1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,080 Well, let's go ahead and pick up our Bible study. 2 00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:04,880 We are in 1st Samuel, chapter 19. 3 00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:09,120 We've been verse by verse going through this book and it has 4 00:00:09,120 --> 00:00:13,320 been a blessing to see God's hand as he's worked through various 5 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:14,120 individuals lives. 6 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:17,560 We've seen him work through the life of Samuel and even prior 7 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:22,320 to that his mom and in her prayers for having a son. 8 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:25,360 And then obviously we saw God working through Saul. 9 00:00:25,890 --> 00:00:30,130 Even though Saul does not obey God in most instances, we do see 10 00:00:30,130 --> 00:00:32,570 God's providential hands in his life. 11 00:00:32,570 --> 00:00:36,530 And then we've now seen a God working through the life of David. 12 00:00:36,530 --> 00:00:41,130 And now at this point in time we're, we're following after David 13 00:00:41,130 --> 00:00:42,170 slays Goliath. 14 00:00:42,170 --> 00:00:46,010 And David now at this point in time has become very famous in the 15 00:00:46,010 --> 00:00:46,930 land of Israel. 16 00:00:46,930 --> 00:00:51,930 And many people are following him, many people are celebrating 17 00:00:51,930 --> 00:00:55,140 him, and many people are seeing God's power working through 18 00:00:55,140 --> 00:00:55,940 the life of David. 19 00:00:55,940 --> 00:00:57,700 And for most people that's a blessing. 20 00:00:57,700 --> 00:01:00,220 But for Saul it's not because Saul feels threatened. 21 00:01:00,460 --> 00:01:03,140 And, and Saul has a lot of negative characteristics that we 22 00:01:03,140 --> 00:01:06,860 can see in these passages, but obviously one of the main ones that 23 00:01:06,860 --> 00:01:11,540 is highlighted here in First Samuel is his jealousy against David. 24 00:01:11,540 --> 00:01:15,020 He sees God working in David's life and there's jealousy. 25 00:01:15,020 --> 00:01:18,180 Now we know that even in the New Testament, the Bible tells us 26 00:01:18,180 --> 00:01:21,350 to celebrate with those that are celebrating too, to be joyful 27 00:01:21,350 --> 00:01:22,670 with those that are joyful. 28 00:01:22,830 --> 00:01:27,030 And in many cases, even within our own Christian life, we get into 29 00:01:27,030 --> 00:01:29,990 places that maybe we see somebody else having victories, we 30 00:01:29,990 --> 00:01:32,790 see someone else having blessings, and we're tempted in the 31 00:01:32,790 --> 00:01:34,830 flesh to fall into a sense of jealousy. 32 00:01:35,070 --> 00:01:40,070 And the jealousy that Saul has here in 1st Samuel chapter 19 and 33 00:01:40,070 --> 00:01:43,110 in many other places, it doesn't just stop with jealousy, 34 00:01:43,110 --> 00:01:43,790 it goes further. 35 00:01:43,950 --> 00:01:46,670 His jealousy turns to bitterness, his bitterness turns 36 00:01:46,670 --> 00:01:48,750 to anger, his anger turns to hatred. 37 00:01:48,750 --> 00:01:49,030 His turn. 38 00:01:49,100 --> 00:01:51,180 And we know what the New Testament says about hatred. 39 00:01:51,180 --> 00:01:52,780 Hatred eventually leads to murder. 40 00:01:53,100 --> 00:01:57,300 And now Saul is in this place where he is seeking to kill David 41 00:01:57,300 --> 00:01:59,020 and whatever it takes, basically. 42 00:01:59,260 --> 00:02:02,340 And we just got off of the first part of 1st Samuel chapter 43 00:02:02,340 --> 00:02:02,620 19. 44 00:02:03,020 --> 00:02:07,340 David is in there playing music to Saul to calm him down. 45 00:02:07,660 --> 00:02:10,300 Saul throws a spear at him, almost kills David. 46 00:02:10,300 --> 00:02:14,580 David escapes, he runs to his house and Saul says, okay, everything 47 00:02:14,580 --> 00:02:17,900 that I have, I'm going to come at David, I'm going to send my men 48 00:02:18,290 --> 00:02:19,570 and I'm going to go myself. 49 00:02:19,970 --> 00:02:23,530 And the Bible tells us that in that process David relied on the 50 00:02:23,530 --> 00:02:23,770 Lord. 51 00:02:23,770 --> 00:02:25,970 And we saw a parallel in Psalm 59. 52 00:02:25,970 --> 00:02:29,130 So if you have A chance at some point, go back and read Psalm 53 00:02:29,130 --> 00:02:29,570 59. 54 00:02:29,570 --> 00:02:31,810 Because it's a great parallel passage to this. 55 00:02:32,050 --> 00:02:34,449 Because it really tells us what David's heart was all about 56 00:02:34,450 --> 00:02:38,050 in the midst of this struggle, in the midst of running, in the midst 57 00:02:38,050 --> 00:02:40,650 of fear, in the midst of being persecuted. 58 00:02:40,650 --> 00:02:44,410 And it gives us a guide of how we should really respond in the midst 59 00:02:44,410 --> 00:02:46,960 of pain and fear and struggles within our own life. 60 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:49,440 And we see that David's wife helps him. 61 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:54,440 She escorts him out the window and basically puts this doll of goat 62 00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:58,720 fur underneath the sheets there and delays Saul's people. 63 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:01,839 And then Saul comes, and Saul is obviously upset because that's 64 00:03:01,839 --> 00:03:02,400 his daughter. 65 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:05,960 And he gets upset with her because she doesn't pick him, she 66 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:06,800 picks her husband. 67 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:08,880 And that's what we're going to pick up here. 68 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:13,480 Now we're going to see Saul pursuing David and Saul's men pursuing 69 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:13,840 David. 70 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:16,580 And we're going to see God do something really amazing here. 71 00:03:16,580 --> 00:03:18,300 And this passage is very strange. 72 00:03:18,540 --> 00:03:21,580 If you were just to read this passage, you might not, on the first 73 00:03:21,580 --> 00:03:23,500 read, understand what's going on here. 74 00:03:23,900 --> 00:03:24,660 Because in. 75 00:03:24,660 --> 00:03:28,580 In one side of the passage, we see Saul going after David. 76 00:03:28,580 --> 00:03:30,940 And at the end of this passage, we're actually going to 77 00:03:30,940 --> 00:03:32,300 see Saul prophesying. 78 00:03:32,620 --> 00:03:34,700 It's not going to make a lot of sense for us because we're going 79 00:03:34,700 --> 00:03:37,180 to say, I thought that Saul was filled with evil. 80 00:03:37,180 --> 00:03:40,340 How could he end this passage prophesying for the Lord? 81 00:03:40,340 --> 00:03:42,910 And we're going to see, really, that this passage, among 82 00:03:42,910 --> 00:03:46,670 many others in Scripture, speak to God's providence, God's 83 00:03:46,670 --> 00:03:47,350 sovereignty. 84 00:03:47,830 --> 00:03:50,390 Now, sometimes when we think about God's sovereignty, we get a 85 00:03:50,390 --> 00:03:51,910 lot of different viewpoints in our mind. 86 00:03:52,390 --> 00:03:55,350 Sometimes people take God's sovereignty and move it to a place 87 00:03:55,350 --> 00:03:56,790 of determinism. 88 00:03:56,790 --> 00:03:59,110 Basically, I don't have a choice in what I'm going to do. 89 00:03:59,190 --> 00:04:00,870 I don't have a choice in my salvation. 90 00:04:00,870 --> 00:04:02,630 I don't have a choice in my obedience. 91 00:04:02,790 --> 00:04:06,150 Basically, everyone's robotic and God is overly sovereign over 92 00:04:06,150 --> 00:04:06,590 all of us. 93 00:04:06,590 --> 00:04:09,710 And there really isn't any free will or any responsibility or 94 00:04:09,710 --> 00:04:10,230 any choice. 95 00:04:10,660 --> 00:04:13,180 And I don't believe that that's a proper viewpoint of sovereignty. 96 00:04:13,180 --> 00:04:16,980 What I do see within Scripture is that God certainly in many cases 97 00:04:17,380 --> 00:04:20,980 intervenes in the life of individuals who have certain intentions. 98 00:04:21,140 --> 00:04:25,540 But God is overpowering them and shifts their plan and stops their 99 00:04:25,540 --> 00:04:25,780 plan. 100 00:04:25,780 --> 00:04:27,300 And that's exactly what we see here. 101 00:04:27,860 --> 00:04:32,980 Saul is completely focused, completely given over to killing 102 00:04:32,980 --> 00:04:33,620 David here. 103 00:04:33,860 --> 00:04:36,980 And we're going to see that God comes on the scene and changes 104 00:04:36,980 --> 00:04:40,980 the heart of Saul, even for just a temporary moment, and really 105 00:04:40,980 --> 00:04:42,260 preserves David. 106 00:04:42,260 --> 00:04:42,660 Why? 107 00:04:42,900 --> 00:04:45,220 Because God had already made a promise to David. 108 00:04:45,460 --> 00:04:47,900 And it's good to know this as we study this. 109 00:04:47,900 --> 00:04:51,220 But remember what Saul's or God's promise was to David. 110 00:04:51,380 --> 00:04:54,420 God's promise to David was that he would be king one day, and 111 00:04:54,420 --> 00:04:55,380 he was not king yet. 112 00:04:55,940 --> 00:05:00,780 So this is an opportunity for David to see God's faithfulness so 113 00:05:00,780 --> 00:05:02,020 that his faith will grow. 114 00:05:02,340 --> 00:05:07,260 Remember, faith and confidence and hope is wrapped up in trusting 115 00:05:07,260 --> 00:05:09,940 what God has said and believing that he will keep his word. 116 00:05:10,420 --> 00:05:12,980 So for David, his faith is being tested here. 117 00:05:13,300 --> 00:05:16,220 It would be similar to us understanding something in our life 118 00:05:16,220 --> 00:05:18,100 that God has promised us in Scripture. 