The Spear Pt 1

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

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the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central. Good evening everyone.

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It is Wednesday, December fourth, twenty twenty four. It is

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currently eight forty nine pm Central Time, and I'm coming

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to you live from the Theology Central studio located right

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here in Abilene, Texas. Now, if depending on where you're looking,

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you may see the metadata and you may see the title.

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I think I have the title something as the Spear

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all right, but I don't have it the Spear Part one.

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I probably should have labeled it the Spear Part one

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because there's no way I'm going to be able to

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make all make it all the way through this. We're

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going to be doing a sermon review. Obviously. We're really

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focused on doing sermon reviews right now because we're trying

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to bring this year to a somewhat dramatic conclusion with

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the series that has driven everything this year, and that

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is the Sermons two point zero app Sermon Challenge. I'm

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not going to go back and repeat everything about the

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challenge or anything along those lines, but we've been I mean,

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that's been driving everything this year. So I'm like, okay,

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let's just keep doing let's just keep reviewing sermons. So

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we did Hebrews twelve. I think, personally, and this is

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just my own personal feelings, I think that the discussion

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about Hebrews twelve I thought was interesting and fascinating because

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I offered a completely different way of looking at that passage. Right,

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Everyone's like, hey, what is the weight that is keeping

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you back from your Christian life? What is the sin?

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And we identify we just kind of make it whatever

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we think it should be. And I think that I

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think the weight and the sin there has very specific

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meaning and its context being written to Jews who are

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about to experience the end of the Old Covenant, the

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end of the temple, the end of the sacrificial system,

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the end of the priestly system, the end I mean

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they're gonna, I mean, the end of the nation. So

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I think then the weight and the and the sin

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has very specific connection. So I thought it was I

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mean personally, I mean, as sometimes you do something and

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you're like, oh wow, that should generate a lot of discussion,

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that should generate a lot of downloads, that should generate

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a lot of streams, and then you look and you're like, Okay,

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well maybe not. And I hate to say this. I

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hate to say this. A lot of times, when you're

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really focused on scripture interpretation, those messages get far less

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downloads than when you're talking about something like the future

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of Christianity. Are you dealing with something that's a little

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bit may maybe more controversial or a current event, you

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will draw in more people to that then maybe doing

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I think some pretty solid work on exegeating a text

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and placing it within its historical context. That's just not

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as exciting, And I understand that, but I think whether

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whether it gets in. I think ultimately what you have

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to do sometimes is you can't worry about the number.

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What you have to do is like, Okay, that is worthwhile.

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Maybe right now nobody cares, but so sooner or later

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someone will stumble upon that and maybe it will help

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them see Hebrews twelve far different than they ever have.

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So then I was like, Okay. Earlier I was like,

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you know, I'm going to I'm gonna I think I'm

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going to broadcast. Now what do I do. Let's find

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a let's just grab the sermon's two point oh out.

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Let's choose a random sermon, And I saw one entitled

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What will you do with the spear? What will you

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do with the spear?

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Now?

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I mean I got to give that title some prop

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I mean, it caught maya attempt. What will you do

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with the spear? And I'm like, what spear? What am

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I supposed to do with the spear? Oh? This is interesting?

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And then I noticed that the text for the sermon

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was First Samuel twenty six, and I was like, oh, no,

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oh no, oh, no oh no. So we're going to

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take an Old Testament passage that obviously mentions a spear,

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and it's going to become about what you and I

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should do with the spear. Now will this work? Is

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this going to completely manipulate the text, rip the text

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out of context? Is it going to push the original

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you know, recipients out and put and bring us in.

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I don't know, maybe this is going to work. So

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I thought about doing it earlier, and then things things

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got interrupted and I didn't know my food was arriving

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at a certain time, and next thing, you know, then

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I had to go eat. So things kind of got

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messed up. So that so I'm okay, I'll get back

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to it now. Right before I went live, I saw

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that a new sermon was uploaded to the Summer's two

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point oh app on Hebrews chapter five, and I was

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kind of kicking myself. I'm almost like, wait, I know,

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I already got this audio uploaded. I should go download

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that Hebrews five, And we should do that, because what

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we just did Hebrews twelve. We've done a little work

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on Hebrew six. This could be interesting. But maybe we'll

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get to that. Maybe we'll do something tomorrow. We will see.

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I've got this ready to go. What will you do

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with the spirit? Now Here is the plan this evening.

