(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] Game number 208. Game number 208. We'll go ahead and start there right on the first. ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] Game number 228. Game number 228. We'll go ahead and start there right on the first. We'll go ahead and start there right on the first. We'll go ahead and start there right on the first. We'll go ahead and start there right on the first. We'll go ahead and start there right on the first. We'll go ahead and start there right on the first. We'll go ahead and start there right on the first. We'll go ahead and start there right on the first. ["The Old Old Story"] We'll go ahead and start there right on the first. We'll go ahead and start there right on the first. We added Ms. Whitney Reed's baby shower. If you look on the back of your bulletin, there is a little write-up with more information about that. Please make note of that coming up soon. April 19th is our Easter soul-winning marathon. I hope we have a good turnout for that. It's a time of year when people are very receptive to the gospel, so we want to try to reach them that weekend. May 16th through the 18th is the King James Conference in Vancouver, Washington. It's a good thing that this conference is happening because it seems like the attacks on the King James Bible never stop. The videos that I see, guys like Mark Ward just making it his life's mission to attack the King James Bible. I'm thankful that this conference is happening. I definitely will be tuning in, even though I'm not going to be able to attend in person. May 31st is the Durant, Oklahoma, soul-winning marathon with Steadfast Baptist Church. June 28th is the Tinker Air Show at the Air Force Base here in town. August 27th through the 31st is the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship in Cedar Hill. And also our big missions trip that we're pairing up with Steadfast for. That's the Bahamas missions trip. I'm really excited for that. Some giving information is listed there. And on the back is our prayer list. A couple additions for this week. Please make sure you're praying for everyone. And as always, if you ever have a prayer request, please let me know. Even if it's a private request, you can just indicate that in the email and I'll make sure to keep you in prayer for whatever you need. But at this time, we'll go ahead and go to the Lord in prayer as a church family. Lord, we thank you for this evening. We thank you for the opportunity to be in church. We just pray for all those that couldn't make it this evening due to weather or sickness. That you would just bless them, Lord, and pray that you'd bring us all back together soon safely. I just pray for safety for all those that are going to be traveling on the roads coming up tonight on our way home and just at other times this week, Lord. And we pray that we'd have good weather for our upcoming Sweetheart Banquet. That would be a great time of fellowship for the people here, Lord. I also pray for the requests of our church members. That you would just answer these according to your will. That you would bless us and be with the needs of people, Lord. We pray for Ms. Jennifer Hall for her uncle's cancer. That you would just heal his body. That you would just bless him, Lord, and work in this situation. And we also pray for Brother Alex for his job situation. You know the needs that he has, Lord. I just pray that you would be faithful and provide for him. And we trust that you will, of course, Lord. We pray also for Mrs. Sean Furr for her son, Trevor, and her granddaughter. That you would just help in their family situation. That you would just help people to make spiritual decisions and to draw closer to you and that family, Lord. We pray that you bless them and give them unity centered around the spiritual, Lord. We also pray for Ms. Remi with her visa process. That your will would be done in her situation and that you would just keep her safe in her travels. And that she would bless her tumor. That she would be fully healed from it. We pray for Brother Cameron for his mother, Barbara's salvation and healing from cancer, Lord. And also those in our church whose family members are unsaved. We pray that you would soften their heart, Lord. That the Holy Spirit would convict them and bear witness to the truth of the Gospel. We pray that they would get many opportunities in their life to hear, Lord. And we do pray that you bless our church. That you would give us more laborers for the harvest. That you bless our church spiritually, financially, numerically. That you give us unity and that you would bless the remainder of this service. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright, that's going to be it for announcements this evening. We'll go ahead and go to our third song. Alright, for our third song if you would actually take your white handouts and turn to Psalm 150. Psalm chapter 150 in the white handouts. Psalm chapter 150. We'll go ahead and start there right at the beginning. Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet. Praise Him with the sultry and dark. Praise Him with the timbrel of death. Praise Him with string instruments and organs. Praise Him upon the loud of cymbals. Praise Him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let everything that hath left praise the Lord. Praise He the Lord. Praise God the Father. Praise God the Son. Praise God the Holy Ghost. Praise God in three persons. Good singing this evening as the offering plates are being passed around. Turn to your bottles with 1 Samuel chapter number 26. 1 Samuel 26. Turn to your bottles with 1 Samuel chapter number 26. 1 Samuel 26. Good evening 1 Samuel chapter 26. The Bible reads, And the Ziphites came unto Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself in the hill of Hekilah, which is before Jehemon? Then Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul pitched in the hill of Hekilah, which is before Jehemon, by the way, But David abode in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness. David, therefore, sent out spies, and understood that Saul was come in very deed. And David arose and came to the place where Saul had pitched, and David beheld the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his host, and Saul lay in the trench, and the people pitched round about him. Then answered David, and said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, saying, Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp? And Abishai said, I will go down with thee. So David and Abishai came to the people by night, and behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster, but Abner and the people lay round about him. Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day. Now, therefore, let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear, even to the earth at once, and I will not smite him the second time. And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not, for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed, and be guiltless? David said, Furthermore, as the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall descend into battle and perish. The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed, but I pray thee, take thou now the spear that is at his bolster, and the cruise of water, and let us go. So David took the spear and the cruise of water from Saul's bolster, and they gat them away, and no man saw it nor knew it, neither awake, for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the Lord was fallen upon them. Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of a hill afar off, a great space being between them. And David cried to the people, and to Abner the son of Nair, saying, Answerest thou not, Abner? And Abner answered and said, Who art thou that cries to the king? And David said to Abner, Art not thou a valiant man? And who is like to thee in Israel? Wherefore, then hast thou not kept thy lord the king? For there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord. This thing is not good that thou hast done, as the Lord liveth, ye are worthy to die, because ye have not kept your master the Lord's anointed. And now see where the king's spear is, and the cruise of water that was at his bolster. And Saul knew David's voice and said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And David said, It is my voice, my lord, O king. And he said, Wherefore doth my lord thus pursue after his servant? For what have I done, or what evil is in mine hand? Now therefore, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If the Lord hath stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering. But if they be the children of men, cursed be they before the Lord, for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, Go, serve other gods. Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord, for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flee, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains. Then said Saul, I have sinned, return, my son David, for I will no more do thee harm, because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day. Behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly. And David answered and said, Behold the king's spear, and let one of the young men come over and fetch it, the Lord render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the Lord delivered thee into my hand today, but I would not stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed. And behold, as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of the Lord, and let him deliver me out of all tribulation. Then Saul said to David, Blessed be thou, my son David, thou shalt both do great things, and also shalt still prevail. So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place. That's by our heads for prayer. Father God in heaven, we thank you for this day, and helping us all make it here safely, as we help other drivers on the road to the safe, that you bless us, and our church, and our pastor, and some of the Holy Spirit, and give us your praise. Amen. Amen. All right, well we are in 1 Samuel chapter 26 this evening, and we'll jump right into it in verse 1. The Bible says, And the Ziphites came unto Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself in the hill of Hakkala, which is before Jeshaman? Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. And, you know, at this point in the story, it kind of seems like the Bible is just being repetitive. And, of course, this is a true story. This is just what happened. But it just seems like again, and again, and again. What do we see? Saul just continues to seek David over, and over, and over again, which is why I just continue to stress that when you identify someone like this in your life, you need to remove yourself from that person. Because often times, yes, you could pray for them, yes, you could, you know, do good unto them, but usually it's God that has to change these type of people. Usually it's God that has to humble them. There's not really much you can do for them. Go to Proverbs chapter number 18, and why is that? The reason why is that anyone who makes a change in their life, and any change you've ever made in your life, it's come through this, desire. You have to want to change. People don't just, you know, accidentally serve God. People don't just accidentally go down the right path in life, and stay on that path, and remain steadfast. You know, to do those things, you have to want that in your own heart. Look at Proverbs 18 verse 1. The Bible says, Through desire, a man having separated himself, seeketh and intermetalleth with all wisdom. See, to understand wisdom, to learn what's right, you have to first want to know what's right. You know, people in this world do not just accidentally get wise. And this goes for carnally or spiritually. You know, people in this world that have a lot of education, that are very well read, they're very educated people, that did not just happen by osmosis. That did not just happen by accident, that had to be a desire that was in their heart that they worked on. And if you look at someone who you think is just a great Christian, whatever role model you could think of as someone that is a wonderful Christian, that person did not get there by accident. That person did not get that level of maturity by osmosis, it came through desire. Look at verse number 2, it says, A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself. See, the reason people are foolish is because they want to be foolish. The reason people are stupid is because they want to be stupid. The reason people are unwise, it's because they want to be that way. Why? The Bible says that a fool hath no delight in understanding. A fool does not care to know what's right. A fool does not want to know what the Bible says. And, you know, this applies in many different areas. Go to Matthew chapter number 7. Matthew chapter number 7. You know, think about it with salvation. Who is it in this world that gets saved? I'll tell you who, it's those who want to get saved. Now, you know, there's some people who, before they have an interaction with the soul winner, they're seeking God, they're praying. And, of course, there's other people who, you know, we found those that ask not after us, right? But even those people who weren't necessarily actively seeking, when we bring them to a decision point to call upon the name of the Lord, they want to do that, right? If they actually follow through on it and pray and ask for salvation, they are desiring to get saved. Look at Matthew 7, verse 7. Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Look, there's not a single human being who has ever lived who desired to know the truth, who desired to know God, but God's just like, nah, I'm not going to let you have that knowledge. That's not how it works. The Bible says every single person that asks receives. So you want to know why people go to hell? Like in 2 Thessalonians, they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. That is why people go to hell. Because they reject the truth. They don't have the love of the truth. And what is it that draws someone to the light of the gospel, to the King James Bible, to an independent fundamental Baptist church? It's not the shiny lights. It's not the programs. It's not the facilities. It's not the money. It's the truth. And people who are wise love the truth. You know, it goes for the same thing in your spiritual growth as a Christian. Go to Hebrews chapter number 5, Hebrews 5. You know, of course, when it comes to getting saved, hey, you got to want to be saved. You don't just accidentally get saved. You have to want to call upon the name of the Lord. But once you're saved, here's the thing. If you're going to grow as a Christian, you have to want to grow. You have to want to know what the Bible says. You have to want to follow it. No one can force you into maturity. You know, someone can get dragged along into church, but that's not going to necessarily force someone to actually grow and actually change in their heart. Look at Hebrews 5, verse 12. Remember, the context here is that the Apostle Paul, I believe, is the author of Hebrews. But whoever you think the author of Hebrews is, he's saying, look, I want to teach you about Melchizedek, which is not a milk doctrine, right? That's more of a kind of dark saying of the Bible, Melchizedek. He's saying, look, I want to teach you about this. And, quite honestly, you guys should be teachers by now. You know, he's saying, look, you guys have been saved for a long time. You guys should have been reading the Bible already. You guys should know these things. But the problem is, is that you're actually the one that has need of milk and not of strong meat, right? So he's saying, look, growing spiritually, it doesn't just automatically happen by a length of time that you've been saved. You know, someone could be saved for 20, 30 years. If they've never read their Bible cover to cover, they are going to be extremely immature in the faith. And sometimes people could have this, like, self-delusion where they think, oh, you know, I've been going to church for this amount of years, or I've been saved for this amount of years, that must mean I know something. Not necessarily, because these people have been saved for a while, but they actually still need milk. Milk, verse 13, for everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. And, you know, we would expect a baby to use milk, right? And we wouldn't look at a baby and judge and scoff at a baby being like, wow, you know, you're still on Mama's breast? You're still drinking the milk? What's wrong with you? It's a baby, right? We expect that. And, you know, when someone just gets saved, we expect them to be getting the milk of the word of God. And to just be learning these things for the first time. But you