1 Samuel 24 (Part 1) Bible Study (David Spares Saul's Life) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

First Samuel 24. Meet me there, please. As many of the chapters in Samuel have proved, this is not going to be settled in one session, at least this chapter. There's just too much for us to quickly glance over these verses. And you will see, I hope you will see, the reason why in this chapter, as you have in the past few chapters, there's so much meat for us to feast on.

But I would like for us to pray one more time before we open up God's word together. Lord, we thank you for the written word. We thank you, oh God, that it is through this word that you speak to your people. It is through the word that we not only have your mind, not only have your heart, Lord. It is where we have life.

It is where we know, as we just heard, satisfaction. And we just pray, oh, God, that this would not be a a transfer of information to the mind merely, but that, Lord, you would revive our hearts and that we would long for you personally as a result of this study. And so Lord, we pray that every voice would be silenced apart from the voice of God. We pray, oh Lord, that no man would be seen apart from the man Christ Jesus. And And we pray, oh lord, that there would be a sanctifying effect of tonight's meeting on our lives.

We trust that by the power of the Holy Spirit, this will be the case. And we give you glory in advance for it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. Let's just read this chapter, the first seven verses together, and then we'll expound.

Beginning in verse one of one Samuel 24. When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, Behold, David is in the wilderness of En Gedi. Then Saul took 3,000 chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Wild Goat's rocks. And he came to the sheepfolds, 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 robe.

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 went on his way. Fascinating. Fascinating.

In fact, if you come to verse one with me, you will see at least two things in this one verse alone. If you remember, and this is the beauty of being in touch with the weekly Bible study because it connects, and you don't, you don't feel like you're missing, missing the whole context. But for the sake of just reminding ourselves. Saul had pursued David and he was so close of capturing him in the previous chapter, but we learn that in God's providence, a messenger from Saul's camp came to tell him that the Philistines are invading the land. And so Saul turned back and went towards that duty while David escaped one more time from the grip of his enemy.

And we are told here, interestingly enough, in verse one that when Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, Behold, David is in the wilderness of En Gedi. Now we would read past that just as an introduction to this text. But verse one tells us at least two things, I'm sure, among other things. Notice here in verse one, when Saul returned from following the Philistines, does that mean that Saul defeated the Philistines or that the Philistines defeated Saul? Saul actually saw victory over the Philistines.

And that should cause us to think, how is that the case? I mean, you're talking about a man who's been in rebellion against God. You're talking about a man who is in an unrepentant state. You're talking about a man who has already killed so many priests and is now willing to kill God's next king in line. And yet with all of that into consideration, he sees success.

He sees victory. And to the natural mind, we would say, should not a man like this only know defeat, failure, suffering? Should not this man's fate be death? And instead we see that his fate is accomplishment, great strides, advancement. And we say how?

How is this the case? Is this really fair? That's a good question. But reading this reminded me of so many scriptures from old to new that tell us to never envy or not to be fretful about the apparent success of sinners. That even when the wicked prosper, we should not question God's justice in his dealing with them.

It seems as though his success is not fair, but may I remind you tonight at least of a few things. Number one, God is much slower to judge than we are. Much slower. And what Saul is experiencing here in verse one is is undeserved. There's no question about that.

But but can you reflect upon your own life, especially before you came to Christ? Especially you who grew up in a Christian household and you've heard the word preach ever since you could hear pretty much? And how how how much has God been merciful over you and forgiving with all the things that you've done in secret, all the things that you've done to others, all the things mainly that you've done against God? How about the mercy of God after you got saved? How many times has he forgiven you when he should have stricken you and me dead for representing him wrongly, for being a hypocrite to others, for causing others to maybe even want to remain in unbelief?

And yet God is merciful. And so when you look at how Saul saw victory, don't see a man who's getting away with something. See God who is merciful. Secondly, God is very, very complex in his ways. I didn't say contradictory.

I said complex, and that complexity deals with his wisdom. And there are times where God, for the sake of the good of others, will even give success to those who don't deserve to be successful, Especially for those who serve God. Who are supposed to be his leaders. And so think of Moses. I often use that as an example.

That in disobedience, he struck the rock twice and yet God still let water come from that rock so that he can feed the rest of the nation who were who were parched and who wanted something to drink in the wilderness. Moses was going to be punished later, but for the sake of his own people, through his disobedience, he provided a blessing. Thirdly, when you look at something like this, whatever peace and prosperity they may be experiencing for the moment, there is an appointment that God has with man to settle accounts with him. It's true for every single person. Whether it's in this life or in the next, Saul's life down the road is going to prove that he could not ultimately get away with everything.

The wick of God's mercy, though it is long and though it stretches wide, comes to an end eventually. And we're going to see that very, very soon. And so let me let me just say this, as you look at Saul seeing success, though he deserves to be embarrassed, though he deserves to be punished, though he deserves to be stricken dead, rejoice in God's mercy. But look at this now. I see something else.

When he returned from following the Philistines, he was told, behold, David is in the wilderness of En Gedi. Now this is amazing, because he's about to now pursue David again. You would think that after you have seen so many interruptions so clearly from God that you would have learned your lesson? That you would have been sobered? That you would have at least questioned if what you were doing was right?