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You'll notice I did not label it part one. I

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did not label that. I probably should have. I probably

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should have, all right, And the reason I should have

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is I think the way I'm going to approach this

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this evening is I think we're just going to review

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a little bit of this and kind of get the

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basic concept, the basic idea, and then maybe tomorrow we

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will return and see what they do with the idea.

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Maybe now, maybe it won't take long and we're gonna

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just be like, oh boy, what has happened? Maybe maybe

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this will be what look we've got I mean, there's

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basically I mean, I know this is not making any

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like major prediction. But either this is going to be

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like a fascinating look at First Samuel twenty six with

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a very accurate and textual application that is challenging, convicting,

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and beneficial, or this is going to be dealing with

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Fort Samuel twenty six in a way that turns into

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an absolute train wreck. It goes off the path, off

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the rails, you know, the boat crashes upon the rocks,

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whatever illustration you would like to use. So I don't

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know which way it's going to go, but we're going

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to see. I probably should have labeled it part one,

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but right now it's just the title of something like

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what is the spear? Or or the spear? I think

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I just entitled it the spear. I was gonna put

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your spear, my spear? Whose spear? But I don't really

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know which direction this is going to go? So let's listen.

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We'll find out. First Samuel twenty six. Is the text

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the title of the message, what will you do with

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the spear? This was uploaded today. It's available in the

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Sermons two point zero app. Look for it. And I

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don't know what else to say other than let's jump in.

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Are you ready, here we go again. The goal here

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tonight is not to even attempt to try to review

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all of this. It's forty two minutes and thirty six seconds,

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all right, That could take four or five hours, six

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hours of review, So obviously I'm not going to attempt that.

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I'm just gonna try to see if we can get

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the basic concept down. Now, I don't. Part of me

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thinks I probably should have listened to the beginning of this,

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because we've noticed this with a lot of sermons, the

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beginning they take a long time. Like I know, a

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lot of people think my introductions are long, but if

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you listen to some of these sermons, it's just kind

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of into very slow. Many of them will read the

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entire chapter and I and I know that's a kind

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of a you know, each preacher makes that choice. Some

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people love that, well we heard the entire word of

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God read, but it just seems like it's very long

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just listening to them read the entire chapter. And then

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many cases, especially when it's a narrative and now you're

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going to walk through the narrative, Well, you've already read

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the entire narrative. To me, now we're going to walk

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through the narrative. I kind of like walking through the

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narrative without reading it because I'm if I don't remember

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all the details. It's like I'm discovering the details in

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real time. Other than saying, here's everything that happened. Now,

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let's talk about everything that happened, I would rather let's

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talk about this chapter and discover it like we're discovering

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it in real time. That but that's just a choice

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and preaching style. But many of them read it. So

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it means sometimes when we're listening first ten fifteen minutes,

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we don't even get to the sermon, so we will

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see what's going to take place. I could be wrong,

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but that happens a lot. We're going to find out.

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We're going to find out right now.

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Well, I invite you to turn in your Bibles to

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First Samuel chapter twenty six. As Ryan mentioned, this will

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be our last time in First Samuel until the new year,

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and it's actually a really good place to stop. A

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lot of things resolve in a sense, and then there

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will be much to pick up on in the new

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year when we resume the story.

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But first, now, that's you know, we're doing a summer review.

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A lot of churches do this, and I don't know

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how I feel about it. Right, So a lot of

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times you're trying to preach through a book, right, And

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then yeah, I'm very conflicted on this, Okay, because I've

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done lots of preaching through books and we've been in

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We're in first I think four plus years. I can

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go through all the different books I've preached, verse by

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verse through and all of them multiple years, four or

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five years, and now I really loved doing that, right,

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But I'm gonna be honest with you, at times it

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was a little bit of arrogance to it, a little

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bit of pro Look at us, we spent five years

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going through a book. No church has dealt with the

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depth of this book like we have. And on one hand,

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I think that's true. We were going deeper than anybody else,

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and I stand by that, and I'm proud of that,

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hopefully not too much of a fleshly way, hopefully in

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a right way. But you know what I'm trying to say,

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I think that that's a good thing. But at the

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same time, after doing that numerous times and kind of

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patting myself on the back, I kind of realized a

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lot of times by the time we were done, you

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could ask the people in your church some basic questions

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and they didn't remember anything. Like you're going through it,

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like you're and you're spending four five years of your

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life as a pastor. You're living in that book week

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after week after week after week after week. You're reading

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it and reading it and reading it and reading it

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and reading it over and over and over and over