notice how if you are on the milk, you're unskillful in the word of righteousness. So if all you know is salvation, baptism, things like that, you're unskillful in the word of God. It's going to take more than those things to be skillful. Verse 14, but strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age. Then he explains what he means by that. Even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. So belongeth saying it's pertaining to someone actually can handle the meat when they are using the word of God. Right. They're actually growing spiritually. They're using the word of God. That's what's giving them the ability to be exercised in their senses and to discern both good and evil. Go to Proverbs chapter number one, Proverbs chapter number one. But look, when someone goes to church and they hear the preaching and they're being told from the pulpit, hey, read the Bible, read the Bible every day. Hey, be free to thrive. Be a soul winner. Right. Get baptized. Give the Lord your tithe. When they're being told these things and they're not doing those things, let me tell you why they're not doing them, because they don't want to. That's why. What keeps someone from being the greatest Christian on this earth? It's their own desire, because through desire, a man separates himself and intermetals with all wisdom. You have to want to grow in the Christian life. And guess what? You can't fake that. That is not something that you could just put on a show and fake. This has to be a real desire in your heart. And God knows if it's real. Look at Proverbs chapter one, verse seven. It says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. But fools notice what fools do despise wisdom and instruction. See someone who is foolish spiritually or carnally. Right. Because we would look at a child. Foolishness is bound on the heart of a child. We expect a child to be uneducated. We expect a child to say stupid things. But then when an adult grows up and joins, you know, a flat earth group and goes and tells people they're flat earther. It's like that's a way different level of stupidity than a child. Why? Because what is the difference between these two? One is just natural foolishness. By being a human being, you're born, you're a child, you're foolish. You know, the rod of correction drives that foolishness from them. And kids need spanking, by the way. But an adult that is a fool, someone who should be a teacher, who is a fool. Why are they a fool? Because, it says, fools despise wisdom and instruction. This is why I don't like flat earthers. This is why I don't like people that deny facts, that deny reality. Because someone who's denying facts, denying reality, denying education, not wanting to learn, not wanting to grow. What does that say about them? It says that they have a character issue that they despise wisdom. What kind of a person would despise learning? What kind of a person would look at the Word of God that God has preserved from all generations unto this day, the perfect Word of God, but would just lightly esteem that and not read it and not care what it says? I'll tell you who. A fool. An idiot. A stupid person would do that. Go to Hosea chapter 4. Hosea chapter 4. But you've got to realize it's not that they're just born that way, right? Because here's the truth. Everyone's born that way, in the sense that we're all foolish as children. But when you become an adult, when you become to the age where you should know some stuff, you should have wisdom, but you don't, it's because you desired to reject wisdom and reject knowledge. Hosea 4.6 says, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. And, you know, the idea in our culture is when someone lacks knowledge, they say, oh, well, they just probably didn't have the opportunity. Oh, they probably were, you know, we're less privileged. And sure, there are some people that are less privileged in this world than other people. But you want to know why people have a lack of knowledge in 2025? Look what the Bible says, because thou hast rejected knowledge. Why don't you have knowledge? Because you rejected it. Because, guess what, if you would have asked, you would have gotten it from the Lord. If you would have feared God, you would have had the beginning of wisdom. But what did you do? You despised instruction, you despised wisdom, you despised knowledge, and because of that, God says, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me, seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. See, ignorance is not bliss. You know, that statement is a foolish statement saying, what you don't know can't hurt you. No, what you don't know can hurt you very much. And, you know, every day people are making decisions in their life that are going to permanently affect their future, and because they've rejected knowledge, they're not going to the word of God for those answers, they are ruining and hurting their life. And you know what? It just makes me mad when people reject knowledge and reject truth. It makes me mad when, you know, someone expects me to call a man dressed up like a woman, ma'am. Right? I mean, I just don't like playing those games. I don't like living in this fairytale, la-la land. I want to live in reality. I want to deal with facts. I want to deal with knowledge and wisdom. And let me say this. I hate it when Christians say stupid things. You know, it's like a stain on the name of Christ when we're supposed to fear God, have wisdom, have knowledge, love the truth, but oftentimes Christians live up to the stereotypes that people make of them. And, you know, that's a shame when the world has a stereotype that fundamental Baptists are uneducated, fundamental Baptists are dumb. Look, don't let that stereotype be true of you. Love wisdom. Love truth. Believe the truth, whatever that truth is. Real truth. Believe it regardless of any of your preconceived notions. Believe the truth. Go to Romans chapter number one. Romans chapter number one. And it'll make sense why I'm all saying this and why this ties in with Saul in a minute, but Romans chapter one. You know, this idea of rejecting truth, despising truth. You know, it's something that Christians can do and that Christians do all the time. But this is actually the root cause of why someone becomes a reprobate. Now, of course, we know Christians can never become a reprobate. Once you're saved, you're always saved. But this root cause of not loving truth is what leads someone down a reprobate road and why someone ends up becoming a reprobate. Verse 18 says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. So notice it says the wrath of God is what? Revealed. It's not hidden. It's not a mystery. We don't have to guess or wonder. The wrath of God is revealed. And it talks about men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. So these men that we're talking about, these people we're talking about, they have some level of truth and some level of knowledge. But verse 19 says, Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them. Right? So God has created every human being with a conscience and we by nature believe God exists. That is the default setting for human beings. You have to be brainwashed to become an atheist. Now, your default setting is not saved. Right? You have to realize that, yes, there's a God, but I'm choosing to put my trust in the only true God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Right? That is salvation. But everyone's born with the knowledge that God is real. Why? It says, For God hath showed it unto them. How did he show it unto them? For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. So notice these people who hold the truth in unrighteousness but end up rejecting it, they're without excuse. Why? Because God has revealed his existence and his power through creation itself, to where even just creation itself makes it clear and is a obvious truth that God exists. Right? I mean, and guess what? Someone who's an atheist, what do they do? They reject the truth that's screaming all around them at all times saying that God exists. You know, I saw a funny clip of President Ronald Reagan saying, you know, I've never understood atheists. I'd like to take the atheists over for dinner and make them the most gourmet meal that they've ever had. And at the very end, ask them, do you believe there was a cook? It's just like, duh. Right? I mean, it's just so simple and so obvious