Sound Doctrine

Jeff Johnson: Jesus led a perfect life. So why was He killed? Jesus never gave any reason to anybody to kill Him like they did. Nothing. He always did good. He always loved. He always ministered, and yet they hung Him on a cross. Never did a thing. Why is that? Because man loved their darkness rather than the light. And when the light came into the world, they hated the light, and they sought to put the light out. David did his best, and he committed the rest to the Lord.

There is no doubt that friends are one of the things that makes life fun. Those close relationships are often a source of joy in the good times and comfort in the hard times. What do you look for in a friend? Today on Sound Doctrine, we'll draw attention to one of the all-time great friendships, David and Jonathan. And we'll see what we can learn and apply to our interpersonal relationships as we do. Pastor Jeff Johnson is in the midst of a series from the book of 1 Samuel right now. Today we'll make a return visit to chapter 18. Here's Pastor Jeff.

Jeff Johnson: Look at what jealousy does. It destroys relationships, even a father and son. You're dead, Jonathan. You're going to die because of what you did. Not even any care at all. Hard heart. And now we see him, and his true intentions are revealed against David. And I think David got the point, don't you? Because he dodged twice. Twice he ducked.

But David's not the type of guy that's going to take a javelin in the side, move his head, and throw it back at him because David wasn't a spear chucker. And if you study into David's life, you see this guy was under control. When somebody threw a spear at him, he wouldn't take it out of the wall and throw it back at him. He just ducked and said, "I'm going to leave right now. I'll be praying for you." And he just went out.

So much like Jesus. Jesus, they hung Him on a cross, nailed Him to a tree. And there He hung. They threatened Him; He didn't threaten them. They reviled Him; He didn't revile them. But He committed Himself to God, who judges righteously. And He hung there, and He said, "Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing." This mind of Christ, let this mind be in you.

The mind that was in David, who actually could have a javelin thrown at him, it stick in the wall, and he wouldn't take it out and throw it back. He would just go on and just pray for the guy. There's a great book called *The Tale of Three Kings*. It's a book about David and how he wasn't a spear chucker. He was under a king who was mean, angry. Now some of you might be in a position where you're under someone that's angry and resentful and bitter, and always getting on you. Maybe it's a boss. Maybe it's a wife. Maybe it's a husband.

But you're under this reign and this rule. How are you to react? Are you to justify getting back in the flesh and talking about that individual? Hey, listen, the tongue is a fire. It can destroy reputations. And yes, you can get back at your boss. You can get back at your husband. But is that what God wants you to do? Or would God rather have you just to give it to Him? So David was able to give Saul to the Lord and say, "Lord, take care of him." And David realized that God's hand was on his life, and he was able to go on.

Notice verse 12, "And Saul was afraid of David." Why? "Because the Lord was with him, and was departed from Saul. Therefore Saul removed him from him, didn't even want to have him around anymore, made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people. And notice, David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the Lord was with him."

Another result of being away from the Lord is going to be fear. You're going to be afraid big time because you don't have the Lord to lean on. You don't have the Lord to go fight your battles for you. You don't have the Lord to be the co-pilot as you're driving to work or whatever. You don't have the Lord with you. That's scary. Especially in these days to go out there and drive our streets, right? You'll be totally in fear. Who's that guy? What are you doing? Get away from the car! You don't know what's going on.

There's an old saying, "If you feel far from God, guess who moved?" God loves you. He would never leave you unless you go ahead and just continue to reject Him. God loved. You moved. You turned. And if you will just turn back to Him and look to Him and come to Him, He will receive you to Himself. He wants to remove fear out of your life. He wants to heal you and to restore you.

Now I want for a moment just to have you listen to these different characteristics of two different individuals. I want to look at Saul for a moment, and I want to look at David. Let's line them up a little bit. Number one, Saul was in sin. Saul was very jealous, full of bitterness, hate, and even murder. David, though, on the other hand, was with God, it says. And he was able to handle the situation.

More than that, remember when his older brother last chapter came up to him and started to rebuke him in front of everybody? "David, you're just a little wimp. All you want to do is come out here and watch blood and gore in the fight. That's the only reason you came out here. Get out of here, kid. You bother me." The older brother speaking to the younger brother. And David handled it so well. Why? Because he was with the Lord. When you're with the Lord, you can handle stress situations, instead of lashing out and then giving the excuse, "Well, I'm just under stress!" and that's your excuse for getting in the flesh and blowing somebody away.