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and over and over and over and over. I mean,

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you're living in it. And what you don't realize is

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the people in the pew, they're just showing up listening,

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and they've forgotten about it. Rarely do you get the

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people actually, I mean, because you start noticing it, You're like, okay, people,

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we're going to be in this chapter. We're gonna be

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in this chapter. This is where we're going to be

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for the next who knows how long. So each week

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be reading it, read it and read it, and read

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it and read it. And then you'll you know, you've

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been we've been in a chapter for six months. And

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then you'll ask some basic questions about the chapter, and

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then you realize nobody in the congregations they can't even

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answer the question. And so then what you want to

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do is take your Bible and I know this sounds bad,

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but you just want to throw it across the room

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and say, you know what, forget this. You don't sneak

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and care, I don't sneak in care. Let's just call

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it a day. Why are we pretending? Why are we

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playing this little game? Oh we're going verse by verse.

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Nobody cares. You don't even remember what was preached. It's irrelevant,

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it's a waste of time. It's meaningless, meaningless, meaningless, right,

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I mean, come on now, I mean I've been through

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it too many times. And by the time you get

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to the end of the book, after being three four years,

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does anyone even remember? Do they even remember the outline

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of the book? Do they remember what chapter one was?

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I mean, you can do a review at the end. Okay,

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it's four years through the book. What was chapter one about?

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Uh uh? I told you to be reading the book

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week after week after week for the four years that

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were in Okay, nobody did that? Okay, obvious, Okay, great,

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that can be like. That can be discouraging, right, that

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can be discouraging. So then sometimes you have to ask

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is it worth doing that? I mean, that's like that,

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this is a big question. Is it really worth doing that?

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Do people really retain anything? So is there a different way? Well,

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some people said, we'll go through the books quicker, So

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they'll go through, say First Corinthians, and are the Gospel

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of John or whatever in eight weeks or twelve weeks. Okay, Well,

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the only problem is when you listen to those sermons,

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they go through a chapter and you're like, well, you

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didn't even cover half of I don't know what the

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right answer. I used to be more committed to one.

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I'm not so sure anymore. But I also know churches

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love to do what he just said. And this is

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the reason I'm talking about all of this is so

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many churches, when they get to certain times of the year,

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they'll be like, Okay, we're working through this book. Hey,

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it's now summertime, so now we're gonna be going to

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our summer schedule and we know a lot of people

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are gonna be so we're gonna put this this study

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on hold, and then after summer we'll come back to it. Okay, wait,

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now it's almost time for Christmas. We're gonna stop again,

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and then we'll pick it up. When you have those breaks,

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Does anyone even remember? I mean that's the problem I'm

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having right now with our their four series in Romans,

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I kind of mess that up, not even because I

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was taking a break, but because other things got you know,

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I put out is anyone even going to remember Eschatology?

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We ended on the dividic covenant. I need to go

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back and finish that. So I sometimes how do you

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work it?

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Like?

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How do you? I think every preacher struggles with that,

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like what do we do?

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Now?

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He's saying, hey, this is a good place to stop.

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So if this is a good place to stop, that

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means he's getting ready to cover twenty five verses and

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one forty two minute sermon. Twenty five verses and forty

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two minutes. That's now you can do that. If he's

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gonna go through and go Okay, here's the basic story,

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it's broken down into these parts. And because it's a narrative,

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he may be able to do that.

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Now.

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The key is he's he I think he has to

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make a choice. He's either is gonna have to look

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at this and it's context and what was about for

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the people involved, or is he just going to go

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in and make it about us I don't know, but

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there's a lot church, there is a lot of those.

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I don't know if people in the pew ever realize that,

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but there's a lot of those stratgy those things you

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have to think about, Okay, do we cover this book?

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How much time do we spend in this book? Because

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on one hand, you want to believe by the time

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you're done, everyone in your church knows the book forward

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and backwards and they're experts on the book. But a

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lot of times, by the time you're done, you realize

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nobody even remembers it. And then what do you do

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if you take a break. I mean, it's it's December

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the fourth. They're not going to even be back in

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this book till the new year in January. Is anybody

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going to remember anything about first Samuel Are This is

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a question. I doubt I'm even going to remember this

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sermon review by January. I don't even think I'm gonna

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remember that even did this broadcast by that? So I

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don't know. The everyone has an opinion what's the right

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way to look? The right way is if you could

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get everyone in church on the same page, everyone's going

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to it's probably the same thing It's like in college,

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right a professor can give everyone, Hey, we're going to

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do this, we're going to do this, we're going to

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do this, and if everyone will actually participate, by the

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end of the semester, they should have really mastered it. Well,

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the same thing could be in a church, but you

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got to get everyone to participate, even with our Bible

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study exercises or any of the things I try to

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do on the podcast. If people will not participate, there's

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only so much you can get out. There's only so

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much people who are going to get Now, if people

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are reading like I tell them to read, or if

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they're doing this, if they're doing an outline, if they're

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doing any of the work I give them, then okay.