119 00:05:18,580 --> 00:05:21,660 Maybe it's a passage that says that God will never leave us nor 120 00:05:21,660 --> 00:05:22,180 forsake us. 121 00:05:22,180 --> 00:05:24,980 Or maybe it's a passage of Scripture that says that nothing 122 00:05:24,980 --> 00:05:26,580 can separate us from the love of God. 123 00:05:26,660 --> 00:05:29,860 And then we have an instance in our life where that is tested. 124 00:05:30,670 --> 00:05:31,910 We have a decision to make. 125 00:05:31,910 --> 00:05:35,710 Am I going to trust what God has said and promised to me? 126 00:05:35,950 --> 00:05:37,870 Or am I going to trust the way that I feel? 127 00:05:37,870 --> 00:05:39,390 Or what I see before me? 128 00:05:39,870 --> 00:05:41,790 So David, what he sees before him is. 129 00:05:42,350 --> 00:05:44,030 Psalm 59 describes this. 130 00:05:44,030 --> 00:05:46,629 There's these men that were working for Saul, these soldiers, 131 00:05:46,629 --> 00:05:49,910 and they're basically standing outside of his house growling and 132 00:05:49,910 --> 00:05:52,230 coming after him and saying they're going to kill him in the 133 00:05:52,230 --> 00:05:52,510 morning. 134 00:05:52,750 --> 00:05:55,870 And then he sees the king of Israel, very powerful man, coming 135 00:05:55,870 --> 00:05:56,350 after him. 136 00:05:56,350 --> 00:05:58,410 So for David, it could have been this. 137 00:05:58,570 --> 00:05:59,770 This is what I see. 138 00:05:59,930 --> 00:06:03,970 I can't see God's promise coming to pass because I know that 139 00:06:03,970 --> 00:06:04,930 I'm going to get killed. 140 00:06:04,930 --> 00:06:07,210 But he could have said a lot of different things. 141 00:06:07,210 --> 00:06:07,970 But what does he do? 142 00:06:07,970 --> 00:06:09,770 He trusts that God will preserve him. 143 00:06:09,770 --> 00:06:10,810 And that's faith. 144 00:06:11,050 --> 00:06:13,490 Faith is believing in something that we don't see, but 145 00:06:13,490 --> 00:06:15,290 it's trusting in what God has said. 146 00:06:15,850 --> 00:06:19,210 So for David, he knows that God has told him that he would be 147 00:06:19,210 --> 00:06:19,410 king. 148 00:06:19,410 --> 00:06:24,240 And so this is God providentially protecting David despite 149 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:26,320 all these people that want him dead. 150 00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:30,920 So let's go to this passage and let's see where we left off last 151 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:31,160 week. 152 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:34,560 We left off last week with David, fleeing to a place called 153 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:35,280 Ramah. 154 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:37,200 Now, why is Ramah so important? 155 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:40,320 Ramah was the place where Samuel is from. 156 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:41,760 Why is Samuel important? 157 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:43,040 Samuel is important. 158 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:43,480 Why? 159 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:47,400 Because he was the mouthpiece of God to bring the promise to David. 160 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:49,960 Remember who told David that he would be the next king? 161 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:50,720 It was Samuel. 162 00:06:51,250 --> 00:06:54,250 Now, obviously, Samuel was the prophet, which meant he was the one 163 00:06:54,250 --> 00:06:56,850 to speak for The Lord, and he anointed David. 164 00:06:56,850 --> 00:07:00,530 And that is where David is, associating this promise from God 165 00:07:00,530 --> 00:07:01,410 through Samuel. 166 00:07:01,410 --> 00:07:04,730 And so he goes to Samuel, there in Ramah, and he seeks the 167 00:07:04,730 --> 00:07:07,249 Lord's word, he seeks the Lord's will. 168 00:07:07,330 --> 00:07:09,890 And he comes to Samuel for spiritual advice. 169 00:07:09,970 --> 00:07:13,090 And he tells him in verse 18 what Saul had done to him. 170 00:07:13,250 --> 00:07:15,690 And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth. 171 00:07:15,690 --> 00:07:17,370 Naoth means residence. 172 00:07:17,370 --> 00:07:21,050 So basically they're dwelling in Samuel's residence here in Rama. 173 00:07:21,530 --> 00:07:25,690 And then it says in verse number 19, and it was told Saul saying, 174 00:07:25,690 --> 00:07:28,010 behold, David is at Naoth in Rama. 175 00:07:28,250 --> 00:07:30,850 So Saul hears what's going on. 176 00:07:30,850 --> 00:07:32,410 Saul knows where David is. 177 00:07:32,810 --> 00:07:34,970 And again, we're going to see the heart of Saul. 178 00:07:34,970 --> 00:07:37,730 In his bitterness and his anger, he's going to chase after 179 00:07:37,730 --> 00:07:38,250 David. 180 00:07:39,290 --> 00:07:39,930 Verse 20. 181 00:07:39,930 --> 00:07:42,250 And Saul sent messengers to take David. 182 00:07:43,110 --> 00:07:47,070 And when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying and Samuel 183 00:07:47,070 --> 00:07:51,150 standing as appointed over them, the Spirit of God was upon 184 00:07:51,150 --> 00:07:52,190 the messengers of Saul. 185 00:07:52,190 --> 00:07:53,750 And they also prophesied. 186 00:07:54,150 --> 00:07:57,630 This is where for most people, this passage goes off the rails, 187 00:07:57,630 --> 00:07:58,950 because it doesn't make a lot of sense. 188 00:07:59,110 --> 00:08:02,470 There's these guys that are doing Saul's bidding. 189 00:08:02,550 --> 00:08:04,110 They run to get David. 190 00:08:04,110 --> 00:08:06,670 They're about to kill David, or at least take him back to Saul 191 00:08:06,670 --> 00:08:07,990 so that Saul will kill David. 192 00:08:08,420 --> 00:08:10,180 And they witnessed something. 193 00:08:10,180 --> 00:08:10,980 What do they witness? 194 00:08:10,980 --> 00:08:14,820 Well, it says here that they witnessed the prophets prophesying. 195 00:08:14,820 --> 00:08:16,740 This actually says the company of prophets. 196 00:08:17,380 --> 00:08:20,700 So most commentators believe that this would have been essentially 197 00:08:20,700 --> 00:08:22,300 the students of Samuel. 198 00:08:22,300 --> 00:08:25,540 Samuel would have been teaching other people to do what 199 00:08:25,540 --> 00:08:26,140 he was doing. 200 00:08:26,140 --> 00:08:28,340 And obviously it was an anointing from the Lord. 201 00:08:28,740 --> 00:08:32,780 And this company of prophets, the school of prophets were prophesying. 202 00:08:32,780 --> 00:08:34,740 Now we see this word prophesying. 203 00:08:35,490 --> 00:08:37,970 And what usually comes to our mind when we hear the word prophesying 204 00:08:38,050 --> 00:08:39,650 is people talking about the future. 205 00:08:39,650 --> 00:08:41,730 And certainly that's part of prophecy. 206 00:08:41,970 --> 00:08:45,170 Part of prophecy is obviously predicting what is to come. 207 00:08:45,570 --> 00:08:49,370 But also, even in the Hebrew and in the Greek, the word prophesy 208 00:08:49,370 --> 00:08:52,810 has a bigger meaning, which also means speaking forth the word 209 00:08:52,810 --> 00:08:53,250 of God. 210 00:08:53,650 --> 00:08:55,930 So whether or not they were talking about the future or whether 211 00:08:55,930 --> 00:08:58,170 or not they were just prophesying or preaching the word 212 00:08:58,170 --> 00:09:01,810 of God, it basically says in this passage that they were doing 213 00:09:01,810 --> 00:09:02,010 it. 214 00:09:02,010 --> 00:09:04,490 And then Samuel was standing as appointed over them. 215 00:09:04,490 --> 00:09:06,680 Basically, he was preaching as they were preaching. 216 00:09:06,680 --> 00:09:06,920 They. 217 00:09:06,920 --> 00:09:08,120 They were all prophesying. 218 00:09:08,760 --> 00:09:11,400 And we see something amazing happen at the end of verse 20. 219 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:15,080 The spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul. 220 00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:17,560 So we see that this is not a work of man. 221 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:22,440 We see that what happens here in this miracle is beyond what we 222 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:24,120 could understand as human beings. 223 00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:24,480 It's. 224 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:25,560 It's a work of God. 225 00:09:25,560 --> 00:09:28,440 And I think that's important to note because any experience that 226 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:33,100 we have in our life that is a spiritual experience or a miracle 227 00:09:33,100 --> 00:09:35,900 that we witness, we have to understand that it's only through 228 00:09:35,900 --> 00:09:37,180 God that these things can happen. 229 00:09:37,820 --> 00:09:40,460 These men are changed here temporarily, and it's because of 230 00:09:40,460 --> 00:09:41,260 the Spirit of God. 231 00:09:41,260 --> 00:09:45,380 Oftentimes we try to attribute wonderful things happening to things 232 00:09:45,380 --> 00:09:46,620 that we do as humans. 233 00:09:46,620 --> 00:09:47,540 Like, well, you know what? 234 00:09:47,540 --> 00:09:51,220 This church is good because this person does this or. 235 00:09:51,220 --> 00:09:53,780 Or this happened in this person's life because this person 236 00:09:53,780 --> 00:09:54,340 stepped in. 237 00:09:54,340 --> 00:09:59,860 And though we know that God uses us as humans as vessels of honor 238 00:09:59,860 --> 00:10:02,090 and dishonor, he uses us for good things. 239 00:10:02,090 --> 00:10:04,130 He uses us when we make good decisions. 