Mike Bickle discusses the theme of proven character in the life of David as he faces repeated tests of faith and integrity, particularly in the wilderness of Ziph where he has another opportunity to kill Saul but chooses not to. Bickle emphasizes that true character is not demonstrated by a single act of righteousness but through consistent choices over time, especially under pressure. He draws parallels between David's experiences and the greater example of Jesus, who entrusted Himself to God amidst slander and mistreatment. The sermon highlights that God desires a continual 'yes' from us in our walk of faith, and that failure is not the end, as God offers us chances to grow and learn from our mistakes. Ultimately, Bickle encourages believers to trust in God's leadership and to develop a deep-rooted value system that reflects His character.

1st Samuel chapter 26, it's a very similar situation. Here in the wilderness of Ziph is the area, it's a few miles down the road from En Gedi because it was in En Gedi where King David had a chance to kill Saul, but didn't. And here in the wilderness of Ziph, he has the same opportunity. It's a few differences, but it's the same test. And if you'll remember our last session, right before this he had that opportunity with Nabal and he blew it. But then Abigail came through and gave him counsel and gave him wisdom. The reason I'm saying that is chapter 24, David did good, he didn't kill Saul. Chapter 25, he does bad with Nabal, but Abigail helps. Chapter 26, he does good, and it's meant to be a continuum, a story that we put together that we're watching the change in David's life. But the key issue, paragraph A, just review from two sessions ago, is who is David looking to as his source? And that's the number one issue in our life. Who is our primary source? Is it the leader over us? Is it a door opening? Is that what ultimately determines if we go forward or what happens? And what David's life is about, though he does come up short a number of times on this, is the idea that God is his source. David didn't need Saul's favor for David to do the will of God. And the lesson I want to say over and over is that the only person that could stop David was David. Not devils, not armies, not Saul, and the only person that could stop you in the will of God is you. Not the bad guy resisting you. That guy doesn't have ultimate authority to stop the will of God in your life. And sometimes we get captured by the obstacle, the person in front of us, that isn't promoting us or they're resisting us, and the Lord is saying, no, the lesson is not to look to that person. I am your source, not that person. Paragraph B, now the ultimate example is the greater David. It says in 1 Peter 2, now this is a verse you really want to know well in your life. You want to refer to this verse over and over and over. That when Jesus was reviled, when he was slandered or, you know, railed at by people verbally, he entrusted himself to the Father. When people would rail on him verbally or mistreat him, he would say, Father, you settle it in your time and your way. I'm not going to settle it with my own mouth and my own hands. So we're talking about when we're being slandered or we're being put down by somebody, David was an example of the greater David, which is Jesus, he entrusted himself to the Father. Paragraph C, now here's the overarching point that I want to make in this 1 Samuel 26, this chapter, because we're typically doing a chapter or two in each one of our sessions here. It's the issue of proven character, meaning the way God's leadership is in your life, he gives you a chance to say yes to a test. But a one-time yes isn't what he's after. He's after a continual yes. So he'll give you an opportunity and you do well. And the Lord says, well, and he's not doing this with any negativity, he goes, I want to see if you really are in it, I'm going to give you the test again. Now the good thing about the Lord's tests, his pop quizzes, they come when you don't expect them at all. But all of his quizzes, they're open book tests. You can open the book, look for the answer. Matter of fact, with the Lord's test, you can look at your neighbor's paper and you can get the answer from your neighbor, and the Lord doesn't mind that either. But here's the point, when the test is passed and the righteousness and faith is chosen under pressure, that's the test, will we choose faith to trust the Lord's leadership, will we choose righteousness to do the right thing? And the Lord says, now I'm going to give you the test again and again. I'm going to give you an opportunity not to do it. I want to see if you're really going, if this is what you're about. It's not something we check the box, then we're done with that issue. And we think, oh no, because the Lord's after proven character, long-term decisions to say yes with our attitude and actions over and over and over. But here's the opposite side when we come up short and fail. The Lord has the same policy, he goes, you know what, I'm going to give you a chance to do it over. And we fail, and he says, I'll forgive you, I'll wipe the slate clean, I'll