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But in a church, what at least my experience is,

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you can't get most people to participate. They're going to

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show up to church and they're done. They're done, They're

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going to listen and they go home and most likely

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by the next Sunday, they're going to have a hard

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time remembering anything that was spoken of. And that's just

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a reality. That's not like there was a time when

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I was younger, there was I criticize people for that

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I'm like, well, if you love God with all your heart, mind, body,

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and soul, and if you love the Word of God

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more than gold and silver, and you desired it more

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than the honey and the honeycomb. If you if you

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were like a new born babe that desired the sincere

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milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby. If

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the word of God was truly a lamp and truly

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a light, if the word of if man did not

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live by bread alone, but by every word that presented

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out of the mouth of God, if you really cared,

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you would know this. And so well, now I'm just like,

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I think that expectation is just unrealistic because that's not

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the way it works. So that just tells me maybe

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we got to be more honest with ourselves that everyone

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from from behind the pulpit to win the pew, we

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don't really love God's word the way we claim we do.

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I think we just have to be more honest. So

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I don't know how well it's going to work for them.

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We'll see. I mean, you can test yourself January the fifth,

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January the sixth, ask yourself how much you remember about

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First Samuel twenty six. Probably all of us will fill

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the test.

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Samuel chapter twenty six. If you're following along in a

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Pew Bible, you can find it on page two hundred

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and forty nine. It's also printed on page nine in

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the Order of Service. You could follow along in your

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own Bible, or in a moment, I'll be reading and

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you can just listen if you'd like. As we come

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to chapter twenty six, though, the context is really that

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it's the same old story for David. He's been on

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the run from Saul for chapter upon chapter now, and

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it's the same suffering, it's the same pressure, it's the

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same difficulty. Two chapters ago, Saul and David had a

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moment together, you may remember, when David spared Saul's life

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in the cave. Saul was moved, and Saul wept, and

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he acknowledged that what he had done was wrong, what

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he had done was evil. He said spiritual things about

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the Lord blessing David, but nothing changed, And here we

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are again, and Saul could say all kinds of things,

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but hadn't actually repented. Well, today is David is going

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to find himself in a situation where he could make

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all of this suffering, and he could make all of

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this running end if he would just do something that

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he said he would never do. Have you ever found

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yourself in a situation like that where you're just tired

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of running, weary of the suffering. Yeah, have you ever

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thought about that there might be this way that you

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could make all your problems just go away. But it

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means doing something you never thought you would do. What

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if you could just sin once and make your suffering stop?

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What if you could just sin once and make the

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suffering of someone else stop? Well, that's the question that

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our story raises for us, and as we look at

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how the Lord is working in Daniel's life or David's life,

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excuse me, his story will help us as we think

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about that very question, because I think the reality is

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we face situations like that more often, and then we

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may even realize as we walk through this Christian life.

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Okay, so he's taking this story. David is facing a

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situation where he could do one thing and make all

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of us suffering, all of his trouble go away, but

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it would be a sin. What would we do if

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we face the situation where if we send one time,

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we can make all of our problems, all of our

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pain and all of our suffering, all of our difficulties

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go away. Would we do that? That's an interesting question?

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All right? Now we could ask is that a Now

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this is important. Is that a correct application question that

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arises from this story? Now we will have to see.

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I think it's an interesting story. If you could send

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one time and make all of your problems go away,

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would you do so? Now, this one is very complicated,

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and I know when I start trying to explain, I

395
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know some of you already know what I'm getting ready

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to say. Some of you don't like when I say this,

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because you say you're excusing sin. I'm not trying to

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excuse sin. But this is where I struggle from the

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from the reality of Christianity and then trying to follow

400
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it through logically. Right, here's the reality of Christianity. Okay,

401
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So here there's pain, there's suffering, there's difficulty. I can

402
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make it all go away by committing one sin. Would

403
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I do that? Well, here's the bizarre thing about Christianity.