Wouldn't the Lord much rather have you just handle it correctly and give words of wisdom? So David looked at his brother and said, "Brother, I think you're wrong in your whole perspective. I think there's a reason why I'm here." And that's all he said. Just shut him down. And then when javelins start going next to his head, he just went, "Okay, it's time for me to leave." And he just got out of the way. He handled his situations very well. He behaved himself wisely. He was humble. He trusted God. He didn't lean to his own understanding; he acknowledged the Lord, and trusted Him with his whole heart, and the Lord directed his paths.

He was very powerful with the Lord. In fact, God's peace was upon him. I love the scripture in Isaiah where Isaiah says, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." David stayed his mind upon Jehovah, finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest. And how we need to put our minds upon the Lord. How we need to meditate on these things. You'll be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, rooted, grounded, and always giving out good things. David was this man.

But on the other hand, we look at Saul. Saul was powerless. David was growing and he was being used of God. Everything was happening. Saul was in decline. In fact, God's spirit departed from him. He was desolate. He was empty. He was in a hopeless revolt against God. He had no hunger for God. His life was just meaningless.

So you look at these two individuals. And it's interesting to look at what they did when they were alone. I think when we're alone, each one of us have to go and sometime it might be tonight where you're going to be alone. What do you do when you're alone? What do you think about? What comes into your mind? What do you mess around with? What are you diving into? Well, you look at these two individuals and you see that when David was alone, he worshipped God. He sought the Lord. He just said, "Lord, you're there. And Lord, I want you to minister." He was just seeking the Lord. But when Saul was alone, he was self-indulgent. He just consumed things to himself, surrounded himself with just what he wanted, instead of seeking the Lord.

Two different guys reacting two different ways when they're alone. Does that mean they're going to react two different ways when they're with other people? You bet. And it's coming out here. Which are you? Are you a David or are you a Saul? Notice the more Saul sought to do David harm through military situations or whatever, the more God gave to David victory and recognition.

And I thought of Jesus. The more Jesus was sought after by the scribes and Pharisees, they hated Him because everybody flocked after Jesus and went to His Bible studies and didn't go to theirs. And they were getting upset. "Why is everybody hanging out with that guy? I hate that guy. Hey, you know what? We ought to kill that guy. Yeah, if we kill that guy, then he won't bug us anymore, and we won't be jealous anymore and envy everybody coming to him."

And the more they sought to get Jesus and apprehend Him, the more He was lifted up. The more all men were coming. They were coming then with the multitudes around Him. They couldn't stop it. It was out of control until God allowed it to happen. There was an hour coming, and Jesus knew that. "My hour is not yet." And He would just walk through the crowd, and they would try to trap Him to push Him over the cliff, but couldn't find Him. The Lord had a hedge around Him, as the Lord has a hedge around David.

And so he was being raised up. His fame was growing. Verse 15, "And wherefore, when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, even Saul noticed, he was afraid of him. But all Israel and Judah loved David because he went out and came in before them." David had joy in his heart. He was secure in his God. David would come to his problems in the name of the Lord. How we need to come in Jesus' name and how we need to pray about those things that are coming against us, in the name of the Lord.

Saul, because of his sin and his rebellion against God, was threatened and he was in fear of David. His kingdom was slipping through his hands. He felt it, and he found himself fighting for something that wasn't even his. What a frustrating place to be in, when you're trying to keep something that's not even yours. And he's trying to fight a battle that God had a hedge around David and he couldn't get to him. He tried to put him out in the front lines; nothing would happen. He tried to throw a javelin at him; David just moved. Gosh, I can't even hit the guy.

Then all of a sudden Saul got another idea. Notice verse 17. Saul said to David, "Listen, behold my elder daughter Merab, her will I give thee to wife: only be thou valiant for me, and fight the Lord's battles." Notice, for Saul said, "Let not my hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him." I've got it. I'll send him out there in the front lines, and I'll give him an excuse. The excuse is: go fight the Lord's battles. And David's going, "All right! Okay." Saul said the right words. And yeah, I'm going to fight for the Lord. And the Lord's really the one that's going to fight the battles for me. He's already seen it. He's excited. This is what he does. In the name of the Lord, he came against the enemy.