You see, every time that God rescued David, it wasn't just to rescue David, though that was the ultimate thing, right after his own glory. But it was also to bring warning to Saul. You're not just fighting against David, you're fighting against me. And yet still, the way he responds to the news of David's new hideout is no different than before this moment. And before we get upset with this man Saul and his reaction to this news, realize that men is no different today.

Sinners are no different today. They respond no differently than Saul here to his providential blessings and his warnings. They persist in their evil still. And I've seen it, you've seen it, you're probably one person that's actually doing it. What do I mean by that?

That despite God's warnings, despite his common grace, despite the sermons, despite the conviction, despite the people telling you and warning you and trying to shake you up, despite near death experiences, despite evil on large scales, despite natural disasters, despite all these things, yet still man will persist in their wickedness and their rebellion. Saul is not unique here. His stubbornness is a commentary of the stubbornness of man. Now we read in verse two. Then Saul took 3,000 chosen men.

He takes 3,000 of his finest men and he's about to now come and pursue David. And so we have something to learn here from David's perspective, okay? If you're a born again believer here and you've walked with the Lord longer than I mean, this is not dogmatic but if you've walked with the Lord long enough and serving him throughout that time, what I'm about to say is something you can relate to. Because in, in verse two, or at least in this whole chapter, we are going to learn a rhythm that is very common and shared among God's saints. There's a frequency here of Saul's attacks that speaks so accurately of how the believer experiences great trials in his life.

The Bible assures you and I that our destination to heaven is not free from turbulence. There is going to be great shaking. Sometimes they're smaller, sometimes they're shorter, and sometimes they're great seasons of pain and suffering. Yet one thing is for certain, you are not going to go into heaven without scars. You're gonna get in there because of Jesus' scars, but you're also gonna get in there with your own scars for living for Jesus.

And what we see here is David, though he has evaded Saul in such a beautiful and providential way, in just a moment he's about to experience yet another attack from Saul. Believer, it's no different for you and I. It's strange, is it not? Again, this is for those who are familiar in serving God long term. There are moments of great trial and then there are also seasons of great peace.

And if you've walked with God long enough, even in those seasons where it seems like every Christian is walking in the Spirit, and there's no commotion in community, And it seems like ministry is flourishing and flowing without any, any resistance or persecution. You know down deep inside it's not going to be like this very long without a fight. That's not supposed to be a negative mindset. It's a realistic mindset. It's a realistic mindset.

Because if things are quiet in here among the believers, you know that there's something outside that's gonna happen. And if there's no persecution from outside, then that kind of peace promotes, a type of indifference and laziness within, and and now people start acting up within because they neglect their own spiritual disciplines and other matters. And so with David here, he's showing us, God is showing us that there are different times in the Christian's life, but there must be a consistent posture throughout it all. And it is demonstrated here with David. And what is that?

Believer, you and I always have to be on guard in times of trouble, in times of persecution, especially in times of peace. When you have known nothing other than laughter and memories and great success in your spiritual walk, that is not a time to be distracted. That is not a time to not be disciplined. David here, after he escaped from Saul, wasn't like, you know guys, let's go on vacation. Nothing wrong against vacation.

I'm talking about a spiritual vacation. Because no matter where you go on vacation, you're always in the spirit. Why don't we just, why don't we just lay back? I mean, just no, no, no. They were still vigilant.

God has helped us here, but we have to do our part and be wise here. We have to be careful. The enemy can come from any place. We have to remain sharp. We have to remain sensitive.

We have to remain nourished. We have to remain strengthened. That is a soldier mindset in the kingdom of God. Because oftentimes what happens to believers is that when there are things that happen from within or from outside, they have so neglected their discipline. They have so neglected taking care of themselves.

They're not ready to respond to it in the spirit. So David still knew that there was a threat, so he remained equipped. He remained among the 600. He remained smart, though he was securing God's sovereignty. So listen to this.

How does a believer remain in the same posture? Listen. You're nourished continually by God's word. You don't just come to the Bible when things get shaky in life. You get fed with the word of God so that nothing shakes you.

You understand? The difference. You don't just pray when things get desperate. You pray so that you know how to respond when desperate times come. You don't just come to church when you're in trouble, you remain with a family so that when trouble comes, you have people who can give you wisdom counsel and love and encouragement.

David here is proving that. And so these men, the 3,000 chosen men, just like how Satan works, he amps up. He becomes more fierce when he realizes he didn't get you the way he could get you last time. Oh, he doesn't fall into that kind of temptation, so let me present this one. Oh, he doesn't love money, so let me bother him from within.

And he tries to come from different angles. Now this time Saul is coming with his elite men. And David is ready. And this is what happens. This is so interesting.

Although this seems like a cycle of cat and mouse between Saul and David, there's something unique about this chapter, and you already read it. In so many different chapters we read that that Saul came close, so that David heard about Saul approaching him, and he was able to escape. But this time, Saul and David are gonna be at the closest they've ever been physically. In verse three, you read, and he came, that's Saul, to the sheepfolds, 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.

Can you imagine that? Here's this man who's chasing David and unknowingly, he just has to go and and deal with personal business. And he goes into a random cave, a random hole in the wall, not knowing that the person he was looking for is in the very same room. And this could speak to the depth of the cave. It can it can speak to the loudness of the men that were with David just outside of the cave.

