Premeditated Mercy • 1 Samuel 24

45:14 Teaching begins

Notes

God is teaching David how to live in the secret place with God. That’s a place of safety, security, of peace.

The emphasis is on “with God.” You can’t live this way apart from Him.

You live in the secret place according to God’s principles. You walk in God’s ways with Him, going in the same direction. You do things the way God does them. You think about His ways and prepare yourself.

So that when you get the chance to do anything, the way you want, you actually want to do things God’s way and the result is miraculous.

I’m reading in 1 Samuel 24.

1. Saul comes into David’s power, but David does not harm him, vv. 1-7.

A. Saul got interrupted in the last chapter. Just as he was about to capture David he had to pull out in order to fight the Philistines. But now he’s back on the hunt. Someone informs on David: he’s hiding in the wilderness of Engedi.

B. Saul takes his standing army of 3000 men. David has 600 men. For every man of David he has five. He wants to crush David.

C. Saul comes to a place where he needs to relieve himself. He goes into the cave, I suppose his men are guarding outside.

D. David and his men are hiding inside the cave. They see him, he doesn’t see them. Now the situation is Saul is alone, he is defenseless, and he doesn’t know that he is outnumbered 600 to 1.

E. David’s guys are very excited, praising the Lord. God is so good!

1. Evidently someone had prophesied to David the word of the Lord and they all knew the prophecy: “The Lord will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it seems good to you.”

2. They are amazed. Saul is right there and he’s helpless. They want David to kill him. This is shown in verse 7. David is there restraining his men from attacking and killing Saul. That’s the way they interpret that word from the Lord. That’s what they would do. Of course, if God delivered my enemy into my hand to do anything I wanted to do, I would kill him. Why not?

F. David goes to Saul. He’s thinking about what do I do?

1. Evidently David doesn’t want to kill Saul. That seems wrong. I don’t want to kill him.

2. But he sends him a message. He cuts off the edge of Saul’s robe. Kind of like, “David was here.” That’s a little violent right there. See what I did to your robe? You better be glad I didn’t go all the way. Back off and leave me alone. Don’t push me or it could get worse.

3. But even then it doesn’t sit right with his conscience. That wasn’t right. Why wasn’t that right if that was the word of the Lord? A threat is an expression of intent to inflict evil, injury, and damage.

4. This is what Saul already accuses David of doing! David is out to kill me and take the kingdom!

5. David’s conscience is bothering him because he sent the wrong message. He doesn’t mean to harm Saul at all. But he just threatened Saul with evil. He is providing proof that he is a danger to Saul and that Saul’s right to attack him.

G. Not only that, but it occurs to David that Saul is the Lord’s anointed king. God chose him. If you kill him, you are rebelling against God.

1. Otherwise anyone could say that I’m doing a bad job as king and kill me, and take over. Then another guy criticizes the new king, says he’s doing a bad job and kills him. Now the world already does that. Each man acts as judge and jury. That’s not God’s way.

2. Saul might be a bad king, he might be fired by God, but killing him is a call only God can make. Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord. Saul is God’s problem. It’s not mine to decide, it’s God’s.

H. These are principles that apply in all situations. You don’t change those principles because all of a sudden you happen to have a great opportunity to do something contrary to that principle. They are God’s principles and they don’t change because He doesn’t change.

I. So David has thought this through. He realises I have to send the right message quick.

2. So David presents himself and gives Saul the right message: I am not your enemy, vv. 8-15.

A. David shows himself, humbles himself, honours the king.

B. The right message is, “My hand shall not be against you. You are the Lord’s anointed and I respect the Lord’s choice.”

C. That edge of Saul’s robe is now the evidence that there is no evil or rebellion on David’s hands, and he has not sinned against the king, though the king is trying to kill David. The Lord judge between us. Vengeance belongs to Him, and I trust that He will judge righteously.

D. The common wisdom says wickedness comes from the wicked. Wicked is as wicked does. Saul wants to kill David, David spares Saul’s life and honours him. Who is right? It’s obvious.