240 00:10:04,130 --> 00:10:05,890 He uses us when we make bad decisions. 241 00:10:05,890 --> 00:10:10,010 By the way, Romans chapter 9 says that God is glorified in obedience 242 00:10:10,010 --> 00:10:13,770 and God is glorified in rebellion, meaning God can use whatever 243 00:10:13,770 --> 00:10:15,450 is done in this world for his glory. 244 00:10:15,930 --> 00:10:19,890 But we see that no matter what we do as humans, God is still going 245 00:10:19,890 --> 00:10:20,330 to win. 246 00:10:20,570 --> 00:10:25,610 And in this case, God oversees all of this and he allows for these 247 00:10:25,610 --> 00:10:27,610 messengers who had a heart of evil. 248 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:30,320 And eventually we're going to see Saul having this heart of evil. 249 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:32,720 They come in and the spirit of God changes them. 250 00:10:33,680 --> 00:10:37,440 So let's talk about a life lesson here for us in 2026 within 251 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:38,000 the church. 252 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:43,120 As Christians, anytime we see anything happen beyond our explanation, 253 00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:46,960 anytime we see God doing things beyond what we would expect, 254 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:50,600 or maybe something that's against our normal character as humans, 255 00:10:50,600 --> 00:10:53,640 we have to attribute it to the fact that God is more powerful than 256 00:10:53,640 --> 00:10:53,920 us. 257 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:55,320 He knows more than us. 258 00:10:55,880 --> 00:10:59,040 He is all, all present in our lives. 259 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:02,160 He's omnipresent, and he's able to do these things beyond our 260 00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:02,800 comprehension. 261 00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:03,880 So that's what's happening here. 262 00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:05,120 And verse 21. 263 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:07,960 And when it was told Saul, he sent other messengers. 264 00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:10,640 So Saul is hearing what's happened. 265 00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:12,760 He hears that God stops this process. 266 00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:15,040 And this is typical Saul. 267 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:19,640 This is typical anyone who's walking in the flesh, angry, jealous, 268 00:11:19,640 --> 00:11:20,200 bitter. 269 00:11:20,560 --> 00:11:23,760 We don't listen to God's plan here. 270 00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:25,520 He doesn't heed God's plan. 271 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:27,360 God's plan is for David to be preserved. 272 00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:28,320 And that's what happens here. 273 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:30,880 But Saul hears it, and he sends other messengers. 274 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:32,360 And the same thing happens. 275 00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:33,240 And they prophesied. 276 00:11:33,240 --> 00:11:37,880 Likewise, Saul should be understanding that it is not God's 277 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:40,880 plan for him to chase after David and to kill him, but he doesn't 278 00:11:40,880 --> 00:11:41,640 listen to the Lord. 279 00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:42,960 He's listening to himself here. 280 00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:45,840 So what happens once, it happens twice. 281 00:11:46,970 --> 00:11:49,410 And at the end of this verse, and Saul sent messengers again the 282 00:11:49,410 --> 00:11:50,010 third time. 283 00:11:50,330 --> 00:11:53,330 So it's three times that Saul is in rebellion here. 284 00:11:53,330 --> 00:11:55,370 He's not taking the hint. 285 00:11:55,370 --> 00:11:57,770 And it's not really a subtle hint. 286 00:11:57,770 --> 00:12:02,129 It's a very open, broad, clear message to Saul that he is not doing 287 00:12:02,129 --> 00:12:02,610 the right thing. 288 00:12:02,610 --> 00:12:03,930 He's going against the Lord. 289 00:12:04,970 --> 00:12:06,250 And they prophesied also. 290 00:12:06,570 --> 00:12:10,010 So three times Saul sends these messengers to take David. 291 00:12:10,010 --> 00:12:12,890 Three times God responds with, no, I'm changing their hearts. 292 00:12:13,340 --> 00:12:14,460 I'm changing this plan. 293 00:12:14,860 --> 00:12:17,260 And I don't know about you guys, but this passage of Scripture 294 00:12:18,140 --> 00:12:21,260 again reminds me of all the times in my life where I have my 295 00:12:21,260 --> 00:12:26,660 plans and I'm working on my emotions, I'm working on my feelings. 296 00:12:26,660 --> 00:12:30,260 And then it gets to a place where God changes the script, that 297 00:12:30,260 --> 00:12:34,140 God totally changes the way that I expected something to happen. 298 00:12:34,380 --> 00:12:37,500 And oftentimes I read passages of scripture and I want to see myself 299 00:12:37,500 --> 00:12:41,780 as the David like I. I'm the one who's the hero of the story. 300 00:12:41,780 --> 00:12:45,820 But oftentimes we as people are the ones in the story that need 301 00:12:45,820 --> 00:12:46,740 to learn a lesson. 302 00:12:46,740 --> 00:12:49,580 And the lesson really here for Saul is you need to listen to the 303 00:12:49,580 --> 00:12:49,780 Lord. 304 00:12:49,780 --> 00:12:51,060 You need to see what God is doing. 305 00:12:51,060 --> 00:12:52,940 You need to follow the work of the Lord. 306 00:12:53,260 --> 00:12:56,820 And for us in our life, I think a point of introspection, a 307 00:12:56,820 --> 00:13:00,420 point of evaluation would be, how many times in my life am I trying 308 00:13:00,420 --> 00:13:03,820 to push forward with something because I feel a certain way about 309 00:13:03,820 --> 00:13:07,470 somebody or because this is what I've experienced and this is 310 00:13:07,470 --> 00:13:09,870 what I want and this is what makes sense to me. 311 00:13:09,870 --> 00:13:12,030 And then God totally puts a roadblock there. 312 00:13:12,030 --> 00:13:14,150 And I say, okay, yeah, but I need to do that. 313 00:13:14,390 --> 00:13:14,870 I need. 314 00:13:14,870 --> 00:13:16,150 I have to do this. 315 00:13:16,550 --> 00:13:19,030 This happens a lot, even in our own home. 316 00:13:19,590 --> 00:13:21,390 And my wife is a voice of reason. 317 00:13:21,390 --> 00:13:25,110 In many situations in my life, there'll be something that I'm doing 318 00:13:25,110 --> 00:13:27,230 and it just does not seem to be working out. 319 00:13:27,230 --> 00:13:28,390 It is not happening. 320 00:13:28,790 --> 00:13:30,350 And I'm like, well, I got to get this done. 321 00:13:30,350 --> 00:13:30,750 And I'm. 322 00:13:30,750 --> 00:13:32,150 I'm very perseverant in that. 323 00:13:32,150 --> 00:13:35,390 Like, I'm just going to keep going, going to keep trying to figure 324 00:13:35,390 --> 00:13:35,790 this out. 325 00:13:35,790 --> 00:13:36,990 I'm a problem solver. 326 00:13:37,310 --> 00:13:41,190 And Alicia speaks in with her wisdom and she says, maybe this is 327 00:13:41,190 --> 00:13:43,310 God telling you that you're not supposed to do this. 328 00:13:43,710 --> 00:13:45,830 Maybe this is God stopping us from doing this. 329 00:13:45,830 --> 00:13:48,870 And I have to say, and typically, I Wish I could tell you. 330 00:13:48,870 --> 00:13:50,070 Every time I'm like, yep, you're right. 331 00:13:50,070 --> 00:13:52,590 But a lot of times I'm like, no, it just means I got to try harder. 332 00:13:52,830 --> 00:13:54,790 And there is a time for perseverance. 333 00:13:54,790 --> 00:13:55,990 There is a time for endurance. 334 00:13:55,990 --> 00:13:57,710 There's a time to push ahead. 335 00:13:58,110 --> 00:14:01,270 But there's also a time to be still and know that God is God. 336 00:14:01,270 --> 00:14:03,630 And Saul does not heed that warning. 337 00:14:04,350 --> 00:14:05,310 So what does Saul do? 338 00:14:05,630 --> 00:14:08,790 He could have sent more messengers, but now he says, okay, 339 00:14:08,790 --> 00:14:10,030 the big guy's got to come in. 340 00:14:10,030 --> 00:14:11,230 I've got to take care of this. 341 00:14:11,470 --> 00:14:13,630 You know, you can't find any good help anywhere. 342 00:14:13,630 --> 00:14:15,630 I got to go ahead and just do this myself. 343 00:14:15,870 --> 00:14:17,350 And that's what he's going to try to do here. 344 00:14:17,350 --> 00:14:18,110 Verse 22. 345 00:14:18,350 --> 00:14:20,670 Then went he also to Rama. 346 00:14:21,310 --> 00:14:23,950 So now he takes it upon himself, and he came to a great well 347 00:14:24,190 --> 00:14:25,390 that is in Senshu. 348 00:14:25,390 --> 00:14:28,350 And he asked and said, where are Samuel and David? 349 00:14:28,750 --> 00:14:31,070 And one said, behold, there at Naoth and Rama. 350 00:14:31,870 --> 00:14:33,150 So he finds out where they are. 351 00:14:33,390 --> 00:14:36,710 He recognizes that he is with Samuel. 352 00:14:36,710 --> 00:14:39,030 He knew that he was with Samuel, but now he knows specifically 353 00:14:39,030 --> 00:14:39,630 where he is. 354 00:14:39,710 --> 00:14:40,470 Verse 23. 355 00:14:40,470 --> 00:14:44,710 And he went thither to Naoth and Ramah, and the Spirit of God 356 00:14:44,710 --> 00:14:45,630 was upon him also. 357 00:14:46,030 --> 00:14:48,830 The very same thing that happened with the messengers happens 358 00:14:48,910 --> 00:14:50,030 with Saul. 359 00:14:50,990 --> 00:14:54,910 And he went on and prophesied until he came to Naoth and Ramah. 