give you a chance to do it over. We fail, he goes, I'll give you a chance to do it over, it's not a one-time deal and you're out. It's not like that. So if you choose right, it's not a one-time deal. If you choose wrong, it's not a one-time deal, because the Lord's after the consistent choice when we're under pressure to trust his leadership, his promises, his word, and to make the right choice to resist the temptation, and that's called proven character. It's character over time that chooses the right thing. Not 100% every time, but the overall, it keeps choosing right. That's what God's after. So we look at David's life, and he passes it. He does well, but he gets, he goes over that place a number of times in 1 and 2 Samuel, not once. It's like, Lord, I passed it, come on. Let's be done with that. But the Lord's after proven character. Now let's read the verse, Romans chapter 5, tribulation, and you could put the word pressure there, produces perseverance. Perseverance, and I get this written in the notes, so we won't read it in the notes, perseverance, so you're under pressure, you're under tribulation, you got a pressure. The pressure may be a temptation to do wrong, a lust, it may be a persecution, somebody's maligning you, and you want to respond wrong, that's the pressure, there's lots of pressures. But the idea of this pressure is to create perseverance. Perseverance means you line up, and you choose right, you line your mind up with the Word of God, you line your heart up, you go, yes. The pressure stays there, you line your heart up again, say yes to the Lord. Pressure stays there, you line your heart up again. Perseverance means you keep lining your heart up. Proven character is the fruit of keeping to realign your heart over and over and over. Paul says if you keep realigning your heart, you're going to have long-term, deep, proven character in your life. It takes time, that happens automatically. But it's the result of keep choosing, keep choosing, that's perseverance. Keep lining up, trust His leadership. Say yes to purity, yes to purity, yes to humility, yes to His leadership, yes to trusting Him. Everything in our being wants to say no, but we line up again. That's called perseverance. If you stay with perseverance, deep-seated change comes in our character, in our emotions, in our mindset over time. I wish that pressure just produced proven character, but it doesn't. There's a step in between. We work the muscle over and over and over again. We realign our heart, we realign our mind over and over again. Let's go to paragraph G. James chapter 1 says the same thing. Testing of your faith, that's pressure, produces patience. Patience and perseverance, the same word in the New Testament. And if you keep lining up and choosing right, even though you come up short sometimes, but in the overall, you keep coming back to saying, I'm going to trust Your leadership when I can't see the promises, and I'm going to choose purity when everything in me wants to do pride or impurity or something else. I'm going to keep choosing it even though I'll come up short sometime. And James tells us the same thing. It's going to have a perfect and complete work. It's going to have deep-rooted change and deep-seated change in you in time. Paragraph I, now we're back to David's story. What's happened in three chapters? Again, the two sessions last week and the session tonight. He has three major divine appointments. Now, we think of a divine appointment as when something really exciting happens. Oh, I had a divine appointment, but a divine appointment is a testing as well. The Lord says, I want to give you an opportunity to work that muscle again. You got to work that muscle over and over. Look at the life of David. If you're going to see deep-seated change in your life over time. I just wish the Lord would come at a ministry time, and somebody lay hands on me, and everything wrong is right, and I walk away like with a resurrected heart and mind. It doesn't work that way. It's over and over, choosing it, but David is the example. That's why we're watching him. You know, the story of David's amazing, because David is so earthy. I mean, he blows it, but his life story is so heavenly. He keeps choosing these noble and high things, and he blows it, and he chooses high things. Then he breaks through, then he blows it, then he breaks through, then he blows it, then he breaks through. Is he earthy or is he heavenly? He's both. That's what his life story is. That's why I like it. I'm wowed by where it might go in the spirit. I mean, my life, looking at David, but I'm encouraged by looking at the earthiness of his struggle. It's three steps forward, two steps back, three steps forward, two steps back. Now, I'm not condemning anybody to have to go back two steps. I'm not putting that on you. That's not a prophecy, but if you find that there's some of that true in your life, don't give up and say, I must be really bad, because that is how many of the saints progressed forward over the years. Well, David had three divine appointments. He had two chances to kill Saul in En Gedi. That was chapter 24. Remember, when