It definitely speaks about how stealth these men were as soldiers. And what David is about to experience this time, in this chapter, is a new kind of test to his faith. David has had many divine evaluations from God up to this point. Many. We've seen David outshine all the Israelites by being the sole person that would face a giant named Goliath.

We've seen David fail and grow in believing in God's protective care over him when Saul was pursuing him. We've seen David clearly, clearly mature in his dependency on the Lord that whenever something came and he didn't know the direction, he dropped to his knees and says, God, give me an answer. And now a new curriculum David has enrolled in in this chapter. In the school of God, David is about to now face something that he has not faced before, a new kind of temptation. And this verse sets the stage.

If you've never read this story before, what would you think? Imagine that you verse three was its own page, and you couldn't read what happens afterwards. How many believers would think or be tempted to believe that David is about to take out Saul? Saul is finally going to get what was coming to him. Up to this point, Saul has outnumbered David.

Up to this point, David was the mouse. And now here, providentially, Saul has outnumbered 600 to one. And all it has to take is one of those men to come and jab him in the back, and this is done. It's over with. How many people would innocently think that this is not just an opportunity, it's a God given opportunity for David to kill Saul?

This is God giving this to you on a silver platter. Just do it. End your suffering, end your misery, end this chase, and in fact, move forward with your life and and become the next king. Just kill the guy. And if you and I are tempted to believe that or if we didn't know the story and we did come to that thought believing that was the case, then it would not be the first time that many followers of Jesus have misinterpreted what God does in their own lives or in the lives of other people.

Remember when Jesus was walking with his disciples in John chapter nine, and there was a man there born blind? And you know what they asked their rabbi, rabbi, was it this man's sins or his parents' sins that caused him to be to be born this way? And Jesus says, neither. It wasn't because of his sins. It wasn't because of his parents' sins, but it's because this is going to set up a way for me to reveal my glory.

And I wanna say to you today that many followers of Jesus Christ put a wrong commentary on people, on situations, on circumstances, whether it's their own or it's others'. You have people today who still think with the retribution principle. If you're suffering, if there's misfortune, if you have a disease, you might have done something to make God angry. Must have been some secret sin for your life to turn out this way. You're no different than the disciples in John chapter nine.

And you you have people also who look at their own lives, and they see their misfortune, and they put commentary on what God is doing because they don't have an understanding of the word of God, and they don't understand the mystery of his sovereignty at times. And so they are quick to say and even accuse God of his goodness. They are quick to question God's love because of delays in life. And as they compare with other children of God, they think, well, why isn't it happening to me when it's happening to them? And so we are very tempted to not just give personal commentary, but commentaries to others about what God is doing.

When in fact, his ways are not your ways and his thoughts are not your thoughts or mine. And that is exemplified here by these men. David's men here are giving a commentary of what's happening that is totally wrong. Totally wrong. Look what they say here at the the second part of verse three.

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. I'm opening it up to ask, can anybody find where God said this to David? You've been here week after week. Where's this prophecy? If you can find it, I will reward you.

What's my point? You can't find it. Why? Because God didn't say it. God never told, it was never recorded here.

And, and some would say, well, just because it's not recorded doesn't mean that it didn't happen. Maybe it did happen and it's just not, it's just not in the scriptures. David's response to these men in verse six proves that God never said it. In fact, what they were suggesting was totally wrong. So what's happening here?

These many are misinterpreting God's providence. And because they're excited, I mean they suffered under Saul themselves. And because they love their leader and they have the best interest in mind for him, they're encouraging him to do something that God didn't say to do. But in their enthusiasm, listen to this, they know that David is such a godly man that he only takes his directions from God. And so what do they do?

They, they formulate this in a way as though God is encouraging to do it so that he can, he can be more relaxed in moving forward in this decision. It could be either that or they are actually really convinced in this moment. They're like, no way. The most protected man in Israel is using the bathroom just a few feet from us right here right now. No bodyguard.

No nothing. This has to be God. This has to be God. And so they whisper. Can you imagine them whispering in David's ear?

This is it. Are you kidding me, David? This is your shot. This is God clearly doing this. Who knows what else they added?

The scripture doesn't add I don't wanna add to the scripture, but if I was one of those soldiers in the flesh, I would probably say, you could be king right now. We don't have to hide in caves anymore. We can establish godliness in Israel again. This is it. This is the new chapter that God had been prophesying over you.

This is why we're supporting you. And look, God is making a way. So So let's just do it. Go kill him. You wanna use my sword?

I don't know. Regardless of their excitement, regardless of how they justified it, even if they included God's name in it, The question is simple. Is it right? Is it right? And the answer is obviously not.

It's not right. It's not right to kill a man. There is no justification for him to assassinate the leader of Israel. And here's the point that you want to take out of this, that no matter how we feel about something, no matter how convinced we may be, what you and I have to come to is asking, is this in alignment with God's word? After having a balanced understanding of God's word, is this right?

If you wanna know how to interpret God's mind about a person, listen carefully now about a situation, about a circumstance, about a decision, all you have to do, the main way of being safe is ask yourself this. Does this line up with the balanced comprehension of God's word? And I emphasize balanced because anybody can pretty much justify just about anything with one or two verses in the Bible. Cults have started with one or two verses in the Bible. It is fascinating how people can justify just about anything and have a verse to back it up.

And that's what these guys are essentially doing. Was it God's will for David to become king? It was God's will. You can say it was God's word. God's word declared that David would become king.