360 00:14:54,910 --> 00:14:58,150 So as he's going along, like, even in the process of him trying 361 00:14:58,150 --> 00:15:02,370 to do something bad, God intervenes, and he begins through 362 00:15:02,370 --> 00:15:04,210 the Spirit of God to prophesy. 363 00:15:04,210 --> 00:15:06,570 Now, we don't know specifically what he's saying, but 364 00:15:06,570 --> 00:15:12,130 we do know that he's speaking the word of God and verse 24. 365 00:15:12,290 --> 00:15:15,010 And a lot of times we read verse 24, and we might not understand 366 00:15:15,010 --> 00:15:16,530 exactly what's going on here. 367 00:15:16,690 --> 00:15:19,930 I know I had to read it many times and actually read a few commentaries 368 00:15:19,930 --> 00:15:23,410 to get some type of context of what Saul is doing here. 369 00:15:23,810 --> 00:15:29,490 So verse 24, he gets to Rama, he gets to Samuel, he gets to David. 370 00:15:29,490 --> 00:15:33,490 And it says he stripped off his clothes also and prophesied before 371 00:15:33,490 --> 00:15:37,810 Samuel in like manner, and laid down naked all that day and 372 00:15:37,810 --> 00:15:38,170 all. 373 00:15:38,250 --> 00:15:39,130 All that night. 374 00:15:39,930 --> 00:15:41,770 And we'll stop there, because that's weird enough. 375 00:15:41,770 --> 00:15:42,490 Okay, so what. 376 00:15:42,490 --> 00:15:42,770 What. 377 00:15:42,770 --> 00:15:44,090 What is he doing here? 378 00:15:44,170 --> 00:15:45,290 Why did he do this? 379 00:15:46,730 --> 00:15:49,690 Again, we have to understand the culture and the context. 380 00:15:50,900 --> 00:15:53,180 I don't believe, and most commentators don't believe that he 381 00:15:53,180 --> 00:15:54,980 stripped off all of his clothes. 382 00:15:55,460 --> 00:15:58,260 The word there essentially means that he took off his outer 383 00:15:58,260 --> 00:15:58,740 garments. 384 00:15:59,700 --> 00:16:02,860 Now, there's A couple of reasons why he would have done that. 385 00:16:02,860 --> 00:16:06,180 One is it was a very humbling thing for someone to take their outer 386 00:16:06,180 --> 00:16:06,779 garments off. 387 00:16:06,779 --> 00:16:10,340 And so this is a picture of God humbling Saul. 388 00:16:10,340 --> 00:16:13,700 We don't believe that Saul does this in his own will because 389 00:16:13,700 --> 00:16:15,940 we see that the Spirit of God comes upon him. 390 00:16:16,300 --> 00:16:19,500 So this isn't a conscious decision that Saul is making to say, 391 00:16:19,660 --> 00:16:20,460 well, you know what? 392 00:16:20,460 --> 00:16:23,740 God is so powerful, I'm so weak, I'm in repentance. 393 00:16:23,740 --> 00:16:27,580 Because the reason why we know that Saul doesn't do this is because 394 00:16:27,660 --> 00:16:29,100 there is no indication. 395 00:16:29,180 --> 00:16:33,140 But prior to this or after this instance where he is repentant 396 00:16:33,140 --> 00:16:35,540 in his heart, there is no change in his lifestyle. 397 00:16:35,540 --> 00:16:38,380 There is this intervention of God in this prophesying. 398 00:16:38,620 --> 00:16:42,470 But really what this is, is that God is coming upon Saul and 399 00:16:42,470 --> 00:16:43,070 humbling him. 400 00:16:43,070 --> 00:16:45,950 And sometimes that's what happens to people, is that God has 401 00:16:45,950 --> 00:16:47,110 to come in and humble them. 402 00:16:47,190 --> 00:16:48,310 They won't humble themselves. 403 00:16:48,310 --> 00:16:49,590 And so God humbles him here. 404 00:16:49,750 --> 00:16:52,830 So that could be one explanation for the outer garments 405 00:16:52,830 --> 00:16:53,750 to be removed. 406 00:16:54,070 --> 00:16:57,230 Another way that we could look at this is that he was wearing his 407 00:16:57,230 --> 00:16:58,230 kingly garments. 408 00:16:58,710 --> 00:16:59,150 Okay? 409 00:16:59,150 --> 00:17:02,430 So it would have been very evident that Saul was king because 410 00:17:02,430 --> 00:17:03,510 of what he was wearing. 411 00:17:03,510 --> 00:17:06,550 He would have marked himself as king as he was traveling. 412 00:17:06,790 --> 00:17:10,570 And so for him to take off the garments also is a recognition of 413 00:17:10,720 --> 00:17:13,720 that he is not the long term king, even though he will still be 414 00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:13,960 king. 415 00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:18,200 For a time, his kingship was being taken away from him and being 416 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:19,360 passed on to David. 417 00:17:19,520 --> 00:17:23,360 So many commentators believe that this was God's way of showing 418 00:17:23,360 --> 00:17:26,920 Saul that you know what it is going to come to pass, that you are 419 00:17:26,920 --> 00:17:30,520 not going to be king, your family will not continue on, and 420 00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:32,080 this is a way to humble him. 421 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:36,400 So if the most conservative way to see this passage in verse 422 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:41,750 24 is that God is humbling Saul, despite his heart, despite 423 00:17:41,750 --> 00:17:45,630 his rebellion, despite his desire to take out David, he must 424 00:17:45,630 --> 00:17:49,310 recognize that God is powerful because God essentially forces him 425 00:17:49,310 --> 00:17:53,470 to come before him and allow himself to see the power of God. 426 00:17:53,470 --> 00:17:58,990 So God stops Saul, and through God stopping Saul and the Spirit 427 00:17:58,990 --> 00:18:03,070 intervening, we see that Saul comes to a place where he is humbled 428 00:18:03,230 --> 00:18:05,630 and God demonstrates his power over Saul. 429 00:18:06,030 --> 00:18:08,910 And really what it is is that God demonstrates that Saul cannot 430 00:18:08,910 --> 00:18:11,710 accomplish what God has determined to prevent. 431 00:18:12,190 --> 00:18:13,950 And I think that's a lesson for all of us. 432 00:18:14,750 --> 00:18:21,630 Whatever walk we are in life, we might have our own determination 433 00:18:21,709 --> 00:18:25,550 of what we think should happen, but God will always demonstrate 434 00:18:25,870 --> 00:18:29,190 that we cannot accomplish what God has already determined to prevent 435 00:18:29,190 --> 00:18:30,350 or bring in to pass. 436 00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:35,360 And I think that what I have worked through within this passage, 437 00:18:35,360 --> 00:18:38,680 as I've studied it, is that I certainly have plans that I want 438 00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:39,960 to have happen in my life. 439 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:44,520 You know, I. I have goals, I. I have aspirations. 440 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:50,000 I have certainly a will that I want to have come about in my own 441 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:50,200 life. 442 00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:53,800 But there is a time and a place that all of us as believers, 443 00:18:54,120 --> 00:18:57,120 if we're walking with the Lord, have to submit ourselves to 444 00:18:57,120 --> 00:18:57,640 God's plan. 445 00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:00,690 Because no matter what our plans are, God is going to intervene. 446 00:19:00,690 --> 00:19:03,890 And God might change the things that we are looking for in 447 00:19:03,890 --> 00:19:04,170 our life. 448 00:19:04,170 --> 00:19:07,770 And this fits right into the way that God has been protecting 449 00:19:07,770 --> 00:19:08,250 David. 450 00:19:08,890 --> 00:19:11,850 Think about all the instances in which David could have messed 451 00:19:11,850 --> 00:19:15,330 this up, either on his own decisions or by the decisions of 452 00:19:15,330 --> 00:19:15,610 others. 453 00:19:15,930 --> 00:19:18,010 Saul could have killed him on many occasions. 454 00:19:18,890 --> 00:19:21,210 David could have messed it up in many occasions. 455 00:19:21,210 --> 00:19:23,170 But yet God preserves him. 456 00:19:23,170 --> 00:19:26,600 Now, not all of us are called to be the king of Israel. 457 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:29,240 I don't think any of us are called to be the king of Israel. 458 00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:31,400 So how does that work for me then? 459 00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:33,880 Okay, so you're Christian 2026. 460 00:19:34,280 --> 00:19:39,320 What does God promising David and preserving him to be king mean 461 00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:40,280 for me today? 462 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:43,560 Well, it means that as children of God, even though we're 463 00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:47,400 not called to be the king, physical king of Israel, God has 464 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:49,400 called us to something within our life. 465 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:53,190 All of us, as Christians, are called as children of God, to be 466 00:19:53,190 --> 00:19:54,310 preserved until the end. 467 00:19:54,310 --> 00:19:56,670 The Bible says that Philippians, chapter one, that we're 468 00:19:56,670 --> 00:19:58,150 sealed unto the day of redemption. 469 00:19:58,390 --> 00:20:02,110 And so as Christians, though we won't be sitting on a physical 470 00:20:02,110 --> 00:20:06,350 throne necessarily, we'll all be one day with our Savior in a glorified 471 00:20:06,350 --> 00:20:09,950 body, walking with him, serving him, worshiping him forever. 