Am I on, Andrew?
There I am.
Yeah, great.
I'm going to tighten up this stand so it doesn't fall over mid-sermon.
That would be embarrassing.
Hey, if you started attending Trinity ten years ago, you were here at the beginning of our
1 Samuel series.
Just kidding.
We've been in 1 Samuel for a while.
We've been doing the whole book, which has been exciting.
We're in 1 Samuel 29 tonight.
We're nearing the end.
That's page 251 in the Pew Bible.
And actually, if you're used to just looking at it on the screens, let me encourage you
to pick up the Pew Bible and turn there because we're going to do a little bit of flipping
to get the context of our chapter tonight to sort of see what God wants us to see in this
text.
So, 1 Samuel 29.
Let me read this for us.
Now, the Philistines had gathered all their forces at Aphek.
And the Israelites were encamped by the spring that is in Jezreel.
As the lords of the Philistines were passing on by hundreds and by thousands, and David and
his men were passing on in the rear with Akish, the commanders of the Philistines said, what
are these Hebrews doing here?
And Akish said to the commanders of the Philistines, is this not David, the servant of Saul, king
of Israel, who has been with me now for days and years?
And since he deserted to me, I found no fault in him to this day.
But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him.
And the commanders of the Philistines said to him, send the man back that he may return
to the place to which you have assigned him.
He shall not go down with us to battle.
So less in the battle, he become an adversary to us.
For how could this fellow reconcile himself to his Lord?
Would it not be with the heads of the men here?
Is not this David of whom they sing to one another in dances?
Saul has struck down his thousands and David his ten thousands.
Then Akish called David and said to him, as the Lord lives, you have been honest.
And to me, it seems right that you should march out with me in this campaign.
For I have found nothing wrong in you from the day of your coming to me to this day.
Nevertheless, the lords do not approve of you.
So go back now and go peaceably, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines.
And David said to Akish, but what have I done?
What have you found in your servant from the day I entered your service until now,
that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?
And Akish answered David and said, I know that you are as blameless in my sight as an angel
of God.
Nevertheless, the commanders of the Philistines have said, he shall not go up with us to the
battle.
Now then, rise early in the morning with the servants of your lord who came with you and
start early in the morning and depart as soon as you have light.
So David set out with his men early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines.
But the Philistines went up to Jezreel.
So let's pray.
God, we thank you for your word.
We thank you that each part of it is inspired and is useful, Lord, for our growth and grace.
So help us tonight to understand this passage.
And Lord, speak to us so that we might grow in our knowledge and love of you.
We pray this in Christ's name.
Amen.
Well, so chapter 29 of 1 Samuel.
What is this chapter about?
Well, it's really the story of how God rescues David from going to war against his own people.
That's what's kind of going on here in this chapter.
And what we see here are some of the unlikely means that God is willing and able to use in
order to extend his undeserved mercy to David and to his people.
Some of the unlikely means God uses to extend his undeserved mercy to his people.
Now, to understand our chapter tonight and what it means for us today, we have to understand the context.
If this is your first time here at Trinity and you're jumping right in, you probably think,
what in the world is this chapter about?
So let's set some of the stage.
Turn back to chapter 27.
Back in chapter 27, what happened?
David had fled from Saul and taken refuge among the Philistines.
Look at verses 1 and 2 of chapter 27.
Then David said in his heart,
Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul.
Remember, Saul is hunting David down.
There's nothing better for me than that I should escape to the land of the Philistines.
Then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel,
and I shall escape out of his hand.
So David arose and went over, he and the 600 men who were with him, to Achish, the son of Maok, king of Gath,
which is one of the great cities of the Philistines.
So he's one of the sort of head chief Philistine commanders.
And the Philistines, obviously, at this point in Israelite history, are their sort of like primary enemy,
the Philistines and the Israelites.
So David flees to the land of the Philistines.
And for the moment, the plan seems to work, right?
Look at verse 4 of chapter 27.
And when it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, he no longer sought him.
Great.
Mission accomplished, right?
But there was a price.
After all, how would David convince Achish, his Philistine host, to let him stay?
After all, David had tried hiding out in Gath once before, and it backfired.