But was it God's will for David to kill him to arrive to the throne? No. And so you have to have a balance. If you just have, it's God's will for you to be king, you could think, alright, then this is the way to do it. But when you understand the totality of scripture, you realize, yeah, that sounds right and it seems right, but there's also this.

That's how Jesus combated Satan's lies with the scriptures. Satan said, it is written. And Jesus said what? It is also written. Not just it is written.

He says, yeah, but you gotta you gotta balance that verse with this verse. How do you explain this story with this commentary in the Bible of that story? This is where many Christians get themselves in trouble. David being king was God's will, but David killing King Saul to get there was was evil. It was sin.

And I want to take this verse, and I want you and I to see just how clever sin is. Let me put it this way. I want you to see how temptation works. And David here is experiencing a heavy weight of temptation. This isn't just a, like, a light thing.

There were so many layers that made this extremely attractive to David. So look at verse three. And I want you to look at verse three in your Bibles, and and you can, you can answer, give me some elements that would make this very appealing to David. What are some elements about this temptation that would persuade David more than usual to move forward in assassinating Saul? Say that again?

He's alone. Saul's alone. Saul's alone. Sure. So it's it's easy.

We just covered one part of it. Whose name was invoked into this? We just we just read it. Who got brought into this situation? God.

God. Number one. Temptation is stronger when God's word supposedly justifies it. One of the ways that men try to silence their conscience is if they have enough understanding of God's word, if they've grown up in a Christian home, even if they are genuine believers, they will try to come to God's word and either intentionally try to twist it, or they are doing something wrong because they have received the twisted word and have believed it. So there is something that helps the the inner alarm by knowing that God's word apparently gives the green light on it, or he's silent about it, and so so it's okay for me to continue in this.

Let me give you an example. I know of a young man, many, many years ago, that before he was born again, and though he grew up in a Christian household, he he went to Sunday school, he heard the sermons, he had Christian parents, but he was not born again. He was living in the world, and he was living at one point in great sexual sin. And his conscience was was so alarmed and disturbed that at one point, he came to the Bible itself to try to find out if he could justify his behavior. And this is how he was doing it.

He was looking for specifics. That was the standard. I have to find specifics to my immorality, and if God is silent about those specifics, then sure enough, he can give me some grace here. So you see how how men try to invoke God's name or go to compromising Christians to get their counsel, and they try to ease the disturbance within their soul by either silencing God's word altogether or manipulating God's word in order to try to comfort them with a false peace. Peace, peace, did the false prophets speak on behalf of God that gave those men of Israel some comfort in their sin.

So God's name is invoked, though God never said it. And God's attributes today are being used, manipulated, twisted to justify sin. God is love. Love is love. God is forgiving.

He'll forgive. You know how many Christians use that? I'll tell you. It's garbage. Your theology, brother, is garbage when you try to plan to sleep with somebody and you say God is merciful, he'll forgive us.

That's an abuse of the grace of God. And so men try to come to God's word and manipulate and twist in order to bring themselves to an ease in their conscience. But let me ask you this question, who is suggesting it to David? His friends. His closest friends.

His devout followers. Those that have sacrificed so much for him. Those that have surrendered everything to support him. And here's the problem. This is not the first time that David's friends have suggested something contrary to God's word.

Remember when God says go and defend Keilah? Remember that? What did all the rest say? We're afraid. We're already afraid here in Judah.

Now you want us to go fight against the Philistines? And so David's friends, though they were good hearted, they were not mature in faith, and so they were an obstacle to David at one point, and now they're an obstacle again. They're now suggesting to David, encouraging David to kill the king. And here's the point that I want to make. This may shock you.

This, this point may shock you. But But it's true nonetheless, and I wanna give you biblical evidence for that. Listen to this. Satan knows that there are certain people in our lives that carry more influence than others. Satan knows that there are relationships in our lives that hold more weight than others, and because of that, Satan will find a way to lie to them so that they can lie to you.

You're thinking, brother, you're reading way too much into this. This is extra biblical. Is it really? What did Jesus tell his closest friend when he suggested to him not to go to the cross? Get behind me, Peter?

No. Get behind me, Satan. You know what's interesting about that? Peter, though he was a follower of Jesus, Jesus criticized, rebuked the representative of the apostles because afterwards he says, for you have set your mind as a man does and not on the things of God. In other words, you're thinking worldly.

And because of Peter's worldly mindset, Satan's lies were believable, and then he began to now cause Jesus to be tempted. And it all started with an open door from a follower of Jesus Christ. I know this is this is like, what are you suggesting? I'm suggesting this, that when Satan tempted Jesus directly, he failed. So what did he do?

The next thing was this. Well, if I couldn't do it directly, let me go through one of his closest followers. All Satan wanted Jesus to do was not get to the cross. You want the world? I'll give you the world.

Just just take a shortcut. Don't go to the cross. Jesus with the scriptures defeated Satan in that moment. So what does Satan do as the clever devil that he is? He whispers into a a man's mind who is worldly in his thinking, and through Peter, try to convince Jesus not to go to the cross.

And so here's what I wanna tell you today. No matter how much you love somebody, no matter how much somebody claims to love you, no matter the history of your relationship with that individual, people are susceptible to get into the flesh, even followers of Jesus Christ. Here's the point that I want to make. It doesn't matter who says it, what they say, doesn't matter your history with that person. God's word trumps over man's word every time.