they're in the cave, Saul is asleep. David cuts the rope, but he could kill him, but he says no. He passes the test. In tonight's chapter, chapter 26, he's going to have the exact same opportunity we're going to see in a moment. He gets to do it twice, because the Lord says, David, I want you to choose the same thing over and over and over, because I want proven character, not just to check the box that you got by that one test once in your life. That's not the point. I want change deep in your inner man. Well, he did good in En Gedi. He cut Saul's robe instead of killing him. He was pretty excited. Man, God broke through. I made a right choice. I could feel the Lord's pleasure. The next chapter, 25, Nabal, he does really bad. I mean, he has the worst expression of his anger and his temper. You think, David, I've never seen you this intense. I'm the guy who sold him. He wanted to kill his whole household. I mean, we're talking about murder everyone. I'm like, David, get a hold of yourself. And God rose up this amazing woman, Abigail, to appeal to him, to help divert him, and it worked. But it was the Lord's blessing. Now David has a chance to go back to that same test again. What is he going to do when he's in the power position, meaning he has the power position, meaning he's in the opportunity to do the bad, to do the payback. And nobody can stop him from doing the payback. It has to be him and his own conscience with God that will stop him. That's what I mean by the power position. We're in the place where you can do it and nobody can stop you. And David did well on this one. Okay, let's look at the story itself now, top of page two. Chapter 24, he was in En Gedi. Here he's in the wilderness of Zeph. Same situation, two different locations. Chapter 26, verse 1, now the Zephites came to Saul at Gibeah. You know, they went up to the capital, to the governmental capital where Saul lived in Gibeah, the Zephites. Now this is the second time they've done it. They've had this reconnaissance, this intelligence team, spies throughout the land looking for David because the king is going to reward them very handsomely if they find David. Anybody that finds David is going to get rewarded by the king. So the Zephites come, this is very similar to what happened in chapter 23. They said, hey Saul, it's us again, same group. Delegation's up there and Saul goes, I know you guys, who, yeah, the Zephites. You got more information on David, they go, yep. We found him again, same place. He's the same place he was in chapter 23. And Hekeliah, he's at this hill. It was a strategic hill. It was a hill where you had the position of advantage because you could see the larger area, this hill of Hekeliah. And he says he's hiding in that region again, the Zephites said, just like he was before, you know, some months back. Verse 2, Saul goes, are you sure? He goes, well, the delegation from Zeph says, yeah, we were right last time, right? And Saul goes, yeah, you were, okay. So Saul does the same thing, 3,000 men, I mean, that's a huge economic investment. I mean, to mobilize 3,000 soldiers and to move them, you know, 20 miles or whatever it is down the road and to go for a week or two or three or four to kill one man, I mean, that's a huge amount of mobilizing the government resources for Saul's anger to be vented and for his jealousy to be satisfied, 3,000. Now David has 600 men, so it's, you know, 3,000 to 600, five to one odds. Paragraph C. So Saul, he gets, he goes down to this Hekeliah, the hill of Hekeliah, again it's a strategic hill, it's a good position to be because you can see more, you can see the area, and Saul gets there and he's looking for David, looking for signs of him. And it's evening time, so they're going to camp out there, but Saul's not the only one that had a reconnaissance team, you know, an intelligence team of spies that network across the land, David had one too. And David, he was hiding nearby, I mean, it's pretty hard for Saul to cover up 3,000 men marching through the wilderness, I mean, it's pretty obvious. But some guys came and said, hey David, the Ziphites turned you in again, I mean, this is bad, these guys are out to get you. And David's intelligence network, they said, we saw Saul coming, he went to the hill of Hekeliah, he's there, where you were just a little, just a couple days ago. Verse 4, David sent out spies to really confirm it, that it was there. And verse 5, he arose and that came to the place. Now David's hiding over in the bushes, and he's looking at Saul's camp, he's looking, there's a valley between where David is, and he's checking out where Saul is, they have campfires and, I mean, 3,000 men, it's quite an operation, a military operation there. Verse 5, he found out, okay, I know right where Saul is, I can see, he's at the very center of the camp, because you put the king in the center, you put the bodyguard at the neck circle, and you make concentric circles around, you know, where the poor guy on the far end, he's the, I guess, the expendable one. David saw the place where Saul was going to sleep that night, and it was in the evening time, the