Do you remember that?
Turn back a few more pages to chapter 21.
Chapter 21 is when David is first on the run from Saul.
Look down at verse 10 in chapter 21.
And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish, the king of Gath.
And the servants of Achish said to him,
Is not this David the king of the land?
Did they not sing to one another of him in dances?
Saul has struck down his thousands and David his ten thousands.
That song must have been a total earworm because everyone in, like, the surrounding regions knew of it.
It was like Taylor Swift.
Everyone was singing it in their heads on the way back and forth to the grocery store.
In other words, what are Achish's servants telling him?
They're saying, look, you've got to be crazy to let this guy stay here.
He's the one who massacred all of our troops.
What are you doing?
He's got to go.
And if you remember what happens, how does David get himself out of that jam?
He pretends to be crazy.
He pretends to be mad.
And Achish says, look, I've got enough madmen to take care of.
Get him out of here.
And David barely makes it out alive.
So now here we are in chapter 27 and 29, a few years later.
How is it that David's going to convince Achish that he and all his 600 men that have now gathered around him,
this sort of mercenary fighting force,
how is he going to convince him that he and his men aren't a threat?
How is he going to keep his cover among the Philistines?
Well, in verses 8 through 12 of chapter 27, we see how.
David and his men go out.
They raid some of the Gentile tribes sort of to the south of the Philistine country.
Then they come back and lie to Achish and say that they were raiding the cities of Judah and some of their allies.
You see, they make Achish think that they've defected,
that they've deserted Israel and Saul.
They've just sort of given up on that once and for all.
And now they've sort of come over to the other side.
And David's scheme, again, seems to work.
Look at verse 12.
And Achish trusted David, thinking he has made himself an utter stench to his people Israel.
Therefore, he shall always be my servant.
David's scheme seems to work.
But at what cost?
You know, the sense of these verses in chapter 27 is that David goes out again and again.
And he ends up going deeper and deeper into deception and lies.
And in order to do that, he has to descend further and further into brutality and violence.
After all, he can't leave any witnesses of what he's actually doing because it will blow his cover, right?
So when David and his men raid these Gentile tribes to the south, they end up killing all the men and women, leaving none of them alive.
Which was not, by the way, common sort of tribal raiding practices in the ancient Near East.
He usually just sort of got the stuff and got out and let the people alone.
So you see, David figures out how to stay safe in the land of the Philistines.
But only at the cost of more and more lies and more and more violence.
And what's interesting is that the narrator of 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel, is completely silent.
He doesn't make a moral statement about David's actions here.
The text doesn't come right out and say, oh, and by the way, this was really despicable of David.
But, you know, I think the narrator doesn't do that because he doesn't have to.
I think we're meant to see David's actions as wrong here.
And I think we see something even more in this episode in David's life.
Notice how, in David's life here, one sin leads to another.
How it sucks him in deeper and deeper.
It's like quicksand that every move he tries to make just sends him down faster and faster.
Look at it.
He stops trusting God to protect him and he flees to the land of the Philistines.
And once he flees to the land of the Philistines, he has to start lying.
And in order to keep up the lie, he has to start killing.
And, of course, you and I might think, whoa, I'd never do anything like that.
Okay, fair enough.
But I think that's just because you and I underestimate just how quickly and how powerfully sin can grow.
No, you and I might not end up murdering anyone.
But we underestimate how quickly sin can take control in our lives.
You see, sin always grows in compound interest.
That lustful glance here and there becomes, over time, a seemingly unstoppable pornography addiction.
The bitter root of unforgiveness when someone hurt you years ago that you never really take care of
takes root until you can barely have any relationship at all
without constantly getting angry and hurt and burning all your bridges.
The little tinge of self-pity gets nursed and nursed
until eventually you see yourself as utterly worthless and unloved
and you start to wonder whether life is worth living at all.
You see, no matter what the sin is,
it always takes you farther than you want to go.
And sin, it seems, can strike at any time, too.
We're never immune or off limits from its attack.
That's another thing I think we see here.
The shocking thing about chapter 27 is that it comes right after chapter 26.