Every time. And David here is going to prove that that even though 600 unanimously are trying to convince him to go one way, God's word was more important and more authoritative than the word of 600 men. And I'm telling you not to condemn others, not to think that people are demon possessed who have the Holy Spirit in it. I'm not saying that. What I am saying is this, that we have to be so wise and discerning that even people that love you, even people that claim to love God, like these men, like Peter, if what they say doesn't line up with God's word, you always stand by God's eternal unchanging counsel.

Always. And that's what David's about to do. That's what our Lord Jesus did. That is what you and I have to do. Lastly, there's something else here.

We we consider the fact that God's name was invoked. Now, as you're hearing this, think about David was a man. Think about the weightiness of this. God's names, you have 600 people saying, God is telling you to do this. Wow.

It wasn't even like ninety, ten, a 100%. You have 600 people who have your best interests in mind, who are giving you advice, who are giving you counsel but it contradicts God's word. What are you gonna do? And lastly, you have the personal interest. The ends that can be achieved if you do this.

Imagine what can be finished once and for all if David just kills Saul. Imagine the peace, the harmony. Imagine you can arrive to the throne much earlier. This is taking forever. And this is the temptation.

David knew he was going to be king, and sometimes he needed to be reminded of that. But the, the thing that was tricky here was that there was an offer for an early fulfillment of that. There's no doubt that David was gonna arrive, but in this moment, he can have it now, much sooner. Suffering can be spared. Seems like all of this is done for his favor and for his benefit.

But let me say this, just because an ambition is good, it does not permit us to use sinful means to get there. Just because the end might be good, it will never justify sin to obtain it. Never forget this, no matter how profitable something is, no matter how much good you think that you can promote and accomplish if you get there, if it is not done according to God's ways, you will not have God's ultimate blessing on it. Is this not true among believers? How many believers are constantly tempted with a less costly way of doing something?

How many believers are tempted to shortcuts in life, and those shortcuts are sin? Sinful ways of arriving somewhere. So I think of Christian businessmen who want a quicker way to make money. And so they will lie. They will cheat.

They might even justify and say, I have more to give to the church if I if I make more, if I have more property. And so they deceive, and they write false information, and they tell their employees to not be honest. How many single Christians can't imagine living another year being single? And so they'll they'll take a shortcut and and they will justify marrying somebody who's not saved because that's how much they long for companionship and for a family. So so they'll take a shortcut to arrive to God's desire for them.

How many people in lust for something as holy as a ministry position will manipulate people's minds and make politics within the church so they can poison people because somebody's in the way of what they want, and they wanna do it apparently in the name of God. Do you see? Do you see how this temptation is very relevant to many people's lives today? Temptation is much more desirable when it offers a shortcut to things, When it can bring things now, when it can bring things quicker, when there's more fulfillment that can be known. And yet I will tell you this, that a spirit filled Christian will be much more satisfied in knowing that they are pleasing God even though there's a delay on on whatever blessing they are hoping for.

So now David has a mountain of temptations on his shoulders. Apparently, you have God's name invoked in it. You have your friends telling you to do it, and now you have even your personal interest. Freedom from suffering. You can now govern.

You can be king. You can see God's will performed. And you're thinking, what is he going to do? And with suspense in our hearts as we're reading it, David doesn't answer them at all. And with the assassin abilities that he has as a mighty warrior, as Saul there is taking care of his personal business, most likely facing away from David and his men, he stealthily comes to this king.

And like any king in that day would have a long robe that would symbolize their authority. David pulls out his dagger, and the men behind watching from the womb of that cave are probably celebrating inwardly like, this is it, man. We're getting out of this thing. I'm getting one room in the palace. I'm getting that, and they're they're just, here it is.

He pulls out that dagger. He approaches Saul. Saul has no clue. He's probably whistling himself to his death in a moment. And as he lifts up his hand, men are thinking maybe he's going to go right for the jugular.

He brings it low and he cuts a piece of fabric off of Saul's robe, and he backpedals into the shadows of that cave. And then we read verse five. And afterward, David's heart struck him because he had cut off a corner of Saul's rope. So David cuts just a piece. I wonder if it was the color red.

He he had a piece of the robe in his hand. And he comes back to his men, and I don't know what the response of the men were like. Probably like, what are you doing? Get back there and kill him. And we're about to find out, maybe they were like, I'm gonna do it myself because it says that he restrains them.

In that moment, David wasn't concerned about anything else other than his conscience. His heart struck him. That word struck is a very powerful word. It's the same word that is used in Exodus two twelve, where Moses saw an Egyptian mistreating a Jewish slave, and he looked around to see if there was anybody watching, and he slew that Egyptian soldier, and he buried him. It's the same word for kill.

His heart was smitten. It was stricken. It exploded with conviction. Imagine that. Just for cutting a piece of Saul's robe?

What would have become of the man if he actually killed Saul? I read this verse, verse five. First Samuel chapter 22 24 verse five, many years ago, and it has greatly impacted my walk with the Lord, particularly in my fight against sin. Why? Because what you have here is a man with a very, very sensitive conscience.

I mean, David has proven much already. He has proven that he will not get to the throne knowing that I got here because I killed Saul. He, he's subtle with himself. If if I'm gonna go where God tells me I'm gonna go, God's gonna have to do it. Secondly, we learned that this man did not have bitterness against Saul.