472 00:20:09,950 --> 00:20:12,550 And the Bible says that God will preserve us in that. 473 00:20:12,550 --> 00:20:16,190 That nobody can pluck us out of his hand, that nothing can separate 474 00:20:16,190 --> 00:20:17,430 us from the love of God. 475 00:20:17,590 --> 00:20:20,630 So as a Christian today, I can look at it from the perspective of, 476 00:20:20,970 --> 00:20:24,210 though I might make mistakes, though others might come against 477 00:20:24,210 --> 00:20:27,810 me, though others might want to steal away what I have, nobody 478 00:20:27,810 --> 00:20:31,610 can take this away because God is protecting me and preserving me 479 00:20:31,610 --> 00:20:33,010 throughout this life. 480 00:20:33,010 --> 00:20:37,610 And so the overwhelming point that we see is that God stops Saul 481 00:20:37,690 --> 00:20:39,690 and God preserves David. 482 00:20:40,090 --> 00:20:42,890 And so what was Saul actually prophesying? 483 00:20:43,050 --> 00:20:45,930 I think about that in this passage, and there's a. 484 00:20:45,930 --> 00:20:48,610 If you read up on this, there's commentators that say all 485 00:20:48,610 --> 00:20:49,370 different things. 486 00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:52,720 And though we don't know specifically what he was prophesying, 487 00:20:53,120 --> 00:20:56,440 we certainly do know that he was speaking forth, what God wanted 488 00:20:56,440 --> 00:20:57,200 him to Speak. 489 00:20:57,840 --> 00:20:59,760 And we even see at the very end. 490 00:20:59,760 --> 00:21:00,720 This is so interesting. 491 00:21:00,720 --> 00:21:04,760 At the end of verse 21, there's the statement, or excuse 492 00:21:04,760 --> 00:21:06,480 me, at the end of verse 24, there's the statement. 493 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:10,720 And this is actually a statement that's restated from 1st 494 00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:12,360 Samuel, chapter 10, verse 10. 495 00:21:12,360 --> 00:21:17,730 So at the very beginning of Saul's ministry, if you will, God 496 00:21:17,730 --> 00:21:19,930 calling him to be king, is anointing as king. 497 00:21:20,090 --> 00:21:22,930 There was a statement back then that people were so shocked 498 00:21:22,930 --> 00:21:27,570 that Saul was prophesying that they said, is Saul among the prophets? 499 00:21:27,570 --> 00:21:28,490 Is Saul actually. 500 00:21:28,490 --> 00:21:30,250 Could he actually be a prophet? 501 00:21:30,570 --> 00:21:33,250 And that's exactly what's being said about him here at the 502 00:21:33,250 --> 00:21:34,490 end of this passage. 503 00:21:34,490 --> 00:21:35,930 And so there's a parallel here. 504 00:21:36,490 --> 00:21:36,810 They. 505 00:21:36,810 --> 00:21:37,650 They ask this question. 506 00:21:37,650 --> 00:21:40,130 They say, is Saul also among the prophets? 507 00:21:40,130 --> 00:21:44,020 And that actually became like a proverb in Israel at that time. 508 00:21:44,500 --> 00:21:47,940 Basically, chapter 10 was Saul was newly anointed. 509 00:21:47,940 --> 00:21:49,220 God's Spirit came upon him. 510 00:21:49,220 --> 00:21:51,060 He prophesied, and people were shocked. 511 00:21:51,380 --> 00:21:55,380 Now, chapter 19, Saul has now become a rebellious man. 512 00:21:55,780 --> 00:21:57,460 God's spirit comes upon him again. 513 00:21:57,700 --> 00:22:00,940 He's prophesying, and people are still shocked that God would 514 00:22:00,940 --> 00:22:02,020 be speaking through him. 515 00:22:02,580 --> 00:22:07,260 Now, that's a sad testimony for Saul that people would be shocked 516 00:22:07,260 --> 00:22:08,420 that God would speak through him. 517 00:22:08,420 --> 00:22:11,280 That's showing that his testimony was not about following 518 00:22:11,360 --> 00:22:11,840 God. 519 00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:13,680 His testimony was all about him. 520 00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:15,640 Saul would never talk about God. 521 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:18,720 And so for the fact that Saul is talking about God shocks the people. 522 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:20,800 And they say, how could Saul do this? 523 00:22:21,360 --> 00:22:23,120 You know, why would Saul do this? 524 00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:26,800 Only because it's the power of God working through a broken vessel. 525 00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:30,320 And we can even see that within our own culture, we can see 526 00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:34,040 people who are broken, we can see people who are flawed, but God 527 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:35,360 can still speak through them. 528 00:22:35,950 --> 00:22:36,470 And so the. 529 00:22:36,470 --> 00:22:41,070 The story here is taking us back to the beginning of Saul's ministry. 530 00:22:41,230 --> 00:22:44,310 But then we see that it's a reminder at the very end that it's 531 00:22:44,310 --> 00:22:47,150 only because of the Spirit of God that anything good could come 532 00:22:47,150 --> 00:22:49,150 from Saul as a broken vessel. 533 00:22:50,110 --> 00:22:53,150 So there's a big question that a lot of people have, you know, is 534 00:22:53,150 --> 00:22:57,950 this the moment where Saul comes before God in faith and is 535 00:22:57,950 --> 00:23:00,110 restored because the Spirit comes upon him? 536 00:23:00,110 --> 00:23:03,670 Here is this saying that Saul then is a believer, that he's walking 537 00:23:03,670 --> 00:23:04,510 with God forever? 538 00:23:04,510 --> 00:23:07,860 Well, if you've read the rest of the story, it's not that case. 539 00:23:08,260 --> 00:23:10,420 He's not staying in the Spirit of God. 540 00:23:10,820 --> 00:23:13,900 And that's one of the distinctions in the Old Testament 541 00:23:13,900 --> 00:23:16,500 versus the New Testament is that the New Testament, when the 542 00:23:16,500 --> 00:23:19,700 Holy Spirit comes upon an individual and indwells them, he 543 00:23:19,700 --> 00:23:20,260 stays. 544 00:23:20,500 --> 00:23:21,340 We're sealed. 545 00:23:21,340 --> 00:23:24,580 The Bible says that we're secured in the Spirit. 546 00:23:24,580 --> 00:23:28,740 And actually the Spirit is the earnest or the down payment and the 547 00:23:28,740 --> 00:23:31,620 confirmation that one day we will be with the Lord forever. 548 00:23:31,980 --> 00:23:33,620 But that's not how it worked in the Old Testament. 549 00:23:33,620 --> 00:23:36,700 The Old Testament very clearly indicates that the Spirit of God 550 00:23:36,700 --> 00:23:38,620 comes upon people and then leaves people. 551 00:23:38,940 --> 00:23:42,140 And so in this case, this is an instance where God is intervening 552 00:23:42,300 --> 00:23:43,340 in the life of Saul. 553 00:23:43,340 --> 00:23:47,340 But it does not mean that God is giving him saving grace or allowing 554 00:23:47,340 --> 00:23:50,140 him to enter into heaven because of this experience. 555 00:23:50,220 --> 00:23:53,900 Because we see other experiences where God speaks to individuals 556 00:23:53,900 --> 00:23:54,620 temporarily. 557 00:23:55,100 --> 00:23:57,820 Think about Balaam and if you know anything about the story of 558 00:23:57,820 --> 00:23:59,420 Balaam, Balaam speaks prophetically. 559 00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:02,320 Um, there was an instance where Caiaphas actually, in the New 560 00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:05,200 Testament with Jesus, prophesies about something in the 561 00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:05,480 future. 562 00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:08,520 Though I don't believe Caiaphas was a believer in the Lord. 563 00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:12,040 It was an instance in which God spoke through a rebellious person. 564 00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:16,480 Saul prophesies here and many other instances where this would 565 00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:16,760 happen. 566 00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:18,360 So what does this mean? 567 00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:22,560 This means that God, in his ultimate power, will use the Spirit 568 00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:27,970 of God to restrain individuals to accomplish his purposes, and even 569 00:24:27,970 --> 00:24:31,690 in some cases, allow people to go the path of their choosing and 570 00:24:31,690 --> 00:24:32,810 use that for his glory. 571 00:24:33,530 --> 00:24:36,650 There's a lot of people that struggle with the fact that God used 572 00:24:37,530 --> 00:24:39,890 a pagan nation to judge his own people. 573 00:24:39,890 --> 00:24:40,490 Think about that. 574 00:24:40,490 --> 00:24:41,450 Remember Babylon? 575 00:24:41,850 --> 00:24:42,730 God can use. 576 00:24:42,730 --> 00:24:45,810 And I don't think God forced Babylon to do that. 577 00:24:45,810 --> 00:24:48,450 And Babylon sitting there going, we really wanted to serve 578 00:24:48,450 --> 00:24:51,690 the one true God, but now God's forcing us to go do this. 579 00:24:51,690 --> 00:24:55,430 No, God is using the rebellious heart of Babylon for his 580 00:24:55,430 --> 00:24:56,950 glory, for his purpose. 581 00:24:56,950 --> 00:24:58,710 It's the same thing with Saul. 582 00:24:58,790 --> 00:25:02,710 God is using this rebellious heart of Saul to be used for his 583 00:25:02,710 --> 00:25:06,230 glory by elevating David to the position that he had planned 584 00:25:06,230 --> 00:25:06,630 for him. 585 00:25:06,870 --> 00:25:09,430 And so that's a very interesting theological thing to 586 00:25:09,430 --> 00:25:09,670 discuss. 587 00:25:09,670 --> 00:25:11,670 And that might be for another day. 588 00:25:11,670 --> 00:25:15,630 But the question that many people ask is that this is. 589 00:25:15,630 --> 00:25:16,670 Is this Saul's change? 590 00:25:16,670 --> 00:25:20,070 And we certainly don't see that because of the lack of repentance. 