fires were burning, and they go to bed, and Abner's there, Abner's the commander of the army, he's the five-star general, the absolute top leader of the army, the commander and chief of the army. Saul lay within the camp, all the soldiers, again, making larger concentric circles around him, he's at the center, he's the most secure position. Roman numeral 3, so verse 6, so David's still up in the bushes, looking down at 3,000 men, I mean, that's quite a sight, and all the campfires, and the tents, and all that kind of, and David says, okay, I got an idea, he's got two guys next to him, Ahimelech, the Hittite, and Abishai, he goes, I'm going down in the camp, excuse me, yeah, now, I don't know how, because it doesn't tell us how David knew what to do in this situation, because we find out in a few moments, God put a deep sleep on 3,000 men, so that David could go down to the camp, he steals Saul's spear, right next to his head, runs away, most of you know the story, he goes, Saul, I got your spear, remember a few months ago, I cut your robe, same old, same old, I could have killed you, that's what's going to happen. But the drama, I mean, could you imagine 3,000 choice soldiers, you got the guards, the men on watch, and if the men fall asleep on their watch, they get killed, I mean, it's a, it's like a treason, I mean, it's a, it's a, that's not the right word, but it's a, it's a serious crime in the military to fall asleep on your watch, but they all fell asleep. But how did David know it? Somewhere, the Lord made this known to David, and we don't know how, because we know David's not reckless, he really is not reckless, he's bold, that's not the same thing as reckless. Somewhere, he heard from God, because there was absolute precision, I mean, it was an amazing situation. Well, he asked these two guys, a Himalak and Abishai, and Abishai actually is his nephew, Zeruiah is David's sister, Zeruiah, and Abishai is one of the sons of Zeruiah, and so, Zeruiah, David's sister, has three sons, so it's Uncle David, and it's nephew Abishai, but this guy, when we try, we'll talk more about him in the days to come, he's one of the mighty men of David, he is a fierce soldier, all of his days, I mean, he took on, he took on 300 men by himself once, I mean, this guy, I mean, he's a young guy in his 20's right now, but he's fearless. So, a Himalak, David says, a Himalak, Abishai, you want to go down with me? It's like, excuse me? And a Himalak didn't go, we don't hear about him again, he's never mentioned again in the story, but Abishai goes, I will. You know, I could imagine David saying, well, Abishai, how do you know to go down? I mean, I know, because I've heard from God, but you don't know that I know from God it's going to work. You're really just going to do this. And this Abishai guy was always like fierce as a lion in battle, right throughout the whole story of David's life. We'll run into him a number of times. Verse 7, I mean, how dramatic. David and Abishai, they came to the people by night, right in the middle of the camp. I mean, even if the Lord put asleep on the whole camp, I think I would still tiptoe and breathe carefully, wouldn't you? I mean, you're sure the Lord put him to sleep, but what if it didn't take 100% on that one guy? I mean, I just can't imagine two men going into the center of, quote, the enemy camp that is bent on killing you. And they were sleeping. And Abner, now remember he's the commander in chief of the army, he's right next to Saul. And Abishai, verse 8, he whispers the same old thing they whispered back in the cave in En Gedi, back in chapter 24. Remember when they were in the cave in En Gedi and Saul comes in, and Saul is lying there asleep. And they're in the cave, and David's men said, this is the hour God promised you. Abishai's got the same line. Probably it was Abishai back in chapter 24, doesn't tell us the name of who said it, but look at the word here. He goes, David. I can picture him whispering this. God delivered him in your head. Come on, that other time back in En Gedi, that was a test. Okay, granted, I was wrong. You were right. It was a test. You passed the test. It's obvious this is a God setup. I mean the fact they're all asleep, nobody wakes up. This is so unusual. This is proof that God is in it. Look at the word there. Now therefore, here's the word, please let me strike him. And the idea is, don't do what you did in En Gedi back in chapter 24. Don't do that, the anointed of God thing. Please let me get rid of it, of this man. We've been running around in the wilderness for years now, from cave to cave to cave. We're weary. Now they've got their families with them. He goes, please let me get rid of this man, King Saul. Now remember what God's after is proven character. He doesn't want David to pass one test one time. He wants David to believe things and to live out of that belief system. He wants him to live out of that value system so he does the right thing many times, not one time where he checks the box and he's done with the task for life. He's living out of a value system and he's living out of a core of beliefs that God's leadership