see if there be any wicked way in us. Let's use this as an opportunity to repent and run to Christ for mercy.
Lord Jesus, you are our merciful Savior. We thank you for the gift. of your life on our behalf. Thank you that when God looks at us, he sees your righteousness. and not our filthy racks.
Thank you for your promised presence now. May it nourish our souls. We pray in your name. Amen. If you have not.
Taking communion with us here. Uh Within the last couple of months, just a quick word of instruction in an effort to be as sterile as possible. We're going to distribute these sealed packets that have the bread and the cup all in one unit. As soon as you receive yours, go ahead and peel the cellophane off and get everything ready. But then we'll ask that you hold the elements until everybody's been served, and then we'll take communion together.
Chapter two. Christ Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree that we might die to sin. and live to righteousness by his wounds. You have been healed. I asked my brother Dan to offer a prayer of thanks.
For the bread. Lord God, we give you thanks for the bread this morning that uh we praise you for the work you have done in the work of salvation for for us, that you brought us out of darkness into light. And just for the glory of the Father, you've done this. Love your church. And we do thank you for this in Jesus' name.
Mm-hmm. Men. The body of Christ, take and eat. As we take the cup, listen to these words from 1 Peter chapter 1. Knowing that you were ransomed from the feudal ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold.
but with the precious blood of Christ. like that of a lamb with without blemish. Or spot. I asked my brother John Key to offer a prayer of thanks for the cup. Let's pray.
Almighty God of Heavenly Father, we Come to you in the holy and precious name of Jesus this morning. Celebrating this Lord's Supper. We thank you, Lord Jesus, for willing to go on to the cross. for dying for our sins, my sins. We deserve nothing.
But you gave it all. And we thank you in your holy and precious name this morning. As we celebrate this Lord's Supper. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Amen. The blood of Christ, take and drink. Scripture tells us that after that first communion, Christ and his disciples sang a hymn and then went out. We're going to sing a hymn. as we go from this place, concluding our worship service.
And can it be that I should gain an interest in our Savior's blood. Would you stand with me as we sing? Uh And can it be thy shouldest in using your blood die for me because he is made for he who hid to death pursued how had in me that thou my God. Shouldst die for me a raising love how glad it me that thou my God should die for me He left his father's throne above so free so infern His grace humble himself so great his love and left for all his choos and race tis mercy all Him and sat free for Lord, my God. If I need a mazing love, how can it be that thou thy God should stand for me all my brisk unspirited lay fast bound in sin and nature's night thine idly fuse with me reign the dark the dark On flame with light, my chains were all my heart was free.
I know and followed me. O mazing love how padded me that thou my God should style me though condemnation now I dread Jesus and call it is mine all I'm in him. My living hand and both in pride just messy. Hold thy upholds deal and make the proud my Lord. Oh, maisy love, how can it be that thou might God should sky for me?
Thank you so much for coming to worship with us today. And let me encourage you to be back tonight, Eugene. Be preaching six o'clock. Would love to have you. Why are we doing the little packets that we're using?
Okay. To in the Lord's Supper. We're doing it for cleanliness and keep things sterile. but I think primarily we're doing it to teach your pastor. your patients.
Those things drive me crazy. But anyway, I want you to listen to this in the light. Of where we are. in America right now in the world. what's going on, what's taking place.
Don't you think about the disease? The pestilence. The violence. the confusion That's taking place. And then listen to this.
The Lord is exalted. For he dwells on high. He will fill Zion with justice and righteousness. And he will be the stability of your times. Abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.
The fear of the Lord is Zion's treasure. And all God's children say it. Wow.