In chapter 26, David has this great moment of obedience and trust in the Lord, right?
I spent a whole sermon talking about how David was a great model for how to fight sin and temptation in chapter 26.
And what happens in chapter 27?
Boop!
Total opposite direction.
Remember in chapter 26, David has the opportunity to kill Saul and all his troubles,
and he refuses to do it.
He obeys God and doesn't lay a hand on the king's anointed.
And in that chapter, ironically, David even says,
Saul, you know why what you're doing is so bad?
Because it's forcing me to leave the land.
I can't stay in the land if you keep coming after me like this.
That's why this is so bad.
And I say that's ironic because, look, when chapter 27 begins, David's like,
okay, I'm out.
I'm leaving.
He stops trusting God will protect him and runs to the land of the Philistines.
And I think the lesson for us is this,
is that there's never a time when we can put our guard down.
David has this great spiritual victory.
And the next moment, a downward spiral.
Even after great moments of trust and obedience,
we can still succumb to moral failures, both small and great.
You know, it's very interesting.
One of the very first sort of pictorial images of sin that the Bible gives
is of a crouching predator ready to overtake its prey.
Do you remember what God told Cain?
Sin is crouching at your door.
We need to always be vigilant to fight and to flee.
There's never a time when sin can't strike.
The old Puritan theologian John Owen once wrote what I think is probably the best big idea in a sermon ever written.
He wrote, be killing sin, or sin will be killing you.
But not only does sin grow exponentially, and not only does it strike at any time,
but do you see here how sin also begins to steal control?
In chapter 27, David is playing an incredibly dangerous game.
Trying to win Akisha's favor,
while at the same time trying to not do any harm to his own people back in Israel.
And for a while, it looks like he can keep it together, right?
It looks like he can stay in control.
It looks like he can keep manipulating the situation to his advantage.
But then the day comes when David is in too deep.
And he finally gets stuck in an impossible situation.
Look at the beginning of chapter 28.
In those days, the Philistines gathered their forces for war to fight against Israel.
And Akish said to David,
Understand that you and your men are to go out with me in the army.
David said to Akish,
Very well.
You shall know what your servant can do.
And Akish said to David,
Very well.
I will make you my bodyguard for life.
The day finally comes when the Philistine forces are going to march out to war against Israel.
You know, this is the day that David was probably hoping would never come,
but any outside observer knew it was bound to happen.
He'd been feigning allegiance to Akish,
against Israel for almost a year and a half at this point.
So, of course, Akish is going to say,
Okay, David, you're coming with me.
And then David gives this incredibly politically vague answer in verse 2.
Very well.
You shall know what your servant can do.
David knows he's in trouble.
After all, if he tells Akish he can't go to war,
he risks blowing his cover, right?
Not a very good idea.
When you and your 600 men are surrounded by Philistines,
you've got nowhere to hide because you've been living in broad daylight with them for the last year.
Oh, by the way, Akish,
I've actually been lying to you for the last year and a half,
and there's no chance I'm going with you to war.
But, of course, if David actually goes into battle with the Philistines,
he'd be fighting against his own people,
shedding the blood of his brothers and his cousins and his friends.
And besides David not wanting to do that for the obvious reasons that they're his own people,
such a move would functionally destroy any chance that David had of becoming Israel's king.
After all, who would follow a king who goes to war against his own people
in the ranks of their sworn enemy?
In fact, even if David were to get into that situation
and then sort of become a fifth column in the midst of the battle,
the damage will have already been done.
The men will have seen him marching in,
and his hopes of kingship will be dashed.
David's foolishness, his lack of trust,
his blatant sin have backed him
straight into a corner
with seemingly no way out.
That's what's going on when chapter 29 begins.
With the ranks of the Philistines
assembling for battle by the hundreds and by the thousands,
you can see them sort of marching in.
There's David.
His face is probably stone cold,
but inside his heart is probably anxiously pounding
and his mind racing,
wondering whether everything that he had been holding out for
for these long years in the wilderness,
everything that he had been promised,
the kingdom, the crown,
whether all of that was about to be thrown away
because of his foolish move of fleeing to death.