that when you eat a meal, there had to have been a cook. Right? Imagine how much truth you would have to reject to eat food and say no one cooked this. Okay, now multiply that stupidity by a billion and you have an atheist. You have someone that rejects God. Verse 21, because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Why is it that their hearts were darkened is because that they themselves thought they were wise, but all the time what they were actually doing was rejecting the truth. Go back to First Samuel 26. Now, why did I go on that super long rabbit trail at the very beginning of the chapter? Here's why. Okay, Saul is not being Saul because he didn't know what he was doing is wrong. Saul is not ignorant of his actions. Saul cannot say, well, I just didn't know that going after David was wrong. I just didn't know that after constantly being corrected by God, after constantly being shown that God's not on my side, that I was doing the wrong thing. Because the reason Saul is who he is, is because he's a wicked person. Okay, it's because he does not want to do right. He does not want to follow the truth. And here's the thing, Saul is saved. And so Christians can do this. And we have to check our hearts realizing that, hey, we're human beings, we're sinful, we are carnal people. We have the ability to not reject all truth like reprobates do. But you know what, you can resist your heart to truth. You could resist your heart or despise prophesying, or despise or belittle the word of God. And you could start to trust in your own understanding, in your own heart, go in your own path in your life. And you could think that you're right all you want. But at the end of the day, if you're not going with what God says, it's because you don't like the truth. You don't like knowledge. The reason why Saul is attacking David is because he does not want to do what's right. Not that he doesn't know what's right, but that he does not want to do what is right. Verse 3 says, Saul lay in the trench and the people pitched round about him. Then answered David and said to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, saying, Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp? And Abishai said, I will go down with thee. So David and Abishai came to the people by night and behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench. It's so interesting that all the time when the Bible's describing Saul doing something, he's like always just like chilling out under a tree, standing in the shade, you know, covering his feet, laying down, sleeping. It just seems like Saul's never doing anything. It's just interesting how, like, when I see people in my life and growing up having seen different people that act like Saul, it's funny how they just live to attack. They live to hate David, but you never really see them doing anything. You know, they just love to attack and do nothing with their lives. And says Saul lay sleeping within the trench and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster. But Abner and the people lay round about him. So get the picture here. David knows that Saul's coming to kill him. David has sent some spies to go figure out where he's at. He finds out where he is. He goes to the army and he sees that they're all just kind of laying down asleep. And David is standing here saying, hey, who's going to go down to the people? Then said Abishai, verse eight, then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day. Now, therefore, let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear even to the earth at once. And I will not smite him the second time. It's kind of very similar to when David was in the cave and his men were saying like, hey, God's delivered him into your hand. Why don't you just kill him right now? And this time, this guy's taking ownership and saying, like, hey, I'll just go down there and I'll kill him right now. And he's really confident. He's saying, like, I'm not going to have to smite him a second time. Like, I'm going to make sure I'm going to get the job done on the first try. Now, of course, you know, this wasn't the right thing to do, as we'll see later in the chapter. But I'm sure that David at least just appreciated his zeal and appreciated someone that was actually faithful to him and on his side. You know, that's got to feel good as a leader to know, like, hey, I'm here with Abishai. We're in a stressful situation here. But he's ready to go attack. He's ready to fight. You know, he kind of calms him down. But that's got to still feel good for David to have someone that has his back. But verse nine, we see David having some really good leadership here says, and David said to Abishai, destroy him not, for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? You know, David here does what a good leader does, which a good leader often has to do this. Say no. This is what a leader has to do. You know, if being a leader was just saying yes, that would not be leadership. That would be just like whoever comes up with an idea. It's just immediately implemented. Right. David here, he could have had a fleshly temptation to want to kill Saul. If I was David, I'd be so sick of this game. I would be so sick of just being hunted and chased all the time. And I could definitely see myself being like, man, that's tempting Abishai. Like, I want to get this over with. I'm sick and tired of it. But he knows what the right thing to do is. He knows that it would be wrong and sinful to go murder Saul. It'd be dishonorable, especially just to kill him in his sleep. That's not something that a man would do. And so what does he say? He says no. And you know, if you are a leader, there's lots of leaders in this room. You have to realize that one of your biggest jobs as a leader, whether in the home, husbands, in the workplace, if you're in management, is to tell people no. You know, and people get this weird idea. I don't know if it's just because our society is very coddled and very soft and not being used to hearing the word no. But I notice in the workplace that people just freak out at the word no. And they're never expecting to hear no. You know, it's like, hey, you know, can I set up my personal computer to, you know, view these really secure cameras? It's like, no, you can't. Well, why? It would just be so much easier. It's just like, no, you can't do that. Like, that's a security risk. The answer is no. And people are kind of shocked by that. But it's like, we need to get back into realizing what a leader does, which is say no oftentimes. Now, it doesn't mean you have to say no at everything. It doesn't mean that you shouldn't consider your followers' recommendations or thoughts or ideas. You absolutely should. But at the end of the day, there has to be someone that makes the final decision. Go to Ezekiel chapter 33. While you're turning there, I'll read for you Proverbs 11, verse 14. The Bible says, where no counsel is, the people fall. But in the multitude of counselors, there is safety. So it is wise as a leader to get counsel, to have other people giving you ideas and thoughts and feedbacks and possibly even criticism. Those are healthy things. Those are good things. But at the end of the day, the leader still needs to actually make the decision and actually make the call of yes or no. Because here's the thing. If David would have given the green light to Abishai to murder Saul, you want to know whose fault that would have been? It would have been David's fault. And that's the scary thing about leadership. That's the very grave, serious responsibility of leadership is that while you're not necessarily responsible for every action of your followers, you are responsible for what you allow them to do and what you instruct them to do and the orders that you give. You are responsible for that. You know, if David just kept his mouth shut and didn't answer and just allowed Abishai to do that, it would have been on his hands or if he would have said straight up, yes, that would have been on David's hands. But because he said no, you know, David did the right thing. If his servant just rebelled here and went and killed him anyways, that wouldn't have been David's fault. He said no. OK, look at Ezekiel chapter thirty three. Verse one says again, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, speak to the children of thy people and say unto them, when I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts and set him for their watchmen, if when he see at the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet and warn the people, then whosoever hear at the sound of the trumpet and taketh not warning, if the sword come and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. So notice where the responsibility lies here. When the enemy is coming, when there's danger coming, who is responsible for warning the watchman? Who is responsible for taking heed to that warning? The people. Right. So if the watchman warned, saying like, hey, here comes the Viking hordes, they're going to come kill us all. But they don't listen to the watchman and they stay there and die. Is that the watchman's fault? Absolutely not. Now, here's the thing, though. Look at verse four, it says, or verse five, he heard the sound of the trumpet and took not warning. His blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. Verse six. But if the watchman see the sword come, so he sees the danger and blow not the trumpet, decides not to warn and the people be not warned. If the sword come and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity. But his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. So this this mentality and this principle is very clear in scripture. If you're in a position of authority. Right. Which, hey, the watchman is in authority here. He's the one that has the right and the responsibility to warn if danger is coming. If danger is coming and the watchman is screaming and yelling and blowing the horn and warning people. But then people are too stupid or lazy or whatever to not listen. Then that's the people's fault. Right. That's not the watchman's fault. But if the watchman sees danger and he decides, you know what, I'm not going to blow the horn. I'm not going to raise the alarm. I'm not going to warn anyone. And then when people get devoured and destroyed, then all their blood is on the leader's hand, is on the watchman's hand. So like here in this story, David, if he would have said yes, if he would have allowed it with his words, then he would have been responsible for that murder as well with Abishai. But if he tells Abishai, don't do this, Abishai, don't do it. You know, theoretically, if Abishai were to just disobey and do it anyways, how would that be David's fault? It wouldn't. Right. Here's why I bring this up. And I've talked about this a little bit recently, is that there's this mentality amongst a certain population of the world's leaders and even amongst some Baptists that basically whenever followers do wrong or whenever followers are wicked, that it's a reflection 100% of the leader. That if the followers do bad, that's the leader's fault. If the followers sin, that's somehow the leader's fault. Now here's the thing. There's some truth to that in the sense that if the leader gets up and doesn't instruct the right thing and then his followers sin, that's his fault. Right. But what if the leader gets up and warns about wickedness, warns about the dangers and pitfalls that are out there, gives his followers the right path to follow, but they just decide to rebel. That's not the leader's fault, my friend. You know, I've heard this. I've heard, you know, statements like this. You know, a woman would never leave a man that loves her and provides for her. And I'm just thinking like, wow, you must not be a pastor. You must not have heard the things that I've heard. You must not have dealt with the situations that I've dealt with, you know, or a man would never cheat on his wife if his wife is, you know, giving lots of due benevolence and being respectful and being submissive. And it's like, that's not how it works, man. There are some piece of crap followers out there. There are some bad husbands, even with good wives. There are some great wives with bad husbands, vice versa. Right. These things exist. There are great leaders with terrible followers. There's great followers with bad leaders. Here's the thing. What matters when it comes to the result of a leader and when you look at his followers, what matters is what did this leader instruct? What did this leader warn about? Was this leader preaching the whole counsel of God? Not, well, were people rebellious? Because you take this mentality, like, are we going to apply this to Jesus Christ now? You know, are we going to apply this to our leader that when we sin, it's somehow God's fault? That's a ridiculous attitude. Like, God is a perfect leader. He's a perfect leader. And when we sin, it's our fault. Right. So here's the thing. Like, some people will be like, oh, this person had bad kids. Their kids did wrong or something like that. That means he's a bad father. That means he's a bad leader. Well, let me ask you this. Did he tell his kids to follow the Lord? Did he tell his children to do right? Was he leading that example? Was he himself doing right? Was he warning about the wickedness of sin? Was he warning against the pitfalls of living in the world? Okay, sounds like that's not on him then. You know, that's just a ridiculous mindset to have and it's just not scriptural. Because the watchman is responsible for what he does. He's not responsible for what his followers do. You know, if I get up and I preach, you should be a soul winner. Haven't I preached that lots? If I get up and preach, go soul winning. Learn how to go soul winning. Be a silent partner for crying out loud. And then I just preach it, I preach it, I preach it. And you just don't do it. I guess that's somehow my fault. What are you talking about? Like, if I say, go to church when the doors are open. Read the Bible. Pray. Tithe. Do all these things that the Bible says. But then you just decide not to do it. I guess that's my fault as a pastor. What are you talking about? Like, this is reality denial. This is ridiculous. It makes no sense whatsoever. Go back to 1 Samuel 26. You, as a leader, are responsible for things that you can control. You cannot guarantee that your children will grow up and love the Lord. You know that? That's scary. But here's what I can control. I can be a good example for my children. And I can instruct them on what to do in this life. And what not to do. And beyond that, that's on them. It's 100% up to them. Why? Because remember, to be separated, you have to desire it. You have to want it. I cannot want serving God for my kids. I cannot want serving God for you. I can't make you serve God. I can't make you love God. That has to come from you 100%. That's not my responsibility. Look at verse 10. She's saying, look, this is not our position of authority to judge. This would not be right. Let God judge him. Let God make him die in war or something like that. But you know what? My hand's not going to be against the Lord's anointed. That's not my job. Verse 11. But I pray thee, take thou now the spear that is at his bolster and the cruise of water and let us go. So notice how David's mentality was that as long as Saul is the king, as long as Saul is in a position of leadership, David's just going to consider him as the Lord's anointed. He's not going to touch him. Because I've had some people ask me, why is he still calling him the Lord's anointed when the Bible makes it very clear God's departed from him, God's rejected him. But here's the thing. In practice, in just reality, Saul is still at least in that position from an authority perspective. Whether it's endorsed by God or not, he's in that position and we should respect authority figures, whether we agree with them or not, whether we agree that they should be in that position or not. I mean, here's an example. I do not agree that women should be police officers. I think it's a terrible idea for society. I think it's hateful towards those women. I think it's dangerous towards those women. And there's probably a lot of dead women that would not be dead right now if they didn't become cops. So this isn't coming from like a, oh, I hate women or anything like that. I don't think women should be cops. But if I get pulled over by a female officer, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to obey everything she tells me to do. I'm not going to disobey a police officer just because I think she shouldn't be a police officer. If she's a police officer, I'm going to do what she says. You know, you should too. Go to Acts chapter 23, Acts chapter number 23. And why, though? It's because people who love God, I've just noticed this, people who love God love authority. People who respect God respect authority. I've noticed people that hate God are despising dominion, the Bible talks about. They hate authority. Acts 23, verse 1. And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth. So Paul's just getting punched in the face here. Verse 3. Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall. For sit is thou to judge me after the law, and command is me to be smitten contrary to the law? Here's the thing. Technically, with the facts, Paul is in the right here, saying, Why are you hitting me? Why are you smiting me right now? You know, I'm a citizen here. This is against the law. He's right. But verse 4 says, And they that stood by said, Reviolest thou God's high priest? Then said Paul, I wish not, brethren, that he was the high priest. For it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people. He's saying, like, Paul's not necessarily saying, like, I was wrong in what I was saying, but he is saying I was wrong how I said it. Right? And here's the thing. When it comes to someone in a position of authority, whether you agree with them, whether you think they should be in that position or not, whether they're making the right decisions or not, authority is authority. Right? And so it's like, could we sit here and argue that Saul isn't a legit king? Of course we could make that argument because God rejected him because God no longer viewed him that way. But from David's perspective, it's like, hey, he's still in authority, though. So I'm not going to put forth my hand against the Lord's anointed. And so for me, whether I like or dislike someone, if someone's a judge, I'm going to call them your honor. Someone's a police officer. Call them officer. You know, if someone's a pastor, even if it's a pastor I don't like, I'm going to refer to them as pastor so and so. And so funny, all the people that just immediately hated me, you know, man, the haters came so fast and it's just immediately it's like dealing this, dealing that just like you have a problem with authority. You don't respect the office because you don't respect authority because you don't respect God. That's the root cause of your heart issue. You know, when you refuse to obey authority, when you refuse to respect authority, it's coming from a wicked heart. I mean, Paul just got literally punched in the face illegally and he's like apologizing for how he spoke of a Roman politician. OK, how much more I'm sorry, not a Roman politician of the high priest. It was Roman people with him. Excuse me on that air. But go to First Timothy, chapter number five for First Timothy, chapter number five. First Timothy, chapter five. But you know what? I guarantee you that he was not being, you know, mouthing off to the Roman centurions as well. I guarantee he was in subjection to them as well. Verse number one says, rebuke, not an elder. And that's referring to a pastor, but entreat him as a father and the younger men as brethren. You know, the Bible teaches there's a certain way you should and should not speak to a pastor. And this doesn't say, you know, this specific pastor that you like or your specific pastor. It just says rebuke, not an elder. Now, look, I I, of course, make the exception here that if someone's a false prophet. Yeah. If you're if you're guest preaching for me and you want to rebuke the fire out of false prophets, you have my full endorsement of doing so because they're sending people to hell. Right. And here's the thing. I also believe that a pastor who is at the same level of another pastor can correct other pastors. And I think that he should. OK. But you know what? If you're not a pastor, you your default should be very high respect for any pastor. And don't just mouth off about other pastors, good or bad. Never lie about another pastor. You know, even pastors I do not like. I will never, ever tolerate someone in this church lying about another pastor railing against another pastor. You know, that's wicked as hell. And I'm not even going to receive an accusation against another pastor without two or three witnesses. And neither should you. That is sin. Go to First Samuel 26. Well, I read Romans eleven twenty three. Paul said this for I speak to you Gentiles in as much as I am the apostle of the Gentiles. I magnify mine office. Right. And of course, Paul was not a pastor. He was an apostle. But still, he wasn't saying I magnify myself. I'm such a great guy. I'm such a wonderful person. No, you're saying I magnify my office. Right. And you know what? You should respect deacons. You should respect evangelists. You should respect pastors. You should respect any position of legitimate authority in this world. Right. The powers that be are ordained of God. God has established authority. You should respect authority. Verse number twelve of First Samuel 26 says, So David took the spear and the cruise of water from Saul's bolster and they got them away. And no man saw it, nor knew it, neither awake, for they were all asleep. So they're sneaking up. They're getting right up to their body and taking items off their body. Why? Notice what it says. Because a deep sleep from the Lord was fallen upon him. Now, I think there's an interesting symbolism here. If you go to Isaiah chapter twenty nine, Isaiah chapter number twenty nine. You know, the Bible could have just said they were asleep. You know, they were tired. But it makes it clear that this sleep, this deep sleep that they were in was actually from the Lord. So it's not just like you and I when we're tired at night and we hit the sack and we're asleep. Like God is actively working in this situation to make these people in a deep sleep. Now, what does that make me think of? It makes me think of Isaiah twenty nine, verse 10. Notice what it says. For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep and have closed your eyes. The prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered in the visions of all has become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that has learned, saying, read this, I pray thee. And he says, I cannot, for it is sealed. Here is what I think is one of the applications of Saul and his men being put in a deep sleep from God. It's this is that when you are wicked, when you're stiff necked, when you're hard hearted, especially as a leader, and you refuse to accept correction from God, you refuse to do what's right. God will punish you with stupidity. God will punish you. Notice how it's like you're opening the book of the law and it's like a book that's sealed. You just can't understand it anymore. You can't make sense of it anymore. And sometimes you see leaders like this where they kind of become a Saul. They don't they don't take any correction. They go down the wrong path for so long. God's long suffering, gracious, punishing them. But finally, they just keep rejecting it. God could literally punish that person with extreme stupidity. And sometimes you just listen to the things that come out of their mouth and you're like, this has to be like the punishment of God. I mean, I heard a pastor this week saying that slander can sometimes be true. It's like, why do these people have such a hard time with words? And it's like, I literally think God is punishing them. I think God is just pouring upon them the spirit of deep sleep, like God is just making you dumb as a punishment. That's that's scary. Like, how would you like to just get up and just sound like an idiot? That's that's not fun, right? And, you know, I heard another pastor talking about how, you know, there's two groups of people. There's repent of your sins, heretics and people that believe salvation is by faith alone in Jesus Christ. And they think that, you know, repent of your sins, salvation is a damnable heresy. Guess what side we're on, right? We're over here. We believe repent of your sins. Salvation is a heresy, right? We believe salvation is by faith alone. And this pastor said, you know, I fellowshipped with both sides of this issue. And the people that think salvation is by faith alone are way more carnal. And it's just like. How stupid are you? It's like, OK, people who are saved are somehow more carnal than false prophets, than people that believe a false gospel. It's like, do you even realize how stupid the words coming out of your mouth sound? Now, here, I'll grant I'll grant you that we're carnal. Yeah. You know, the apostle Paul said, I am