is superior to anybody else's and he's under God's leadership. So David says, Abishai, this is not an opportunity. Abishai, I'm a man of conviction. I'm under God's government. I'm under his leadership. I can't kill God's anointed. You can't kill God's anointed, verse 9, and be guiltless, meaning there will be consequences. If you touch God's anointed in a wrong way, now I've heard a lot of preachers over the years, not a lot but a few here and there, they abuse this, that every preacher is God's anointed and everybody in the congregation is, I guess, the unanointed. I don't know how it works but I've heard this principle, I mean not over and over and over but enough times in 40 years where the man of God, anybody that hassles them, they threaten them, you're touching God's anointed, but we're talking about this is the king, the one king anointed by the prophet over the covenant nation of Israel that is God's plan to bring forth the Messiah and the salvation of the world. There's something a little more serious than a preacher in his congregation and he's the anointed and everybody else is the non-anointed that have to do what he says. Don't let anybody pull that on you because I've seen this verse taken out of context and we're talking about a very unique situation here. I think the principle of honoring God's authority is true but the intensity of it, of the number one leader of the covenant nation, the king of Israel, that's a pretty intense example but David understood it and he goes, I don't care how bad this guy is, this is the anointed king of the covenant nation. I mean the Messiah is coming from here. World salvation is coming out of this. God will touch him. I am not touching this thing. He understood the spiritual authority involved at the highest degree. And again, there's levels, lesser degrees of this. It's the principle of honoring God's authority. But again, just don't use this on somebody and don't let somebody use this principle on you. That's all I'm trying to say right here. Look at verse 10. David has a moment of faith that's dynamic. He looks at Abishai right there in this 3,000 men sound asleep whispering to him, don't kill him. No. He goes, God's anointed. We're not touching him. I'm living out of my values. It's not an opportunity Abishai. This is something more important going on. Look at this statement of faith. God will strike him. God will strike him in his own time, in his own way. He goes, he's obviously, I mean he murdered 80 priests of the city of Nub. I mean he's on rampages. I mean he's an angry demonized man who is bringing defilement to the nation. David says, I'm positive God is going to remove him. The reason this is so important, this high moment of faith here in chapter 26, because we'll see after the break, chapter 27, David falls into despair and disavows this. He's like, I'm going to lose. Saul's going to win. He's going to kill me. Like David, just one chapter ago it was so clear to you. What is the deal? How could you lose sight of that which is so clear just a chapter earlier? He says in verse 11, God forbid, the Lord forbid I touch the Lord's anointed. I'm just not going to do it. Now look what he says to Abishai. Please, because there's only two guys there, David and Abishai, take the spear and the jug of water. Let's go. He goes, you grab those two things and let's go. I think this is interesting human dynamics. Verse 12, David took the spear and the jug. So David says to Abishai, please take it. But the next verse says David took it because Abishai said, I'm just tired of this stuff. David, you and your thing, you take it. Abishai wouldn't take it. So David takes it. I just see that human dynamic in there. The guy's a little annoyed at David right here at a high moment in David's life. This guy though, he's a faithful and loyal, but he's not getting the big picture of what's going on. Nobody woke up. Now it gives us the secret. Verse 12, there was a deep sleep from the Lord. Now this is a miracle. I mean a deep sleep from the Lord falling on 3,000 men at the moment. I mean it's not like somewhere in the next 10 years it happens once. It happens on the very moment when you're entering the camp. And again, David undoubtedly knew this on the front end because he wasn't, David though he had boldness and a free spirit, he was not reckless. He inquired of the Lord. That was one of the great principles of David's life. He inquired of the Lord and stayed within the assignment the Lord gave him. A deep sleep but this miracle was meant to do two things. Number one, the miracle gave David an opportunity to be tested again. It wasn't a time to kill Saul like Abishai thought. It was a time to test would David live out of his values and his core beliefs about his confidence in God's leadership and his values about submission to God's leadership and purity and doing things God's way. So it was a test, this sleep. But also this deep sleep, this miracle was also a faith builder. God was telling David, David don't you see I'm with you. I put Saul in the cave back in chapter 24 that you were in. He goes now I put him to sleep and it's a similar situation. My