But as David draws near to the gathering armies,
the Philistine commanders see David and his men,
and they ask rightly,
what are these Hebrews doing here?
And Akish, ironically,
stands up and defends David.
And of course,
we as readers know way better than Akish.
We know that David's been lying to him this whole time.
But Akish can't convince the Philistine commanders.
Those commanders, too, remember that same song.
Saul has struck down his thousands,
and David his ten thousands,
and they force Akish to send David away
with all of his men.
And then Akish comes to deliver the news to David,
and again, the irony is thick.
Akish just is sort of bowing over backwards
to sort of declare David's innocence
in verses 6 and verse 9.
And David will even fake disappointment in verse 8.
And of course, his language there is just as ambiguous
as it was back in the beginning of chapter 28, wasn't it?
Look at what he says there.
He says, look, why can't I go
and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?
Who exactly is David referring to as my lord the king?
Akish?
Saul?
God?
Who exactly is the enemy that David thinks he's going to fight?
It was a pretty shrewd thing to say in that moment.
But either way,
when morning comes,
David is released from his duty to the Philistines.
And he's delivered from the dilemma,
from the catch-22 that his own foolish and sinful decisions
had put him in.
You can imagine the relief of David
as he and his men marched away from the battle lines,
seeing the sun break over the hills,
knowing that he'd been rescued
from his own stupidity and wickedness.
But how does the author of 1 Samuel
want us to understand
what happens in chapter 29?
Again, very interestingly,
the narrator is completely silent almost.
There is very little
theologizing going on
in this chapter, right?
In fact, the only time
that God's name is even mentioned
is when Achish is praising David
for being so honest and so blameless.
But of course,
this is another instance
where the narrator doesn't say anything
because he doesn't have to.
It wasn't luck
that rescued David that day.
It wasn't the fact
that that song was so incredibly catchy.
No, it was God
who rescued David on that day.
God working his undeserved mercy to David,
working through the unlikeliest of means,
the Philistine commanders.
That's what this chapter
is really here to show us.
That God can use even his enemies
to do his will
and that God's will
is one of unmerited favor,
of completely undeserved mercy.
When David had boxed himself in
and caught himself in a trap
of his own making,
God's quiet, sovereign hand
did what seemed impossible
and rescued him.
So what's the practical application
for us today?
Of course,
the application for us today
is not
that we should just go ahead
and sin ourselves into the corner
and trust that God's going to bail us out
at the last minute, right?
That would be a poor application
of 1 Samuel chapter 29.
And in a way,
Paul addresses that
in the book of Romans, right?
Shall we go on sinning
that grace may abound?
He asked,
by no means.
If you're alive with Christ,
you've died to sin.
So this chapter in 1 Samuel
isn't giving us some license to sin.
And the text actually,
in addition to that,
isn't promising us
that we'll never experience
the earthly consequences
of our sin.
In fact,
sometimes God definitely allows us
to undergo the earthly
and natural consequences
of our sinful choices
in order to teach us
eternal spiritual lessons.
In other words,
sometimes getting busted
and getting found out
is the best thing
that can happen for us,
spiritually speaking.
Because we finally can come clean.
Because in that moment,
we can finally
see sin for what it is.
And often it's the times
when we've been busted
and found out
that we run back to God.
So if this chapter
is not a license to sin,
it's not a promise
that we'll never experience
the consequences
of our sinful actions,
1 Samuel 29
is still
a massive
display
and reminder
of God's relentless
and persistent
and undeserved mercy.
some of us know
what it's like
to make
a total mess
of things.
Through our own
cleverness
or through our own
selfishness,
thinking that we can
control things
and work things out
in our own way
apart from God,
we know what it's like
to try that
and in the end
to make a total disaster
for ourselves
and for others.
And this passage
is saying that
even then,
even when
your mercy
would have withered
and run dry,
even when you
would have given up
on you,
even then,
God's mercy
isn't done with you.
That God's mercy
is an ocean
whose waves
don't stop
pounding the shore.
God's mercy
is like the sun
whose beams
don't stop
shining down.
And that same mercy
is pursuing you.
even out
into the country
of the Philistines
where you've
buried yourself.