591 00:25:20,070 --> 00:25:21,430 And by the way, repentance. 592 00:25:21,870 --> 00:25:23,550 And that's an important thing to talk about as well. 593 00:25:23,870 --> 00:25:25,990 And I know we're throwing out a lot of words here this evening, 594 00:25:25,990 --> 00:25:29,470 but I think it's important for us to note repentance is not just 595 00:25:30,030 --> 00:25:32,510 having a religious or spiritual experience. 596 00:25:33,230 --> 00:25:33,670 Okay? 597 00:25:33,670 --> 00:25:34,790 That's really what's happening here. 598 00:25:34,790 --> 00:25:37,470 They have this spirit of God come upon them. 599 00:25:37,709 --> 00:25:38,870 They're Very emotional. 600 00:25:38,870 --> 00:25:42,310 They prophesy, but yet it doesn't change their lifestyle. 601 00:25:42,310 --> 00:25:43,470 And that's not repentance. 602 00:25:43,470 --> 00:25:45,990 I mean, we could have a service here and everyone could have 603 00:25:45,990 --> 00:25:47,230 a lot of emotions running. 604 00:25:47,620 --> 00:25:51,380 We could even feel the spirit of God in the room and feel certain 605 00:25:51,860 --> 00:25:55,220 aspects of conviction in our life and comfort in our life. 606 00:25:55,540 --> 00:25:58,340 But that doesn't mean that when we walk out of these walls that 607 00:25:58,340 --> 00:26:00,660 everything's going to be right and where we need to be. 608 00:26:00,660 --> 00:26:04,540 The Bible speaks of repentance is not just a feeling, but it's actually 609 00:26:04,540 --> 00:26:06,580 a choice of turning away from something. 610 00:26:06,820 --> 00:26:09,980 And so it's not just remorse, because you can feel remorse but 611 00:26:09,980 --> 00:26:11,060 not have repentance. 612 00:26:11,380 --> 00:26:14,380 There's plenty of people that can feel that remorse and say, yeah, 613 00:26:14,380 --> 00:26:15,260 I shouldn't have done that. 614 00:26:15,260 --> 00:26:16,820 I really don't want to get caught. 615 00:26:16,820 --> 00:26:19,140 I really don't want to have this pain in my life. 616 00:26:19,140 --> 00:26:20,860 I don't want to have this guilt in my life. 617 00:26:21,020 --> 00:26:21,740 That's one thing. 618 00:26:21,740 --> 00:26:24,460 But repentance is saying, I don't want this anymore. 619 00:26:24,460 --> 00:26:28,220 I'm turning away from this thing my way, and I'm turning to 620 00:26:28,220 --> 00:26:31,620 God's way, and I'm now going to turn my back and retreat from 621 00:26:31,620 --> 00:26:32,620 that very thing. 622 00:26:32,780 --> 00:26:35,900 We don't see that happening in the life of Saul, at least in this 623 00:26:35,900 --> 00:26:36,220 instance. 624 00:26:36,220 --> 00:26:37,740 We certainly don't see it. 625 00:26:38,140 --> 00:26:41,780 And so the overall point that I think that all of us can take in 626 00:26:41,780 --> 00:26:44,760 this passage, and I hope that it's something that can help us in 627 00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:47,680 any other way, is that Saul had an intention. 628 00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:49,920 His goal was to kill David. 629 00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:56,480 But God intervenes and God works through Saul. 630 00:26:56,560 --> 00:27:00,200 God preserves David and God has a plan for David, and he puts 631 00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:03,120 David, obviously into a place of leadership later on. 632 00:27:03,360 --> 00:27:06,080 And this isn't the last time that Saul and David are going to 633 00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:06,960 have an interaction. 634 00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:12,910 And though I think that Saul shows some level of having a spiritual 635 00:27:12,910 --> 00:27:15,790 experience here, we don't see Saul repenting. 636 00:27:16,190 --> 00:27:18,270 We don't see Saul confessing any sin. 637 00:27:18,750 --> 00:27:23,190 By the way, I do believe that if our, you know, we talk about we 638 00:27:23,190 --> 00:27:26,110 want rebel or we want revival. 639 00:27:26,350 --> 00:27:26,710 Right? 640 00:27:26,710 --> 00:27:27,590 Everyone talks about that. 641 00:27:27,590 --> 00:27:29,190 You know, we need a revival in America. 642 00:27:29,190 --> 00:27:30,190 And by the way, I think we do. 643 00:27:30,190 --> 00:27:30,630 Okay? 644 00:27:30,630 --> 00:27:33,310 So I'm not denying the fact that we need revival in America. 645 00:27:34,430 --> 00:27:36,190 We need revival within our churches. 646 00:27:36,690 --> 00:27:40,330 But I want to tell you that without repentance and confession, 647 00:27:40,330 --> 00:27:41,570 we will never have revival. 648 00:27:41,890 --> 00:27:45,850 Because what confession is, by the way, first John 1:9, if we confess 649 00:27:45,850 --> 00:27:48,650 our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse 650 00:27:48,650 --> 00:27:49,610 us from all Unrighteousness. 651 00:27:49,610 --> 00:27:52,529 That doesn't mean that we keep getting saved over and over again 652 00:27:52,529 --> 00:27:53,490 every time we sin. 653 00:27:53,650 --> 00:27:56,690 That word confess is a very interesting word in the Greek. 654 00:27:57,730 --> 00:28:01,050 It's actually made up of two words, homo, which means the same, 655 00:28:01,050 --> 00:28:04,560 logeo, which means word saying the same thing, basically. 656 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:06,120 And so what confession is. 657 00:28:06,120 --> 00:28:09,080 It's not just telling someone something, though in our English 658 00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:11,160 language, that's the understanding of confession. 659 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:14,680 Like, I'm going to confess that, you know, I ate an extra brownie 660 00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:15,080 to you. 661 00:28:15,080 --> 00:28:16,840 Okay, I was only going to eat one, but I ate two. 662 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:18,400 So there I'm going to confess that to you. 663 00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:23,720 But biblical confession is agreeing with God about the thing 664 00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:24,320 that I did. 665 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:26,240 So my sin is egregious. 666 00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:28,400 God, I know that this is something that you don't want me 667 00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:28,720 to do. 668 00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:30,320 I know that this is harmful to me. 669 00:28:30,610 --> 00:28:32,250 I know that this is what you saved me from. 670 00:28:32,250 --> 00:28:34,370 And I know that I should not be bound by this. 671 00:28:34,370 --> 00:28:38,210 And so confession is understanding and agreeing with God 672 00:28:38,530 --> 00:28:40,850 and seeing it the way that God sees it. 673 00:28:40,930 --> 00:28:44,810 And therefore, that confession brings repentance, and that repentance 674 00:28:44,810 --> 00:28:48,130 of turning away from brings revival and renewal in our spirit. 675 00:28:48,690 --> 00:28:51,170 So that's really what Saul needed to do here. 676 00:28:51,250 --> 00:28:53,570 Saul could have had this experience, right? 677 00:28:54,690 --> 00:28:57,970 And this should have changed his life. 678 00:28:59,060 --> 00:29:01,860 Saul should have been at a place in his life where he said, 679 00:29:01,860 --> 00:29:02,700 you know what, God? 680 00:29:02,700 --> 00:29:06,100 You've told me one time after another time, this is not right for 681 00:29:06,100 --> 00:29:06,980 me, Lord. 682 00:29:06,980 --> 00:29:07,740 This is wrong. 683 00:29:07,740 --> 00:29:08,900 I want you in my life. 684 00:29:08,900 --> 00:29:10,500 I want to be right with you. 685 00:29:10,740 --> 00:29:14,300 Who knows what God would have done, obviously, beyond what the 686 00:29:14,300 --> 00:29:15,060 plan was here. 687 00:29:15,060 --> 00:29:17,500 But ultimately, Saul does not do that. 688 00:29:17,500 --> 00:29:19,460 Saul does not come to a place of repentance. 689 00:29:19,540 --> 00:29:21,540 He does not come to a place of confession. 690 00:29:21,540 --> 00:29:24,780 And I don't believe that Saul comes to a place of forgiveness because 691 00:29:24,780 --> 00:29:28,310 of his lack of repentance and his rebellion against God. 692 00:29:28,310 --> 00:29:30,310 So I think that that's something to think about when it 693 00:29:30,310 --> 00:29:31,350 comes to this passage. 694 00:29:31,670 --> 00:29:35,430 And so, as we conclude our thoughts here, what was Saul really 695 00:29:35,430 --> 00:29:36,150 prophesying? 696 00:29:36,790 --> 00:29:38,070 Was he really prophesying? 697 00:29:38,070 --> 00:29:38,350 Yes. 698 00:29:38,350 --> 00:29:41,510 I believe that God was working through him as a supernatural influence. 699 00:29:43,030 --> 00:29:44,710 Was it evidence for salvation? 700 00:29:44,790 --> 00:29:45,190 No. 701 00:29:45,190 --> 00:29:47,870 I don't believe that every religious experience means that someone 702 00:29:47,870 --> 00:29:48,470 is saved. 703 00:29:48,790 --> 00:29:51,630 I do believe that there are many people in our world today that 704 00:29:51,630 --> 00:29:55,350 have religious experiences, but they are not on the same level 705 00:29:55,350 --> 00:29:57,830 as aligning themselves in faith with God. 706 00:29:58,150 --> 00:30:00,990 The Bible actually says in the New Testament to test every spirit, 707 00:30:00,990 --> 00:30:02,870 whether they come from God or from somewhere else. 708 00:30:03,270 --> 00:30:07,270 That means theologically, what that means is that there can be Spiritual 709 00:30:07,270 --> 00:30:10,070 experiences that are outside of an experience with God. 710 00:30:10,070 --> 00:30:10,750 People can. 711 00:30:10,750 --> 00:30:12,910 You've heard someone say, we've even heard some people say 712 00:30:12,910 --> 00:30:15,430 this at the peach festival when we were talking to them about, 713 00:30:15,430 --> 00:30:16,670 you know, do they go to church? 