miracle working power is helping you. And David could say yeah if your miracle working power is helping me, why is this guy chasing me? Why are we living hand to mouth out in the wilderness, in the desert, I mean scraping to get by. Is this what it means to be the anointed of God with promises? And the Lord could say to David, well for this season of your life that's what it looks like. Wow I thought being the anointed of God with major promises, big promises of impact would look different than scraping by in the wilderness running for my life and all of the discomfort of that. You're kidding. Yep my power is with you David but not in the way that you would particularly have done it. My power, look at the ways I've delivered you but you're still in this tension of the difficulty. I'm not releasing that from you right now because I'm training you to be a king that's going to bring blessing to a whole nation. I want you to get this clear in your 20s because in your 30s and 40s and 50s and 60s I want you to lead out of this value system. I want you to lead out of this core, these core beliefs. I want you, not that David did it perfectly by any means but David did it well because God of course is so generous in his evaluation. That's why David did well but at the end of his life in Acts chapter 13 we've looked at several times verse 22 it says David fulfilled all the will of God even though he blew it a bunch of times God says yeah but he kept coming back. He kept saying yes to me and the overall rule of his life was obedience. And so God was kind of, I mean really giving the intense training in his 20s and David thought this is never going to go away because he was building this core value system and this belief system that he could draw on all the days of his life. Not just so he would be a cool king so he would be a blessing to the people of God. God anointed David not for David's sake. God anointed David for God's sake number one and for the sake of the people number two. We looked at that in our first session. A lot of folks when God talks to them about anointing them they just accidentally move into a gear of this is about me. My life is going to be fun. I'm going to be important. I'm going to have influence. It's, and they'll say no I'm not anointing you for you. That's not what this is about. I'm anointing you for them. And I tell you once you get that one thing down that God's anointing you for himself and anointing you for people then when you're having a hard time you don't give in and cave in. Say oh I'm real bad. It's really horrible. God can't anoint me. God says I'm not anointing you for you. I'm anointing you for them. I tell you I've had some of the roughest times over forty years when I think of some of my toughest moments. It's remarkable how the Lord used me. And I said Lord I mean I had a really hard week and the Lord says I didn't anoint you for you. I anointed you for them. That's why I was doing it. Oh yeah that one principle. That main biblical principle. There you go. Top of page three. Okay let's go to Roman numeral four. Now David verse thirteen. Okay him and Abishai they, again I'm thinking they're tiptoeing but maybe they're not. Maybe they're confident. Boy I would just really be not that comfortable in the middle of three thousand mighty soldiers hoping they all stayed asleep. Okay but anyway verse thirteen. David went over to the other side. Meaning of the valley. He stood on the top of a hill far away. There's a valley in between them. There's a great distance. I mean it's not so great they can't hear each other but they have to yell. They have to. David Abner! You know he has to yell at him. He's at a great distance to do that. And there's some practical reasons why. Because God wants the entire army to hear the dialogue. Three thousand men are going to witness what is being said. And this is going to affect the way they see David in the very near future. God was setting up David's leadership even in this event because less than two years later King Saul's dead and these three thousand men know David's the anointed of the Lord. And this was a key event. This was a key moment in their military history right here. Verse thirteen. David goes over to the other side. Stood on the hill far off. Great distance. Abner! Top general. Abner kind of you know it's early morning. Kind of pre-dawn. The sun's not up yet but almost right about there you know and like. Abner goes who are you? You're waking the king up. You're calling out to the king. David said Abner! And he asked him these three semi-insulting questions. He goes are you not a man? And Abner's the mightiest soldier in the land. I mean the highest ranking. In other words aren't you a mighty man? Aren't you a man's man or what's the deal with you? It's kind of like. Who is like you in all of Israel? Who has the rank that you have? Who has the access to the king that you have? Who has the privilege you have? Who has the command of the army like you do? Who else has your prestige and authority and access to resource and there's no one like you in the government. Some except for Saul. Then if you're such a