Even there,
God's mercy
is coming
after you.
Even tonight,
beckoning you
and barging
in on you
using the most
unlikely means
if necessary,
the foolishness
of preaching
even.
All in order
to get you
to see
that the morning
is about to dawn
and it's time
to come home.
And you know,
you and I,
we aren't David,
right?
You and I
are not
God's
special
anointed king.
But why did
God save
David here?
You know,
it was more
than just a mere
example
of his mercy.
No,
in saving
David
from David's
self-imposed
ruin,
God was
actually
carrying out
and carrying
forward his
plan
to save
us all.
Because it
was through
David's
line,
you see,
that an
even greater
David would
come,
the Lord
Jesus Christ.
God
rescues
David
to keep
his great
rescue plan
for all
of creation
moving forward.
And in
that plan,
and in
that one
Jesus Christ,
God's
persistent
mercy has
come after
all of us.
No matter
how deep
you're in
it,
no matter
how stuck
or trapped
you feel,
Jesus has
come to
fulfill
God's
mission,
to be
the king
who gives
his life
so that
you might
live,
to be
the king
who lives
and reigns
as a
rightful
Lord of
all,
the one
who says,
come taste
and see
that the
Lord is
good.
And if
you trust
him for
his grace
and if
you bow
your life
to him,
know
all your
problems
won't
instantly
go away.
some of
the consequences
of sin
will remain
but the
condemnation
of sin,
the guilt
of sin,
that will
be washed
away.
And his
spirit will
begin to
work a
change in
your heart
that will
affect
everything.
This Sunday
is the first
Sunday of the
month and
on those
Sundays we
go to the
Lord's
Supper.
and when
we come
to the
table we're
remembering
just that.
We take
the bread
and we
take the
cup to
remember
Jesus'
death for
all who
believe in
him,
for all
who take
him as
Savior and
Lord.
His
death is
our
substitute
that sets
us free
from the
penalty of
sin that
we deserved.
So maybe
tonight you
see a
pattern of
sin in
your life
that needs
to be
stopped
before it
grows any
bigger.
Maybe you
even see a
sort of
complacent
attitude
thinking that
no that
could never
happen to
me.
Well friends
tonight as
we go to
the table
confess your
sins and
take the
bread and
take the
cup if
you're a
believer in
Jesus as
a sign that
he died
for you and
that he's
working in
you to
free you
from sin's
power and
that you are
not stuck and
you are not
trapped.
And maybe
tonight you've
lost sight of
how persistent
God's mercy
is.
Maybe you've
been trying to
be good on
your own
steam.
Maybe you've
blown it and
you don't think
you can get
back up.
Well friend if
that's you
tonight then
take the bread
and take the
cup as a
sign that the
mercy of Jesus
never runs
out.
God's mercy
once and
for all
flows forth
never losing
its power
never growing
old
never revoked
never drawn
back.
Isn't that a
sign of what
we do
continually in
the Lord's
supper we
take it up
again and
again.
Not because
Jesus needs to
die again and
again and
again but as a
sign that what
he did was so
magnificent and
so mighty that
it can never run
dry.
So friends
let's pray and
let's prepare our
hearts to receive
the Lord's
supper tonight.
Oh Lord
Jesus thank you
that you have
come to rescue
us from the
impossible situation
that our sin
had bound us
in.
Lord we had
turned from
you and in
turning from
you we had
lost it all
and then in
trying to save
ourselves we just
went deeper and
deeper down.
Lord thank you
that you've come
and used the
unlikely means of
a Roman cross
that sign of
torture and
torment to
bring us life
life and
peace.
To bring us
up from the
pit and to
set us on
solid ground.
To take us
from darkness
and to set us
free to run
towards the
morning.
Lord as we
come to your
table may we
be confessing
sin and
finding assurance
in your grace
we pray.
Amen.
So the
music team is
going to come
up and
Matt would
you help
serve tonight?
Thanks.
Jonathan would
you help
serve tonight?
Thanks brother.
The way we
celebrate the
Lord's Supper
here at
Trinity is
that we're
going to
take the
bread together
and then
we're going
to eat it
together.