When he had the opportunity to do more harm to the one who was creating much misery in his life, he did not take vengeance. But more than that, more than that, more than that, this man here, it's incredible. The purity of his soul is is on full display here. He could not handle the fact that he actually, he actually did something to him, though it was so insignificant and small. And here's the point that I wanna make.

This is a great thing to have in life. It is a great thing to feel great pain for small sins. Listen. God has instituted many restraints in creation. He has provided institutions, and he has even provided an inner faculty.

It's called a conscience. And what a conscience does is that it accuses you when you do wrong, and it rewards you when you do right. It celebrates when you are walking righteously, and it condemns you when you are doing something that is contrary to the sense of morality that God has established in the universe. And here's the thing, that restraint that God has put in every single human being, by the way, What is that? By the way, what is that?

How do humans have that? I often say, those who believe that they have come from animals, don't you ever wonder how monkeys don't have a judicial system? Humans do. Do cats and dogs have a prison system? Humans do.

There's something that we've been wired with that knows right from wrong and people are trying to explain it away. And for a reason. Schools are trying to teach the media is trying to do something with man's conscience. Have you noticed? They're trying to blur as much as possible this concept of right and wrong.

They want to eliminate this, this idea, which is God's doing, that there is objective morality in the world. And so what's happening here is that the enemy wants to wants to silence people's consciences because that is one of God's restraints in society. When you silence people's consciences, evil becomes more accessible. And people are more willing to sin without hesitation or a second thought. So there's no right and wrong.

Hey, if your shirt is black and you want it to be green, let it be green. Hey, if it feels good, do it. If you want it, you can have it. What is that? That is training the conscience to not listen to the voice that says, This is wrong.

This is right. And I want to show you how that is the case. I want to show you how this conscience that God has given every man, you can either train it to become more sensitive and that preserves you from much trouble, or you can so damage it that sin is a reality in your life as breathing is. Go to first Timothy. I want you to see this in chapter four.

Here's what the scripture says in in verse one of first Timothy four verse one. Now the spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared. Notice the equation here. Paul by the Spirit is warning that in the last days, you're gonna have more and more people teaching things contrary to the Bible or twisting the Bible. It's gonna become more and more uncommon.

And here's the cause. How is it that you're going to have people behind pulpits? How is it that you're going to have people on popular TV shows and podcasts teaching others demonic things? The cause is here. Their consciences are seared.

Meaning, it's burned. And just like how if you burn your nerve endings severely enough, you lose sensation in them, what Paul is saying here is that these men have so calloused their souls that they have no issue spewing lies. It doesn't bother them or keep them awake at night one bit. So how could they lie in a way that would damn people? Well, it started with the fact that they've silenced their conscience.

They have so burned their inner alarm system that they are capable of doing this knowing that it can destroy people. And that is a dangerous thing. When you no longer are able to feel guilt, shame, hesitation, discomfort, fear, a healthy fear, regret, especially those who are outside of Christ. I'll get to the how we should feel outside, inside of Christ. But when, when man fails to feel these things, sin will become more rampant.

Devious schemes will become more common. People will be destroyed. And so one of Satan's strategies, as we're seeing in full display, is to make sure that this thing that restrains man from going too far would be muted as much as possible. It's the same idea as pain. Pain physically is good.

It's good. Because when I put my hand on top of a heated stove, it's pain that goes, ah. And we can liken that to the conscience. When a conscience is sensitive and it's doing something right, it promotes you to retract and from continuing in that sin. But my question is this.

How does a man come to the point where they sear their conscience? How does a man come to a point where they so burn up that part of their inner faculty that they're willing to live in sin to their own self destruction and the destruction of others. Isn't it relieving to know that the answer is found in the same book? Go to chapter one of first Timothy in verse 19. There's a little phrase that we might overlook.

First Samuel one nineteen, and here's what we're told. Holding faith and a good conscience, by rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith. Rejecting what? Not just the faith, but a good conscience. The word rejecting means to repel.

It means to push away. It means to continually reject. What we're being told here is that the way a person arrives to a seared conscience they weren't born that way. Though they might have developed it early on, they've learned to ignore it. So this is what happens.

You ready? And it could be possible that somebody listening today is in the very process of what I'm about to describe. You do it the first time and you feel intense guilt. You lose sleep that night. You can't believe that you've brought yourself to do such a thing.

There's no repentance, not at least heartfelt repentance. So you do it again. And you still you still feel that rush of disgust, of embarrassment maybe. And your conscious tells you, don't you ever do that again. You do it again.

The fourth time. The tenth time. And that voice that was trying to negotiate with you before doing it is getting quieter and quieter. And that feeling of disturbance, it's like a whisper now. And now, all for a sudden, you find yourself, not only in it, but doing things that you never thought you would do, watching things you thought you never watch, handling things in a way you never thought you would handle it.

And how a person arrives there is that they have trained to ignore their conscience. And it can come to a point where it becomes so insensitive that the feeling is gone. And that's why you can have people who kill their serial murders. And it's like and then you watch them in interviews, and you think they look so they talk normal. They look like a guy that would live down my street.