mighty man and you have access to all of the military resources. Why didn't you guard the anointed of the Lord? I mean this is a crime to fall asleep or to have the guards fall asleep and the anointed of the Lord of the covenant nation. I mean the one covenant nation. The one king anointed by the great prophet Samuel. Why did you guys fall asleep or the men under you? Abner's like what do you mean fell asleep? Like who are you anyway? Abner one of the people. He means Abishai the guy that was with David. He doesn't want to say Abishai's name just in case. He came to destroy the king. There was a guy next to the king who wanted to kill him. Abner you're crazy. You crazy man. What are you talking about? Where is the king's spear? What do you mean? The spear's always by his head in his water jug. Saul where's your spear? Saul's like I don't know. David lifts his hands up. Here's the spear. He's getting to cross the valley. Abner here's the water jug. Boop. How did you get that water jug? You bring that water jug back here boy you hear? Verse seventeen paragraph B. Saul Abner doesn't even answer actually. Abner's embarrassed, perplexed. He took that spear. I was right next to you Saul when you went to bed. I saw the spear. I touched the spear. He's got the spear. Abner doesn't say a word because again it's a crime under his leadership for something of this level to have this kind of mishap. Of course the Lord put him to sleep and they don't know what's happening and so Saul breaks in. He knew David's voice. He goes is that your voice my son David? Now remember he's been calling him the son of Jesse in this derogatory way. You know chapter 18, I mean 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 the son of Jesse as a put down. But in chapter 24 in En Gedi when Saul fell asleep in that cave and David spared him he said my son David. Now he's got that my son David talk going back again. David said yeah it is me. I am your son-in-law. I actually am and I'm your loyal servant. Why verse 18 are you pursuing me with 3,000 men? If I wanted to kill you I've had two opportunities. What evil have I done? Verse 19, I mean how noble or how generous. Verse 19 he says please if the Lord stirred you up. David the Lord didn't stir up Saul. A demon stirred up Saul. I know, I know. I played the music. I saw the demon. I get who stirred up Saul. But what if there's something in me God is dealing with and God stirred him up so I get down with just in case. Saul if it is the Lord tell it to me and I'll give an offering and I'll repent. I'll do the right response according to the law of Moses. I'll repent. I'll make the offerings. If by chance there's even a little bit of what I'm doing that's making this happen. I mean this is real. I mean look at the way he's appealing to Saul. But if it's the children of men which means jealous men in your court telling lies slander about me because that's what was happening as well. If it's men telling you lies because they're jealous of me and they want my position and they want your favor and they're making up stories and adding to and twisting them. Then he goes may God judge those men. And it's not just if you bother me I want God to judge you. David was God's anointed as well. That was a that was something David was aware of but nobody else in Saul's camp seemed to be aware of that at this time. But the sad thing is we'll find out in a couple chapters back in chapter 3 and chapter 5 of 2 Samuel when Abner gets together with Saul. I mean with David a couple years from now he goes David Abner the the head guy the guy that he's humiliating right here is going to say you know what we all knew you were the anointed even back then. You read that in 2 Samuel we'll get there. That just makes me mad every time I read that I go ah what. Well dial down Mike God was raising up a man after his own heart just let it go. Top of page 4 Roman numeral 5 Saul said here's verse 21 is very dramatic. Verse 21 is the strongest statement Saul makes. By the way this is the last time Saul and David meet each other. These are the last words of Saul to David. Verse 21 and verse 25 that's it. Now David and David and Saul did not know that Saul was going to be dead within two years. David didn't know that and neither did Saul about two years approximately. I mean David was at the end of this season. He did not know if this was going to go on through his 30s through his 40s. He didn't know what was going to happen but the Lord knew the time was actually drawing to a close. Saul says I've sinned and look at this verse 21 return come back home and live in the family complex. David's thinking no I don't think so Saul. I don't think that's going to happen. He goes no my son return come back to Gibeah come back to the capital move back in to the royal court. My son David he says my son again I will harm you no more I promise you. I played the fool. So he said verse 21 I've sinned now he says I played the fool. I have aired exceedingly 3,000 soldiers are listening. All the high command of the military is hearing the king admit this. Again this is going to impact their response to David a couple years