404
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Let's say I will not commit that sin. I won't

405
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do that, right, I won't do that one that. I

406
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was getting ready to make a reference to a famous song,

407
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but I won't do it. I won't do that. Okay,

408
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never mind, I'm not gonna make that. I'm not gonna

409
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make a music joke, all right. So but I there's

410
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this one one sin, and if I can do if

411
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I commit this one sin, all of my pain, all

412
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of my suffering, go away. But I won't do that.

413
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But here's the weird thing. I don't commit that sin.

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But here's the reality of Christianity. That very day that

415
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I don't commit that sin, I'm still going to be

416
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committing all kinds of other sins. I'm still not going

417
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to be loving God with all my heart, my body,

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and soul. I'm still not going to be loving my

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neighbor as myself. I'm still not going to be holy

420
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as God is holy. I mean, I can just go

421
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I'm gonna I'm still not probably not doing all things

422
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without grumbling and complaining. I'm still I still probably have

423
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other things I've put before God. I could go on

424
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and on and on and well, but I won't commit

425
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that sin. Well great, but I'm gonna still commit all

426
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these sins. So I won't commit this sin that can

427
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make all my problems go away. But I'm still going

428
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to be committing all these sins. Oh, I know, I

429
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know this question makes Christians very very uncomfortable. I know

430
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that because it sounds like I'm justifying it. But I'm

431
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just trying to deal with our pithological reality of what

432
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Christianity teaches. Christianity teaches that we are called to be

433
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holy as God is holy. Reality says we are never

434
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going to be that, so we're in a perpetual state

435
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of sin. It says to love God with our heart, mind, body,

436
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and soul. We're never going to do that, so we're

437
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in a perpetual state of sin. Be perfect, He's you're havingly,

438
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Father's perfect. We're never going to do it. We're already

439
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in a perpetual state of sin. So I'm in a

440
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perpetual state of sin. But you're telling me, if I

441
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could commit this one sin, I can make all my

442
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problems go away. Well, why wouldn't I commit that one

443
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sin to make all of my problems go away? Because

444
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if I really wanted to try to look at this logically,

445
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maybe all of these problems also service temptations. So maybe

446
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by committing this one sin, I make all of these

447
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other problems go away. Therefore I remove the source of temptation.

448
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I could logically even argue that it could actually reduce

449
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the amount of sin that I'm committing. Because problems, troubled,

450
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difficulty and suffering many cases lead to complaining, grumbling, discontentment, bitterness, frustration, anger, wrath. See,

451
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the Christian system is very difficult and how to measure

452
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it right, because we almost always create these hypothetical situations,

453
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and the way we create these situations, it's almost like, hey,

454
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we don't sin, oh, but if we could could We

455
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don't have any sin in our life, and now we

456
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face the situation where if we committed one sin, we

457
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could stop all of our suffering. But that's not an

458
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accurate way of looking at it, because the thing is, well,

459
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we're committing all kinds of sin, but if I commit

460
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this one sin, I can make all of my suffering

461
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go away, So don't I mean, how do we look

462
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at that in a realistic way? Now? I know logically

463
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that could lead to lots of philosophical issues, right, So,

464
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but what you're saying is, if I don't commit this sin,

465
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it's of really no value because I'm already committing all

466
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of these other sins. I'm not saying that there's no

467
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practical value. There's always practical value and not committing a

468
00:25:58.640 --> 00:26:03.480
sin because because sin has many, many cases, practical ramifications

469
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and consequences, so there's always value in not committing a sin.

470
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From a practical standpoint. From a philological standpoint, you're still

471
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I mean, you're a sinner. Whether you stop one, whether

472
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you stop twenty, you're still a sinner. You are in

473
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a perpetual state of sin. So philologically, spiritually you're already sinning.

474
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You're in sin. Practically you can say, well, if I

475
00:26:27.640 --> 00:26:29.359
don't commit that sin, then I don't have to worry

476
00:26:29.400 --> 00:26:34.480
about this, and that is true, but that's looking at

477
00:26:34.519 --> 00:26:38.119
things from just a very pragmatic, fleshly perspective, which anyone

478
00:26:38.160 --> 00:26:38.720
could look at.

479
00:26:38.839 --> 00:26:39.039
Right.