Yeah. They have seared their conscience though. People who are liars, and they don't even realize that they're lying sometimes. There's there's they're so they're so used to doing that and ignoring it, and perhaps they've even thought to themselves, I've gotten away with it. I've gotten much from it.

I've I've made much great moves because of it. And so now they're lying. They don't even realize they're lying. It's just like them talking. What happened?

They've seared their conscience. By rejecting this, look at the result, they have made shipwreck, like a boat crashing into rocks is what happened to their relationship with the Lord by rejecting not just their faith, but their conscience. And I read that and I go, well, now I know how to silence my conscience, but that's not my concern. That's not my concern. My concern is how can I make it sensitive?

My desire is I want to be like David, and that's what I was alluding to earlier. I read this many years ago and I thought to myself, I, I want that. I, I, Lord, I so want my, my soul to be in tune with you because remember, the robe symbolized Saul's authority. And and in David's mind, by cutting a piece of the robe, he assaulted to a degree Saul's authority. How do I get there?

How do I arrive there? How do I keep it tender? How do I keep it soft? How do I keep it in tune with God? How do I keep it from taking me places that I don't wanna go?

Go back to first Samuel 24 and you'll find out. It's in verse six of first Samuel 24. He said to his men, being David, the Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my Lord, the Lord's anointed, to put out my hand against them, seeing he is the Lord's anointed. Is there a name that's repeated there? Three times Yahweh is mentioned in one verse.

When he says, my Lord concerning Saul, it's not the same name, that's just a title master. Three times, David looks at his men in that cave. He says, God. God. God.

God. He knew what God's word said about unjust killing, and he knew God's will. And he knew that God's will up to this point is that Saul was the appointed authority. And so in his mind, what faced this mountainous layers of temptation was God's word. God's word, God's will.

The Lord, the Lord, the Lord. Beginning of the service. I was thinking to myself, is there a psalm? Though we don't know a psalm for this chapter, but is there something that David had said where he can he can show us that it was really God's word that prevented him from doing certain things? And it was in Psalm 17.

Listen to this. Psalm 17, the half of it, verse four, David says, by the word of your lips, I have avoided the ways of the violent. By the words of your lips, I have avoided the way of violence. Because I knew your word, I didn't kill Saul. And I didn't listen to the 600 who were telling me to kill Saul.

How do you keep a conscience soft? You saturate it with the word of God. You wash it with the word of God. You don't just memorize it, you believe it. You let your life be governed by it.

You're convinced that this is your rule of life, that this is your authority, that this word is the determiner of not just your decisions for big things, but even the way you react to the evil of others like Saul to David. You know what I think that this is convicting to me. You know what I think of that cutting of the robe can be referenced to in our context? Like speaking ill of somebody, trying to ruin their repute, whatever it may be. It might not be it might not be me hitting them with my fist but with my words.

And yet David, in a sense, felt conviction for such a small thing, but how? Because he was so consumed with the word of God that when sin suggested itself, it had to deal with layers of revelation of who God is. And what I love about this moment is that we don't just learn how the word of God keeps our conscience sensitive. But listen to this, it's so powerful that it can awaken the consciences of others. Look at verse seven.

So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul. What a contrast to Saul and his men. When Saul's men with the Amalekite says, you know, we can we can take some of this and and make great sacrifices. He believed them and he did it. He listened.

He listened to his men. And yet David finds himself in the same situation where the men, his followers, are trying to tell him to do something and yet he preaches to his men. What a man of God. Oh, I wish I was in that cave. I wish I was a fly on that wall to see David whispering this sermon to his men while Saul is out there relieving himself in the same room.

He's going, God. God put him there. And God will not let me kill him. And God and God, and he's preaching the word. And what happens?

Now their conscience is awake. That's the power of God's word. And may I remind you, that is why Satan in America has tried to take God's word out of all that we do in life. You think you think God's word being removed from schools? You think prayer removed from schools is just I let's separation of church and state.

You think that's the issue? No. It's that we don't want children growing up with an awareness of God's holy law. And now we're in the day where we don't just have the absence of God's word, we have the promotion of insanity. That's what's happening.

Because even a knowledge of God's word, even in, in some, I don't know if all states do it, you have to swear on this book. Why? Because the presence of God's word provides a sense of an awakening to the conscience. So let's get rid of the Bible, get rid of the 10 commandments, get rid of prayer. Let's try to remove God as much as possible because here's the spiritual strategy.

Remove God and the conscience becomes more susceptible to being seared. Oh, but we're Americans, so we're very smart. So what do we do? We put the Bible in prisons And let their consciousness be awakened after the fact that they've done the crime. Why don't you put it in the schools first so they don't have to read it in prison?

And so we see here the power of God's word that even the name of the Lord was invoked in a right way, and 600 men were stopped, were restrained from doing something that would have been evil. And we can applaud David for many things, and I'll applaud this. David didn't go, well, brothers, I can't kill Saul. I can't do it. I can't kill Saul.

But, like, he didn't play that game. He didn't play that game. He feared God. Here's what's so encouraging about this. We often think of David being a faithful man when he faced Goliath and killed him.

How many people consider David as a faithful man when he faced Saul and didn't kill him? When we think of David as the hero of faith, we think about the one who stood out among all the Israelites and all the armies of Israel and he killed Goliath. What about, what about the faith that he had when he had an opportunity to get to the throne, but he chose not to kill Saul and left him into God's hand. We learned back in chapter 17 that God's providence led David precisely to be on the battlefield at the right time to hear Goliath's taunts and to make himself available to go to war with Goliath and deliver Israel. Is God's providence any different here?