714 00:30:16,670 --> 00:30:17,910 You know, are you a believer? 715 00:30:17,910 --> 00:30:19,150 And they say, well, I don't go to church. 716 00:30:19,150 --> 00:30:20,630 I'm not a Christian, but I'm spiritual. 717 00:30:21,350 --> 00:30:23,670 Okay, well, first of all, what does that mean? 718 00:30:24,950 --> 00:30:27,430 But I think we understand what people are meaning by that. 719 00:30:27,430 --> 00:30:30,390 They don't want to admit that there is a God, but they do believe 720 00:30:30,390 --> 00:30:31,670 that there is a spirit realm. 721 00:30:31,670 --> 00:30:34,270 At least if they say they're spiritual, they believe that there's 722 00:30:34,270 --> 00:30:35,990 something more than this physical body. 723 00:30:36,470 --> 00:30:39,070 And if there's something more than this physical body and we're 724 00:30:39,070 --> 00:30:44,710 not appealing to the one and true God, that must mean that there's 725 00:30:44,710 --> 00:30:47,030 spiritual influences coming from other places. 726 00:30:48,060 --> 00:30:51,300 Now, I would just caution you to think that a lot of times people 727 00:30:51,300 --> 00:30:53,980 think that, well, God's working when there's this experience. 728 00:30:54,540 --> 00:31:00,660 And though experiences are evident within God working, God's 729 00:31:00,660 --> 00:31:03,180 work is always going to be aligned with truth. 730 00:31:03,740 --> 00:31:07,500 God's work is always going to be grounded in something from his 731 00:31:07,500 --> 00:31:07,900 word. 732 00:31:08,540 --> 00:31:12,900 So let's say, for example, I got up here tonight, and I'll just 733 00:31:12,900 --> 00:31:16,020 say that my favorite speakers, when I went, I went to a Christian 734 00:31:16,020 --> 00:31:21,160 school and we had chapel twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9 735 00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:23,280 o', clock, I think it was 9 o', clock, something like that. 736 00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:26,560 But my favorite speakers are the ones who are the most entertaining, 737 00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:27,360 of course, right? 738 00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:30,800 The ones that told the best stories, the ones that had the best 739 00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:34,640 jokes, the ones that yelled the loudest, the ones that ran. 740 00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:36,160 We had people running on the pew. 741 00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:38,840 So, like, there'd be a guy here and he would jump to the pew 742 00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:40,080 to pew and get in our face. 743 00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:41,640 Those are always the best for me. 744 00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:43,900 Like, wow, they were great speakers. 745 00:31:43,900 --> 00:31:45,460 And they say, okay, what do they talk to you about? 746 00:31:45,860 --> 00:31:47,540 Well, I have no idea what they talked about. 747 00:31:47,540 --> 00:31:48,340 It was just fun. 748 00:31:48,340 --> 00:31:48,980 It was good. 749 00:31:49,300 --> 00:31:54,180 And I think that sometimes we equate the work of God with activity 750 00:31:54,180 --> 00:31:57,420 and movement and motion and volume. 751 00:31:57,420 --> 00:32:00,900 And though certainly volume and motion and activity can happen 752 00:32:01,300 --> 00:32:04,580 in the work of God, it must be aligned with truth. 753 00:32:04,580 --> 00:32:07,140 So tonight I could come up here and do something amazing. 754 00:32:07,140 --> 00:32:11,070 Maybe do a magic trick for you or maybe tell you a very interesting 755 00:32:11,070 --> 00:32:11,470 story. 756 00:32:11,950 --> 00:32:16,150 Maybe run around the room and chase you around the room and you'd 757 00:32:16,150 --> 00:32:17,630 remember that experience. 758 00:32:18,910 --> 00:32:22,510 But if I never brought a truth of God to tie it back to a heart 759 00:32:22,510 --> 00:32:25,230 of repentance, a heart of faith, a heart of, of. 760 00:32:25,310 --> 00:32:28,590 Of revival or anything within Scripture. 761 00:32:28,830 --> 00:32:29,830 We're not doing anything. 762 00:32:29,830 --> 00:32:31,070 We're just spinning our wheels. 763 00:32:31,230 --> 00:32:34,110 And so for Saul here, there's this emotional experience, but there's 764 00:32:34,110 --> 00:32:35,150 nothing, truth. 765 00:32:35,150 --> 00:32:36,800 There's no truth that's linked to it. 766 00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:38,440 There's no substance linked to it. 767 00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:41,640 And so we have to have substance with our spiritual experiences. 768 00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:45,520 And that is, I believe the lesson that we see here is that the 769 00:32:45,520 --> 00:32:49,280 power of God is working in their midst, but yet nothing has 770 00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:49,880 changed. 771 00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:51,320 God confronts Saul. 772 00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:53,680 We see that here. 773 00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:59,400 We see that God stops him, he restrains him, he humbles him, and 774 00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:03,160 he gives Saul a, a divine revelation, really, a, a, A whole 775 00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:05,000 truth here to see God working through him. 776 00:33:05,540 --> 00:33:09,380 But the text doesn't point to anything about Saul genuinely changing 777 00:33:09,540 --> 00:33:12,460 or coming to God and staying in that humble state. 778 00:33:12,460 --> 00:33:15,180 And the New Testament principle is found in First Peter, 779 00:33:15,180 --> 00:33:19,620 Chapter 5, and in other places that God resists the proud but gives 780 00:33:19,620 --> 00:33:20,580 grace to the humble. 781 00:33:21,380 --> 00:33:24,300 And that's always a verse that I think about all the time in my 782 00:33:24,300 --> 00:33:24,740 own life. 783 00:33:25,060 --> 00:33:28,580 Anytime I'm tempted to think that I have a reason to be prideful. 784 00:33:29,300 --> 00:33:30,500 And sometimes I do. 785 00:33:30,500 --> 00:33:32,900 I mean, all of us, I think to some degree can understand that. 786 00:33:32,900 --> 00:33:36,660 Like we do something or someone attributes success to us. 787 00:33:37,380 --> 00:33:39,860 We in our flesh want to say, yeah, you know what? 788 00:33:40,980 --> 00:33:42,420 I did really well there. 789 00:33:42,500 --> 00:33:43,700 I did accomplish that. 790 00:33:43,940 --> 00:33:48,300 Anytime I feel that coming up in my life and I perceive it, I try 791 00:33:48,300 --> 00:33:52,020 to go back to that verse that says, God resists the prideful and 792 00:33:52,020 --> 00:33:53,180 gives grace to the humble. 793 00:33:53,180 --> 00:33:55,220 And folks, I am in desperate need of God's grace. 794 00:33:55,220 --> 00:33:58,020 And I hope that you understand that you are in desperate need of 795 00:33:58,020 --> 00:33:58,900 God's grace, too. 796 00:33:59,060 --> 00:34:01,060 I want to know God's grace more. 797 00:34:01,340 --> 00:34:02,940 I want to live in God's grace more. 798 00:34:03,020 --> 00:34:05,260 Therefore, I have to die to that pride. 799 00:34:05,260 --> 00:34:06,540 And Saul had that pride. 800 00:34:06,540 --> 00:34:07,900 I mean, it's evident in his life. 801 00:34:08,300 --> 00:34:11,340 And Saul had every reason to be prideful in the human perspective. 802 00:34:11,420 --> 00:34:13,500 Remember, he was head and shoulders above everybody. 803 00:34:13,820 --> 00:34:18,220 I mean, Saul physically was a specimen there in Israel. 804 00:34:18,380 --> 00:34:21,620 The interesting part about that is that he was a specimen until 805 00:34:21,620 --> 00:34:22,940 he met Goliath. 806 00:34:23,020 --> 00:34:24,660 And he didn't match up to Goliath. 807 00:34:24,660 --> 00:34:27,420 And that was kind of aligned to a lesson that my dad used to teach 808 00:34:27,420 --> 00:34:27,540 me. 809 00:34:27,540 --> 00:34:29,940 He says, anytime you think that you're the best in something, 810 00:34:29,940 --> 00:34:31,620 you're always going to find someone that's going to be better 811 00:34:31,620 --> 00:34:32,180 than you. 812 00:34:32,420 --> 00:34:33,900 And sometimes that's how it is as Christians. 813 00:34:33,900 --> 00:34:38,100 Sometimes we think that we're pretty good Christians and we should 814 00:34:38,100 --> 00:34:39,540 strive to be Good Christians. 815 00:34:39,540 --> 00:34:41,300 But at the end of the day, there's always. 816 00:34:41,300 --> 00:34:44,739 If I'm judging myself and how good I am, I'm always going to find 817 00:34:44,739 --> 00:34:46,100 a Christian who's read more than me. 818 00:34:46,180 --> 00:34:47,700 I'm always going to find a Christian who. 819 00:34:47,700 --> 00:34:51,140 Who went to Christian school longer or prays longer. 820 00:34:51,140 --> 00:34:53,580 And then we shouldn't judge ourselves off that. 821 00:34:53,580 --> 00:34:56,100 We should judge ourselves off of how much our heart is growing 822 00:34:56,100 --> 00:34:56,740 to the Lord. 823 00:34:57,410 --> 00:35:02,210 And so in First Samuel, we see Saul elevating himself. 824 00:35:02,850 --> 00:35:06,010 God puts him in a place of leadership, and instead of using 825 00:35:06,010 --> 00:35:06,770 that as a. 826 00:35:06,770 --> 00:35:13,450 As a mechanism to elevate the Lord, he elevates himself and gets 827 00:35:13,450 --> 00:35:15,970 to a place in his life where that pride takes over. 828 00:35:16,210 --> 00:35:16,930 And guess what? 829 00:35:16,930 --> 00:35:18,370 Pride is very fragile. 