So Saul's intention, though, was to have him killed. Remember he said, "I'll give you my daughter if..." a condition. But wait a minute, wasn't he supposed to already have the daughter because he beat Goliath? But Saul said, "Well, I'm not going to give her to you. I want you to do a few things for me first. Then I'll really give you my daughter. You take my word for it." He's a liar. That's one thing about people that are dodging the Lord. They're liars, and they get into lying, and they love it. Deception is their thing that they live by.

Verse 18, "And David said unto Saul, 'Well, who am I? And what is my life, or my father's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?' But if it came to pass at the time when Merab, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David, that she was given unto Adriel." Now this is something. Note David's first of all, his humility. David said, "Who am I?" And he was a very humble man. And he couldn't believe that Saul was saying, "You can have my daughter." And he says, "Oh man, I can't believe this. You want me to have her, and then I can be related to the king? This is incredible!"

But notice this: Saul in his deception and lies gives the wife that he promised to David to somebody else. And I believe the reason is because that other person had a bigger amount of dowry to give to Saul. Now, the dowry in that time was that the man would pay a bunch of money up front for the daughter. In case something would happen, a divorce or something would take place, then there was lots of money to take care of that wife. We should probably have that today, but we don't. But the dowry probably this guy paid a lot more than David could pay. Notice again that David's not doing too well financially here. Wasn't he supposed to have a lot of riches that Saul was supposed to give to him? He probably looked at him and said, "You're just a punk kid, here's a few bucks," and gave him just a few bucks, but he didn't give him riches as far as a real wealthy man, because David is hurting here.

Notice now in verse 20, "And Michal, Saul's daughter, this is his second daughter, loved David. And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. And Saul said, 'I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.' Wherefore Saul said to David, 'Thou shalt this day be my son-in-law in the one of the two.' I'm going to give you my second daughter, and you're going to become my son-in-law." Now, notice the reason why he wanted to give his daughter to David. Great reason. Why? "So my daughter can be a snare to David and pull David down." That's his whole thought behind it.

"Now daughter, when you get with David, I want you to really encourage him to go to battle, encourage him to continue to get in the front lines." And I don't think there's a great love relationship here between Michal and David. I think maybe she was in love with his hero-type look and his popularity. Just this guy, this little David guy, he's good-looking and look what he did with Goliath. And I think Michal was in love with just that popularity thing. But the day would come when we're going to see Michal, that she is going to ridicule and despise David in front of everyone for his enthusiasm for his Lord. She's going to come against him.

Now, in verse 22, "And Saul commanded his servants, saying, 'Commune with David secretly, and say, "Behold, the king has delight in thee, and all of his servants love thee: now therefore, be the king's son-in-law."'" And Saul's servants spoke those words to the ears of David. And David said, "Seemeth it to you a light thing to be the king's son-in-law, seeing I am a poor man, lightly esteemed?" He was still very humble. He's saying, "I'm just a poor guy. I mean, how am I supposed to? I don't have the dowry to give to this guy to get his daughter." Why? Because he never was rich.

Verse 24, "And the servants of Saul told him, saying, 'On this manner spoke David.' And Saul said, 'Wait. Thus shall you say to David, "The king desires not a dowry."' In other words, David, don't worry about a dowry. You don't have to pay nothing. 'But he does want you to do this: a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies.'" But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be in the king's son-in-law. And the days were not expired. Wherefore David arose and went, he and his men, and slew of the Philistines, not 100, but 200 men. And David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in the full tale to the king, that he might be the king's son-in-law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife.

Now listen, God is with David. And God is going before him, and he knew that God would be with him. He was excited. Saul thought it was like, "I'm putting David up against this dangerous mission against these 100 Philistines." And Philistines aren't going to just let you circumcise them. They're going to fight back. And so David had to kill these guys. He not only killed 100; he killed 200. "You want 100? I'll give you 200." David went in the name of the Lord and was able to have incredible victory against the enemies of the Lord.