Saul having to use the bathroom in the exact cave where the men were hiding in? And now a new test presented itself for David. What are you gonna do? Brothers and sisters, the test of your understanding of God's word is not going to come in Bible trivia. It's not.

It's going to come in real life. It's going to come in real life. Trust in God's word, God is such a wonderful teacher and discipler. He will put you in situations, never in a situation to be tempted beyond what you can bear, Never in a situation to prepare you to fail. Never in a situation to tempt you to sin.

But in life, he puts us in moments, and he brings us to seasons of life to see how much do you really believe me. Much do you really believe me? How much do you really believe me? How much do you really want to apply this to your life? Are there some things you want to apply it for and other things not?

David didn't do that. David didn't do that. He trusted God all across in all season. And this test, David passed. David passed.

Let me make a final note before we pray about how the believer should deal with their conscience walking with Jesus. When a sinner, his conscience is sensitive, it has the same purpose for the saint whose conscience is awakened because of a sin they might have committed. Both ends are the same. You run to Jesus. You run to Jesus.

The conscience given to man is a general grace to make life livable. So that even if a person does not come to Jesus, that conscience can be loud enough to hold them back from creating chaos in the home and in family, and in the streets and in school at work. But the ultimate goal is for the people to come to Christ, and that's where the gospel comes. The gospel is good news. It heals.

It invites people to know a guilt free conscience and to have the burden of sin roll off of them. Believer, although we want to have a sensitive conscience, we also want to have an awareness of the mercy of Jesus Christ. That when I do wrong, when I do something I know I wasn't supposed to do, yes, you want a sensitive conscience. You don't wanna ignore it, but you also don't wanna sit in your guilt. That's not God's will either.

God's will is for you to come with your dirty feet to sit at his table and let him wash it. That's what he wants to do. So I, I, I want the most sensitive conscience possible. And let me also say this. There is a difference between a sensitive conscience and an oversensitive conscience.

Let me just make that clear. Because you have people who are guilty about just about anything they do. That they think that if it's sin, if it's sin, and there are sins with different magnitude of consequence, and what we want is even for the smallest sins, we want to feel that sensitivity. Because listen, when we ignore smaller sins, we tend to then ignore bigger ones. But I'm not talking about something that's not in the word.

I'm not talking about something that's outrageous and not realistic. I'm talking about something that we should feel pain for, so that it can keep us from doing more damage to ourselves and others. Let me wrap this up before I continue. Are you ignoring it? And I can tell you this, if you know that you're not in Jesus Christ, and you know that you're in sin, you know that you're in compromise, and you're still ignoring it, here's God's way of trying to awaken it again.

But if you walk out of here, I can tell you confidently that you're just gonna sear it a little bit more than you did before you walked in. So come to Christ and surrender. And know something that nothing else can offer you in this life, and that is a liberty to your conscience. There's nothing that feels better than to know that you're forgiven. Nothing.

Nothing can compare to it. Nothing can compare to knowing that you've been reconciled to God and you have peace with God. Nothing. Believe it, what's your conscience telling you? Have you been have you been doing what these men have been doing with God's word?

Twisting it, adding to it, subtracting from it to try to justify something for your personal gain? To try to justify something for your personal gain. It's not worth it, because you're his child. And guess what? You're not going to get away with it.

Father. He will discipline. That's not going to be in that famous, good, good father. Good, good father? Yeah, he'll discipline you.

He's a good, good father. And so you're not going to get away with it either. And you just listen, save yourself from the trouble. Save your save yourself from the shame. Save yourself from the save yourself, and just respond to the word of God as it has been given.

And you will know life and peace. And whatever that sin is trying to convince you with, it's a lie. It's a lie. Take it from a brother who loves you, who cares for you. Isn't bible study amazing?

I study this by myself and I get excited. And I'm glad that you love God's word as well. But let's apply it and ask God to help us apply it. Amen. Let's pray.

Lord, your word amazes us. It moves us to the core. It moves us. What wisdom, what treasure, what jewels, what life, that in seven verses you can change us so dramatically. Oh Lord, we are amazed at you.

What a wonderful God you are. What an amazing text for us tonight. And Lord, we hear what you're saying in these verses. Oh God, make us tender in our conscience. What a man of God David was in this moment, oh Lord.

May we reflect that posture of heart when it comes to sin that even a sliver of wrong would cause great turmoil within. Not so that we can live feeling that we are not accepted by you, not so that we can think that we are condemned, But oh Lord, to know that we have broken your heart. To know that we've done something that doesn't represent the Lord that we said we would serve and follow. And so Lord, by the spirit of God, through the word of God, may you tenderize our hearts. We are attracted to what David displayed before us.

We are not, we are not afraid of that, Lord. We long for it. But Lord, also protect us from a misunderstanding of these things. And so, Father, we just praise you. We praise you that in this in this moment as a family, we've we've feasted on your word.

We sat at your table and you have not left us hungry. And God, we worship you. We worship you in thanksgiving for your provision for a spiritual nourishment in this place. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen.

Why don't we, with joy in our hearts, thank God for his word and celebrate his goodness. Amen. Can you stand with me?