from now. David said verse 22 here send one of the young guys over here and get your spirit. In other words I'm not coming to you and moving back in to Gibeah. I'm not going to do that but here I want you to have your spirit. It's a sign of the of your royal authority and I don't want your spirit and this is yours. And David now makes that famous state I mean not famous but that defining statement that David makes. Verse 23 may the Lord repay. In other words I am not going to repay. It's this thing that he said in chapter 24 let the Lord decide. I am not going to decide so I'm not going to intervene and stop you. I'm not going to do it. Verse 23 I'll let the Lord repay you if you're doing bad and if you're doing good he can repay you either way and if I'm doing good and I'm not sinning against you because I know I'm not and I'm actually treating you in righteousness. I'm going to let the Lord pay. I'm not going to ask you to pay. I'm going to wait on the Lord. I mean this is the classic King David. One of his defining characteristics is this ability again with Nabal he really blew it but more times than not probably eight or ten times we have this example in a crisis he goes into this mode and when he's king today his 30s 40s 50s 60s he appeals to this a number of times. I mean this value was deeply rooted in his life in his 20s. Verse 25 Saul said to him may you be blessed my son David there's the third time he said my son David in this final speech this final conversation but he's yelling it you will do great things you will prevail and the idea is against me you will prevail not only did David tell Abishai back in verse 10 he says God's going to take the king out I know by the spirit the king's own mouth you're going to prevail so David's got his own prophetic word in verse 10 now he's got the prophetic work of the king himself you're going to prevail in this conflict I know you are may God bless you and they went on his way David went back in the wilderness Saul returned to his place paragraph d I just have here I just want you to see this this truth is what David says the most in first and second Samuel of any one truth not counting the book of psalms because he says lots of things in the book of psalms mostly about the mercy of God he talks about more about the mercy of God than probably any one theme if you added them all up but in terms of David's words in the narrative of first and second Samuel this is the truth he emphasis he says the most with his mouth I'm going to take my hands off of it I'm not going to pay you back with my slander I'm not going to kind of manipulate over here in the corner or move things around to block your way I'm not going to do that I'm not going to use my influence to cause you trouble in any way whatsoever I'm going to let God himself settle it with you and I have nothing to do with it because it's out of my hands and that's the classic David statement and this is uh this is what we want to take away and the Lord's telling this I think uh what the Lord's saying David proven character you're getting it it's not a one-time deal you've developed a root system you developed a long-term deep value system that's what was happening in David's life and just uh after the break the very next verse the very next verse is like ah it says David is in despair Saul's gonna kill me I'm gonna lose that's the next thing that's said after this great miracle but we'll come to that after the break amen let's stand father we come before you I want you to take a moment and just say Lord I this is going to be a part of my value system this is not something I'm going to do once I'm going to have this deeply rooted in my value system and I'm going to be a husband or a father and a leader in the marketplace or in the church or I'm gonna be a wife and a mother and a leader in the marketplace in the church and I'm gonna treat my family my children my spouse with this spirit not just in the church world I'm gonna use this spirit all the way through in all of my relationships this isn't just something you do kind of in a public ministry setting this is this was David's life the way he lived does it mean there's not times I mean your children discipline your children or confront things invaluable relationships that's not what I'm saying but I'm talking about using that revenge mode to block somebody when you're going to pay them back a little bit because they got in your way Lord we just say that we are setting our heart so many in their 20s here they're gonna live this way in their 40s and 50s and 60s they're gonna be in their marriage the Lord gives them a and their children if the Lord blesses them with children their ministry their marketplace assignment they're gonna live this way and they're gonna shine the glory of God through the way they trust your leadership so again just in your heart you're saying yes Lord this I'm gonna do this and the Lord says know this I'm gonna test you over and over like I did David because I want proven character not for you just to pass the test one time and check the box amen and amen 10-minute break then we'll come back and do chapter 27