He married Michal. Note that David never gave Saul any reason for offense against his life. He always was seeking to do his best for Saul. He always was seeking to do whatever he could, even though Saul hated him and he knew it. David never was going to give him offense. And I love it because David again is so much like Jesus. Jesus never gave any reason to anybody to kill Him like they did. Nothing. He always did good. He always loved. He always ministered, and yet they hung Him on a cross. Never did a thing. Why is that? Because man loved their darkness rather than the light. And when the light came into the world, they hated the light, and they sought to put the light out. David did his best, and he committed the rest to the Lord.

Finally, verse 28, "And Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that Michal Saul's daughter loved him." And notice, "Saul was yet the more afraid of David; and Saul became David's enemy continually" from this time forward. Then the princes of the Philistines went forth: and it came to pass, after they went forth, that David again behaved himself more wisely, more wisely than all the servants of Saul; so that his name was much set by.

God is with David. So Saul hated him. He was his enemy from this point on. Jesus said, "Listen, if they hated me, they're going to hate you." In fact, over in John's gospel chapter 15 in verse 19, it says, "If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you."

Don't think it's a strange thing when people don't like you because you're standing up for righteousness. For when you're wanting to tell the truth and not lie. When you're wanting to do that which is right and not wrong. Don't be surprised if they will persecute you and not like you. Don't take it personally. They're actually hating what God has done in your life, what Jesus Christ is doing. And they want you out of here. You bother them. Again, they love their darkness. They don't like the light. If you're going to live godly where you're at, you're going to suffer persecution. If you don't believe me, you start standing up for righteousness and you'll know what I'm talking about.

Remember, we're in this world, but we're not of it. Why? Because Jesus has chosen us out of it. Man, what a blessing to be on the side of the Lord. Chosen of the Lord to be His child, to shine for Him in a dark place. David was one of the most dedicated and committed followers of Saul that he would ever have. And do you remember over there in 1 Samuel chapter 10? Remember when it said that Saul went home, in verse 26, "and there went with him a band of men, whose hearts God had touched."

Saul was surrounded with godly men. David was one of them. But notice here, beware when a man turns against his godly friends. That man is a fool. Saul is playing the fool here turning against David. Saul is on his way out. He's on his way down. He's losing it because he's turning against his godly friends. David continued to seek his God, and God continued to raise him up. In fact, it says in the end of this chapter that his name was always brought up, always talked about. You'd always hear about David. But Saul was in decline and he was disobedient to God.

Narrator: Well, we're just about finished with our look at 1 Samuel 18, but stick around because Pastor Jeff Johnson has some closing thoughts for us coming up in just a few moments. Well, if you enjoyed today's message from Pastor Jeff Johnson from the book of 1 Samuel, I'd like to remind you that you can hear it again on several different venues. First, you can go online to sounddoctorineradio.org, where you can hear today's study, as well as make a donation to this radio outreach. That's at sounddoctorineradio.org. You can also listen at oneplace.com and through the Sound Doctrine Radio app. I should also mention Sound Doctrine can be heard wherever you enjoy podcasts, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Now, here's Pastor Jeff with some encouragement for us to turn to God when we find ourselves in a wrestling match with Satan.

Jeff Johnson: Many of us wrestle with a lot of things in our own beings. And some of you are wrestling with things that only God can deal with. He says if you will confess to me your sin, I am faithful and just to forgive you of your sin, and to wash you from all uncleanness. If you will come to me. Your Saul, the Saul that's working in your life to kill you, to pull you down. Your own flesh is your enemy, and it's killing you.

But if you will confess your sin, if you will recognize it as sin, as God does, and you will say, "I admit it. I'm sick. I need a physician. I admit it. I'm lost. I can't see my way. I don't know what's going on. I'm losing it." Of course you're losing it. You need to repent. You need to confess. And as you do, God can put a stop to that Saul syndrome in your life today. This morning. It's over. He'll cut its head off as you invite Jesus to come in and be your Lord and Savior. It's gone. It's dead. You will die to yourself and you'll live unto God.

I can't explain to you how it all works. All I can say is come and see a man. Come and see a man. Confess Him as your Lord. Recognize that you're a sinner. Give Him your life and the Saul will end and the David will begin to live in your life. And you too will have incredible victories. He'll restore your soul and he'll bring you into a life of victory that's awesome.

Narrator: Jealousy can ruin a relationship. That rises to the surface in our study of 1 Samuel next time on Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff. A presentation of Calvary Chapel Downey.