E. David humbles himself greatly and exalts Saul. Who is the king of Israel hunting? A dead dog? A flea? I’m certainly not a threat. Now David is defenceless, alone, outnumbered 3000 to 1.

F. Humility gives David tremendous courage and strength to do to his enemy what is right in the Lord’s eyes. Would you have the courage to do this? How can he do it? By being filled with the Holy Spirit of God.

3. Saul is unprepared and overwhelmed at the humility of David, vv. 16-22.

A. Is this your voice, my son David? He recognises David, but he never expected David to say these things. He’s built up a picture of David in his mind, that he’s grasping and scheming and wicked and evil. This is David, who’s always served him like a son, gentle, harmless, loving, kind.

B. Saul bursts out weeping. His own conduct in comparison is so merciless, so ungrateful, so wrong. He is ashamed for himself.

C. Saul confesses the obvious truth. He agrees with David.

1. You are more righteous than I for you have rewarded me with good, whereas I have rewarded you with evil. You’re right and I’m wrong. May the Lord bless you.

2. He understands that David does not consider Saul his enemy. This is really David’s attitude. You can see this in the inscription for Psalm 18 A Psalm of David the servant of the lord, who spoke to the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. David decided, whatever happens, Saul is not my enemy. He’s God’s problem.

3. Saul also confesses, David will be king. He even has David swear to not execute all Saul’s family when he becomes king. This is what you do when you begin a new dynasty after you kill the previous king. You kill all who are related to the dynasty so no one has a legitimate claim to the throne to disrupt your dynasty.

4. David swears. Saul trusts in David’s goodness that his family are now safe when David becomes king.

4. All this goodness ends with a mystery: nothing changes.

A. Saul goes home to his throne. David goes to the wilderness stronghold.

B. What? You would think that after Saul agrees with David, you’re right, I’m wrong, he would go on to say, take over now, I’m done. You are the rightful king.

C. But Saul stays on the throne. He accepts mercy from David, confesses that he is wrong, he weeps for shame. But he does not give in on one point: God fired him from being king. He continues in his essential disobedience.

5. So what?

A. David is faced with an interesting problem. What would I do if my enemy were delivered into my hand. I could do anything I wanted to him as it seems good to me. And then God does that very thing.

B. David did what was pleasing in the Lord’s eyes. What got him there?

C. The mercy David gave Saul was premeditated.

1. Not a result of impulse! Not a sudden spontaneous inclination or incitement to some usually unpremeditated action. That was his men’s attitude. We got Saul in our hands? Kill him!

2. No, what David did was characterized by fully conscious willful intent and a measure of forethought and planning.

3. Way before the situation came upon him he thought about it by meditating on God’s principles day and night. That’s how you walk with God in His ways. All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth. That informed his conscience, his knowledge of what is right and what is wrong.

4. So when he just cuts the edge of Saul’s robe his conscience says, “Not good, wrong!” And when he thinks it through he realises, this is saying the exact opposite of who I am and how I want to live. I want to do what God does: He practices unchanging covenant love even to His enemies.

D. Christians live according to principle, going God’s way.

1. Being a Christian means being born again, receiving new life from being crucified with Christ and being raised from the dead with Him. The evidence that you are born again is that you hunger for the Word of God to live by it.

2. John 8:31-32 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

3. 1 Peter 2:1-3 Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.

4. Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. So we do not trust our own impulses but begin to live according to what He has written.

E. So if you have come to Christ then you think ahead of time. You premeditate. Read and think about these ways of God. Depend on the Holy Spirit to help you. You measure yourself according to what you read, not by what everyone around you is doing. You prepare yourself to do what is pleasing to God. You live by God’s principles now, not by impulse, not by doing what feels right.

F. We have to consider and think or else we receive the grace of God in vain.

1. Think about Saul standing before God. God says, “David showed you My mercy. You admitted you were wrong. You wept. But you went away. You stayed on the throne after I fired you. All that grace shown to you was in vain.” What is Saul going to say? You’re right. I refused to think?

2. What will I say before God? What will you say? Did God show you grace, and did you respond to Him by getting off your throne? You take it, Lord Jesus. I’m done. You be Lord in my life. Think about it.

Let’s pray.