carnal, right? We're all carnal in an extent as far as we're living in the flesh. We have the old man, but we also have the new man and we also have the opportunity to walk in the spirit. So who is more carnal? A Christian who's defending the gospel or someone preaching repent of your sins, salvation. And it's like you hear statements like this and it's like there's a deep sleep from God that's being put upon you. You're being punished from God with stupidity. It's sad to see. Go to go back to First Samuel 26. And as you're turning there, Psalm 18, verse 29 says, for by thee I have run through a troop and by my God have I leaped over a wall. So, you know, contrast these two things. Saul and his men, they're rebellious, they're wicked. God is putting them in a deep sleep. Meanwhile, God is helping David. I mean, David is like able to go into their camp, even if he's possibly outnumbered and able to take things right from Saul's body, even with his bodyguards there, because God is the one that's actually helping him. Verse 13 says, Then David went over to the other side and stood on the top of an hill afar off, a great space being between them. And David cried to the people and to Abner, the son of Nur, saying, Answer is thou not Abner? Then Abner answered and said, Who art thou that cryest to the king? David said to Abner, Art not thou a valiant man? And who is like to thee in Israel? Wherefore then hast thou not kept the Lord thy king? For there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy Lord. This thing is not good that thou hast done. As the Lord liveth, you are worthy to die because you have not kept your master the Lord's anointed. And now see where the king's spear is and the cruise of water that was at his bolster. You know, this is like a secret service failure here where it's like he's like saying, Whoa, man, I thought you were tough guy. I thought you were a man of war. How did you let enemies breach the perimeter here? They got all the way to the king and they took things from him like you failed. You messed up big time here. Verse 17. And Saul knew David's voice and said, Is this thy voice, my son David? David said, It is my voice, my Lord, O king. And he said, Wherefore doth my Lord thus pursue after his servant? For what have I done or what evil is in mine hand? And again, it just seems like we're seeing the same story play out over and over and first Samuel where Saul's going after David. David is being helped by God. David survives. And David's just like, Why are you coming after me? I haven't done anything wrong to you. And then usually Saul gets a brief moment of clarity and he just keeps doing it over and over and over again. And I think one of the things that God wants to show us and teach us from this story is that we are always going to have enemies in our lives. We're always going to be persecuted as Christians. We will always face persecution. I'll read for you. You can stay there. Second Timothy three twelve says, Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. You know, that is just a reality of being a disciple of Christ, of being someone that actually wants to live a godly life. Hey, you have that desire to separate yourself. You want to do what's right. OK, guess what you're signing up for? Persecution. Guess what you're signing up for? Saul's to hunt you. Saul's to come after you. And here's the thing. You could take comfort and solace in the fact that if you're right with God, if you're doing what's pleasing to the Lord, God can protect you like God was constantly protecting David. And here's the thing. God is all powerful. He could protect us from any enemy from any attack for as long as God wants. Right. So it doesn't make sense for us to get fearful about persecution or to dread it or to just, you know, try to, you know, soften the message that we don't have persecution. No, just realize, like, hey, through desire, I want to separate myself through desire. I want to be a man after God's own heart. I want to do what's right. And guess what comes along with that? Saul's. It's just part of the game. It's just part of something you got to get used to. And we just need to get used to it. Verse 19 says, Now, therefore, I pray thee, let my the king hear the words of his servant. If the Lord have stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering. He's saying, look, if this is God that's been provoking you against me, obviously I'm not going to say God was in the wrong here. So let's give God an offering to appease him. Right. But of course, that's not the case. He says, But if they be the children of men, cursed be they before the Lord. For they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, go serve other gods. So notice the thought for King David, the thought of wicked people stirring up Saul against David just pisses him off. And he's saying, let those people be cursed. Let those people be damned. Someone that would try to sow division and cause discord between David and his father in law and his king. You know, that just makes him mad. Now, here's the thing. Of course, it's not really other men that are working up King Saul. It's his own wicked heart. But I'm just pointing out to you how that when David even has the thought of if someone is causing division, if someone is sowing strife, it's an abomination to David. He's saying, like, curse it, be that person. And you know what? The picture here is, is that this is exactly how God feels about a Christian that sows division and sows discord. Go to Proverbs Chapter six, Proverbs Chapter six. He's saying, look, if God is the one that's made you all upset at me, let's appease him. Let's give him an offering. But if it's men that are doing this, let that person be cursed. Proverbs six, verse fourteen. Frowardness is in his heart. He deviseth mischief continually. He soweth discord. Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly. Suddenly shall he be broken without remedy. These six things that the Lord hate. Yea, seven are an abomination to him. A proud look, a lying tongues and hands that shed innocent blood and heart that deviseth wicked imaginations. Feet that be swift in running to mischief. A false witness that speaketh lies. And he that soweth discord among brethren. God says this person is an abomination to me. And David as well, when he said, man, if someone is stirring you up against me, if someone's causing this strife unnecessarily, what did I ever do to you, Saul? What did I ever do to attack you? What did I ever do to offend you? If someone's stirring you up against me, cursed be that person. You know, it's the same way in church. It's the same way in your family. You know, it is an abomination to cause discord between brethren. And you know what it is? It's a lack of love for God. And think about this. Saul and his men, they're in this deep sleep, right? They're in this darkness, this deep sleep from God. Doesn't the Bible talk about in the New Testament how if you hate your brother, you're walking in darkness? You know, it's kind of like that sleep from God is being put on you. You know, people that hate their brethren that are just bad brothers in Christ, people that are just sowing discord, attacking, railing, which means lying, by the way, slandering, which means lying, by the way. There's no such thing as a true slander. Use the dictionary. Read the Bible. Those people are walking in darkness. Those people are being punished by God. And their actions are abominable to the Lord. And it should be abominable to you as well. Go to First Samuel 26. Let's read verse 20 says, Now, therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord, for the king of Israel has come out to seek a flee as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains. So David's being very humble here. And of course, that's always the position that David takes, being a man after God's own heart. But I think it's really funny how he says, like, you coming after me, it's like you're coming after a flee. Like, who would go chase around a flee? You wouldn't really put that much effort and energy into that. Maybe some of you will. You guys are, you know, you're like, oh, I do that all the time. I would not. OK, I would just leave it alone, get away from it. But I wouldn't sit here and like be a flee hunter or hunting a partridge in the mountains. This is funny because I grew up hunting and it's like you go to the mountains to hunt an elk where you're