830 00:35:19,090 --> 00:35:22,690 And the reason why Saul is so fragile is because his pride, his 831 00:35:22,690 --> 00:35:24,370 ego, kept getting hurt through David. 832 00:35:24,830 --> 00:35:28,430 And up to this point, David had not been rubbing in his face 833 00:35:28,990 --> 00:35:29,390 even. 834 00:35:29,390 --> 00:35:33,670 We saw earlier on in this passage that David was in no way 835 00:35:33,670 --> 00:35:35,070 sinning against Saul. 836 00:35:35,470 --> 00:35:38,030 And still he wanted. 837 00:35:38,190 --> 00:35:39,550 He wanted David dead. 838 00:35:40,190 --> 00:35:41,390 And there's a lesson here for. 839 00:35:41,390 --> 00:35:42,030 For David. 840 00:35:42,030 --> 00:35:45,150 The lesson for David is that God would preserve him, that God 841 00:35:45,150 --> 00:35:45,830 would keep his word. 842 00:35:45,830 --> 00:35:48,430 We're going to talk about it In Romans, chapter 12 on Sunday, 843 00:35:49,070 --> 00:35:52,370 there's a verse that says, vengeance is mine, I will repay, 844 00:35:52,370 --> 00:35:53,210 saith the Lord. 845 00:35:54,650 --> 00:35:57,410 Oftentimes we want to get even with someone who wrongs us. 846 00:35:57,410 --> 00:35:58,010 And we. 847 00:35:58,090 --> 00:36:01,330 If this was a Hollywood movie, we would completely understand David, 848 00:36:01,330 --> 00:36:02,010 like, right here. 849 00:36:02,330 --> 00:36:03,290 Just, like, take him out. 850 00:36:03,290 --> 00:36:04,650 David, you know, you. 851 00:36:04,650 --> 00:36:05,770 You have the right to do it. 852 00:36:05,770 --> 00:36:06,930 Saul wants to get you. 853 00:36:06,930 --> 00:36:09,210 And we know later on we're going to talk about this later on. 854 00:36:09,210 --> 00:36:11,450 David has a chance to take out Saul. 855 00:36:11,610 --> 00:36:12,170 He does. 856 00:36:12,170 --> 00:36:14,170 He's like, I have him right here. 857 00:36:14,970 --> 00:36:18,740 But he recognizes the principle, that it's God's timing. 858 00:36:18,740 --> 00:36:19,060 It's. 859 00:36:19,060 --> 00:36:20,620 That's God's plan. 860 00:36:20,620 --> 00:36:23,340 And I think it's a New Testament principle for us. 861 00:36:23,340 --> 00:36:25,660 Vengeance is mine, I will repay, sayeth the Lord. 862 00:36:26,220 --> 00:36:29,380 And I'm not saying that we should sit back and go, all right, 863 00:36:29,380 --> 00:36:31,500 God, I'm waiting for you to take out all my enemies. 864 00:36:31,820 --> 00:36:33,180 Why aren't they gone yet? 865 00:36:33,500 --> 00:36:35,220 That's not really the heart, and we're going to talk about that 866 00:36:35,220 --> 00:36:35,780 more on Sunday. 867 00:36:35,780 --> 00:36:39,340 But the heart is love on them, pray that they're changed. 868 00:36:39,340 --> 00:36:40,740 And that's what we see with David. 869 00:36:40,740 --> 00:36:42,940 David was always wanting Saul to come back. 870 00:36:43,660 --> 00:36:48,060 And that's really what the whole lesson Here is in 1st Samuel. 871 00:36:48,910 --> 00:36:53,110 But as God stopped Saul, we certainly see God continuously blessing 872 00:36:53,110 --> 00:36:57,070 David's life and God repeatedly protecting David without 873 00:36:57,070 --> 00:36:59,710 David needing to take vengeance against Saul. 874 00:36:59,710 --> 00:37:01,470 And Saul had an army. 875 00:37:01,550 --> 00:37:02,990 Saul had weapons. 876 00:37:03,070 --> 00:37:04,270 Saul had authority. 877 00:37:04,830 --> 00:37:06,030 He had resources. 878 00:37:06,590 --> 00:37:10,430 Really, in this context, there was no one more powerful than Saul, 879 00:37:10,750 --> 00:37:12,750 at least on the human side of things. 880 00:37:13,150 --> 00:37:14,390 And so Saul had it all. 881 00:37:14,390 --> 00:37:19,100 Saul could have done anything he wanted to David, but God had the 882 00:37:19,100 --> 00:37:19,780 final word. 883 00:37:19,780 --> 00:37:24,100 God is the one who has all the resources that we ever need in our 884 00:37:24,100 --> 00:37:25,100 life for victory. 885 00:37:25,420 --> 00:37:29,380 So if you feel overwhelmed, if you feel like there's someone against 886 00:37:29,380 --> 00:37:34,420 you, if you feel like maybe God's plan isn't going to work out 887 00:37:34,420 --> 00:37:37,460 in your life, just recognize that you might not have all of the 888 00:37:37,460 --> 00:37:40,700 tools that you think you need, but God is in control. 889 00:37:40,700 --> 00:37:44,410 And that God, if God is in control, he's preserving us and protecting 890 00:37:44,410 --> 00:37:45,970 us and providing for us. 891 00:37:46,290 --> 00:37:49,770 And I hope that that is a blessing for all of us as we continue 892 00:37:49,770 --> 00:37:53,530 to study 1 Samuel, chapter number 20. 893 00:37:53,530 --> 00:37:58,290 As we go into this passage and what we're going to be doing, and 894 00:37:59,249 --> 00:38:02,490 this is something we've never done here, at least since I've been 895 00:38:02,490 --> 00:38:03,890 here, we've never done this. 896 00:38:03,970 --> 00:38:06,650 But what Pastor Ethan and I are going to be doing is as we go 897 00:38:06,650 --> 00:38:09,650 through One Samuel, we're going to just be bouncing back and 898 00:38:09,650 --> 00:38:11,090 forth between these chapters. 899 00:38:11,190 --> 00:38:12,060 And, uh, so I did. 900 00:38:12,060 --> 00:38:13,180 He did chapter 18. 901 00:38:13,500 --> 00:38:14,220 I'm going to do. 902 00:38:14,220 --> 00:38:17,020 I did chapter 19, and he's going to come back and do chapter 903 00:38:17,020 --> 00:38:19,420 20 for you if all the plans go to pass. 904 00:38:19,660 --> 00:38:22,420 And this way you can get different perspectives. 905 00:38:22,420 --> 00:38:24,940 Now, we're not going to tell you contradictory perspectives. 906 00:38:24,940 --> 00:38:25,900 Okay, so. 907 00:38:25,900 --> 00:38:29,340 So, you know, you might think Pastor Ethan, he sees it from a different 908 00:38:29,340 --> 00:38:30,860 perspective, so he's going to preach something else. 909 00:38:30,860 --> 00:38:33,020 We're going to be aligned on the theological side. 910 00:38:33,020 --> 00:38:35,900 But I do know that every person comes with maybe a different 911 00:38:36,300 --> 00:38:39,260 angle on the spiritual lesson that we see within Scripture. 912 00:38:39,260 --> 00:38:41,890 So I hope that it'll be a blessing for you as you come back 913 00:38:41,890 --> 00:38:42,130 as. 914 00:38:42,130 --> 00:38:43,530 As I know it will be. 915 00:38:43,530 --> 00:38:47,970 And so David is going to have an opportunity to make a covenant 916 00:38:47,970 --> 00:38:48,850 with Jonathan. 917 00:38:49,090 --> 00:38:50,530 And that's a whole other beautiful story. 918 00:38:50,530 --> 00:38:53,770 I'd love to get into that, but we'll talk more about that as we 919 00:38:53,770 --> 00:38:54,170 go along. 920 00:38:54,170 --> 00:38:58,530 But I hope that as we study David, that it. 921 00:38:58,690 --> 00:39:03,050 It opens your eyes to more than just, you know, David is. 922 00:39:03,050 --> 00:39:04,130 Is really popular. 923 00:39:04,290 --> 00:39:06,690 David has movies, David has TV shows. 924 00:39:07,570 --> 00:39:09,570 You know, a lot of times we know about David and Goliath. 925 00:39:09,570 --> 00:39:11,250 We know about David and Bathsheba. 926 00:39:11,410 --> 00:39:15,170 But there's so much more to David than just those highlight points. 927 00:39:15,170 --> 00:39:16,450 They're highlight points for a reason. 928 00:39:16,690 --> 00:39:19,530 But as we study this, I hope that we can see it through a new 929 00:39:19,530 --> 00:39:23,810 lens, a new perspective, and really see that God is one who keeps 930 00:39:23,810 --> 00:39:24,410 his promises. 931 00:39:24,410 --> 00:39:27,730 And he makes a promise to David and he keeps that promise. 932 00:39:28,130 --> 00:39:30,970 And we're going to see that there's a lot of ups and downs to 933 00:39:30,970 --> 00:39:31,130 it. 934 00:39:31,130 --> 00:39:34,320 And we're also going to see that in the life of David, God uses 935 00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:35,040 flawed people. 936 00:39:35,040 --> 00:39:38,920 We've already mentioned that David is not the type of guy that 937 00:39:38,920 --> 00:39:39,600 even we see. 938 00:39:39,600 --> 00:39:43,640 Like, you know, I don't know if you've ever read the book of Genesis 939 00:39:43,640 --> 00:39:46,320 and read about Joseph or read even the book of Daniel. 940 00:39:46,720 --> 00:39:49,320 The Bible doesn't bring up negative things about Joseph and 941 00:39:49,320 --> 00:39:49,599 Daniel. 942 00:39:49,599 --> 00:39:51,640 So I always look at them like, man, I could never be like Joseph 943 00:39:51,640 --> 00:39:52,240 and Daniel. 944 00:39:52,240 --> 00:39:54,520 Even though we know that Joseph and Daniel sinned because 945 00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:57,080 the Bible says for all have sinned, we just don't see it that 946 00:39:57,080 --> 00:39:57,640 highlighted. 947 00:39:57,640 --> 00:40:00,560 But I don't want to say poor David, but David gets a lot of negative 948 00:40:00,560 --> 00:40:02,720 things highlighted, particularly later on in his life. 949 00:40:03,100 --> 00:40:05,900 And he didn't get it all right, But God certainly blesses 950 00:40:05,900 --> 00:40:06,220 him. 951 00:40:06,380 --> 00:40:07,820 And why? 952 00:40:07,900 --> 00:40:10,940 Not because David was perfect, but because David sought after that 953 00:40:10,940 --> 00:40:12,060 relationship with God. 954 00:40:12,380 --> 00:40:16,060 And we'll talk more about that as we go along and go into 2 Samuel. 955 00:40:16,140 --> 00:40:19,260 So this is going to be a long, extended study, but I hope that it'll 956 00:40:19,260 --> 00:40:20,300 be a blessing for you.