going to get hundreds of pounds of meat. You know, it wouldn't really make sense to like get all the hunting gear, get all the food, drive up to the mountains, set up camp. It's like, all right, what are we here for? Partridges. That would not make a lot of sense. Right. And it's funny because we actually kind of did do this sometimes, though, because there's these little birds in Idaho. They're like they're like wild chickens. I don't know exactly what they're called, but I'll tell you what me and my dad called them. We called them rock chucks because we'd sit there and chuck rocks at them until we hit them. And they're just so stupid birds like it doesn't matter how many rocks you throw, like you can miss 20. They're not going anywhere. So we call them rock chucks. You just sit there and you just throw rocks, throw rocks, throw rocks till finally you hit them and you kill it and you eat it. But here's the thing. Like, I would not make all that effort and energy to go up to hunt some rock chucks. To me, those are kind of just like a cherry on top, like, hey, we're having some rock chucks for lunch. But like, I want the elk. I want the antelope. I want the bear. I want the wolf. Right. I want to get the big game that I'm actually coming up here for. And so I just think that that illustration is funny. You know, if you've never hunted before, maybe now you understand that illustration. Verse 21 says, and then said Saul, I have sinned, returned my son David, for I will no more do the harm because my soul was exceeding or my soul was precious in nine eyes this day. Behold, I've played the fool and have erred exceedingly. So Saul here once again, you know, he's saying the right things like he always seems to when he's confronted these situations. But the question is, does he mean it? You know, David's here calling himself a flea, call himself like a partridge in the mountains. But, you know, the truth is, though, is why is Saul going after David? It's because he's not just a flea. He's not just a partridge in the mountains. Right. David may have that view of himself, may have that humility. But the truth is, when Saul is going after David, it's because he's not actually a flea. He actually is a big deal. Verse 22. David answered and said, Behold, the king's spear. And let one of the young men come over and fetch it. The Lord render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the Lord delivered thee into mine hand today. But I would not stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed. And behold, as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of the Lord. And let him deliver me out of all tribulation. Then Saul said to David, Blessed be thou, my son David. Thou shalt both do great things and also shalt still prevail. So David went on his way and Saul returned to his place. You know, the chapter kind of ends here with this really sobering thought where David is basically saying like, hey, let's have everyone in this situation be judged according to their righteousness. And as your life was set by in mine eyes, I want my life to be set by in God's eyes. He's basically saying like, as I've treated you, as I've been righteous, as I've held my integrity, and how I've rewarded you is how exactly how I want God to treat me. Now, you know, depending where you and I are at this evening, that would be a scary proposition to give to the Lord. Hey, God, how I treat other people, how I am towards other people, how I judge in situations, that's exactly how I want you to treat me. You know, I'm sure there's some of us in this room that if you were to make that proposition, you'd probably want to change some things in your life before you make that deal with God, right? Because the truth is, I think every single person in here could improve in the way that we love our enemies, in the way that we treat other people. But David here was the perfect example of it. Doing good to Saul, not doing anything wicked to Saul, not sinning against Saul, not even killing Saul when, quite frankly, there's reason to believe that he deserved it, but just doing good unto him. Go to Psalm chapter number 18. We'll finish with a couple of Psalms here. Psalm 18. Psalm 18, verse 20 says, the Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me. You know, people like to say, oh, only God could judge me. Hey, that's a scary thing to be judged by God. And the Psalmist here, which I believe is King David, has to be pretty confident in the way he's living his life to say, like, hey, reward me according to my righteousness. The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands, hath he recompensed me. You know, he was standing fast in his integrity as a man of God. Verse 21, for I have kept the ways of the Lord. And what does it take to keep the ways of the Lord? Desire. He wanted it. And if not wickedly departed from my God, for all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me, I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity. Obviously, the Psalmist is not perfect. He's not sinless. And you and I are never going to be sinless, right? We have this flesh. We have this old man. We will sin until the day we die. But here's what we can do. If we actually desire truth, if we actually desire to do what's right, if we actually love God and love the Word of God, you know what we can do is we could stand before God and we could, with an honest and pure and clean heart, honestly say, like, hey, I am not departing from God's commandments. I am wanting to keep God's commandments. I am doing diligence in my life to do what is right. I am treating other people the way I want to be treated. And in fact, God, why don't you go ahead and treat me the way that I treat other people? I mean, that's a high level of righteousness right there. And I don't think anyone in this room, including myself, has arrived to that place where you could just say 100 percent, as I am right now, God, the way that I treat other people, that's exactly how I want you to treat me. But you know what? We should strive towards that place in our lives where we could just, in integrity and purity in our heart, know, hey, I'm doing things for the right reasons. I have pure intentions. I'm not one of these people that are preaching Christ of envy and strife. I'm not sitting here trying to cause discord between brethren. I am through desire trying to separate myself and inner metal with all wisdom. That's what I'm trying to do. And guess what? It's like, you know, the application of the sermon is like desire to do right. But it's like, I can't make you do that. That has to be something from your own heart. That has to be something that you want to do. I could tell you what to do, but it has to be from your own heart to actually do it, to actually get to this place. Psalm 24. We'll close reading Psalm 24. Psalm 24, verse three says, Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this chapter in your word. Thank you for the great integrity that we see from King David and his great leadership as an example for us to follow, knowing that, of course, David was a sinner. David committed a pretty big grievous sin in his life. And so I just pray that we wouldn't have this attitude to think that we couldn't also attain a very high level of righteousness, that we couldn't also have great integrity and purity of our hearts. I pray that every single person in here, that you would put it in their heart to want to do what's right, to want to know the truth, to want to serve you. I cannot do that for anyone. God, I pray that you would change the hearts in here, that you would also strengthen my heart as well to want to do right as well. And we love you in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Now I belong to Jesus in number 248. In number 248, we'll go ahead and start there right on the first. Jesus, Jesus belongs to me. Not for the years of time alone, but for eternity. Once I was lost in sin's degradation, Jesus came down to bring me salvation, lifted me up from sorrow's shame. Now I belong to Him. Now I belong to Jesus. Jesus belongs to me. Not for the years of time alone, but for eternity. Joy floods my soul for Jesus has saved me, freed me from sin that longed and enslaved me. His precious blood He gave to me, now I belong to Him. Now I belong to Jesus. Jesus belongs to me. Not for the years of time alone, but for eternity. You're singing this evening, with that you are dismissed.