480
00:26:39.160 --> 00:26:41.400
A lost person could go, well, if I do this,

481
00:26:41.559 --> 00:26:43.759
I can have this consequence with us. Okay, I'm not

482
00:26:44.759 --> 00:26:48.000
now now. Philologically, even if you don't commit the act,

483
00:26:48.039 --> 00:26:49.680
you may be committing it in your mind, so then

484
00:26:49.720 --> 00:26:52.720
you're already spiritually guilty. I mean, the same thing is, man,

485
00:26:53.599 --> 00:26:55.640
if I commit this one thing, I can make all

486
00:26:55.680 --> 00:26:58.279
my problems go away. Okay, I'm not going to do it,

487
00:26:58.480 --> 00:27:00.759
But if you're doing it in your mind, if you're

488
00:27:00.759 --> 00:27:03.640
desiring it thinking about it, then you may already be

489
00:27:03.720 --> 00:27:05.759
guilty of it even if you never commit the act.

490
00:27:05.920 --> 00:27:09.839
So then maybe theologically you you you're still guilty of it.

491
00:27:09.960 --> 00:27:12.279
You just don't get the benefit of removing the suffering

492
00:27:12.319 --> 00:27:17.799
and the pain. That is even more confusing. Hey, if

493
00:27:17.880 --> 00:27:20.400
I commit this act, I can make all my problems

494
00:27:20.440 --> 00:27:22.279
go away, all right, But I'm not going to do it.

495
00:27:22.440 --> 00:27:25.000
But you're thinking about it, and so you've already committed

496
00:27:25.079 --> 00:27:27.480
in your brain. So even though you don't commit the act,

497
00:27:27.599 --> 00:27:29.599
you're gonna get all the suffering, but you also are

498
00:27:29.640 --> 00:27:31.640
gonna get the guilt because you've already committed it in

499
00:27:31.680 --> 00:27:34.880
your mind. All Christianity can be maddening trying to figure

500
00:27:34.920 --> 00:27:39.559
out sometimes I think I think we probably have an

501
00:27:39.559 --> 00:27:42.319
idea what David could do here to end his problem

502
00:27:42.359 --> 00:27:45.759
with suffering. If the problem in suffering is being caused

503
00:27:45.799 --> 00:27:48.200
by Saul, who's hunting him down trying to kill him,

504
00:27:48.359 --> 00:27:50.640
then obviously David's about to fix it. Find himself in

505
00:27:50.640 --> 00:27:55.359
a situation where he could just kill Saul and all

506
00:27:55.359 --> 00:27:58.759
of his problems and sufferings would go away. Now even

507
00:27:58.799 --> 00:28:01.039
though David didn't kill Sault, well, he does have someone

508
00:28:01.039 --> 00:28:04.799
else killed, right, I mean we could go I mean,

509
00:28:04.799 --> 00:28:07.839
there's a lot of things David does wrong, but now

510
00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:09.680
we don't know what's in David's heart, right, so we

511
00:28:09.680 --> 00:28:11.720
could say that maybe David's heart was right. I mean,

512
00:28:11.799 --> 00:28:14.319
we know it's not pure, because our heart is desperately

513
00:28:14.319 --> 00:28:16.839
wicked and deceitful above all things. But just think about

514
00:28:16.880 --> 00:28:21.759
this from a pragmatic perspective. If this story is about

515
00:28:21.839 --> 00:28:24.400
David having a chance to kill Saul and he doesn't

516
00:28:25.400 --> 00:28:27.440
and he still has to deal with the pain and

517
00:28:27.480 --> 00:28:32.240
the suffering, he could still be guilty of killing Saul internally,

518
00:28:32.839 --> 00:28:36.200
so philologically he would still be guilty. Just practically he

519
00:28:36.200 --> 00:28:38.640
doesn't get the benefits from doing it. Do you see how,

520
00:28:43.079 --> 00:28:46.039
oh man, my head hurts. My head hurts trying to

521
00:28:46.039 --> 00:28:51.000
figure that out. That is a com oh man. I

522
00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:54.079
feel like I'm in philosophy class and we're dealing with

523
00:28:54.400 --> 00:29:01.160
ethics and morality and how morality can be very relativistic,

524
00:29:01.319 --> 00:29:06.039
in very contradictory, and I mean where we're getting into

525
00:29:06.079 --> 00:29:08.839
some really complicated issues here. Let's see how he handles it.

526
00:29:08.839 --> 00:29:10.319
I think what he's getting ready to do is just

527
00:29:10.359 --> 00:29:12.799
read a good portion of this chapter. So what we

528
00:29:12.839 --> 00:29:14.759
will say. I'll try not to interrupt the reading of it.

529
00:29:16.759 --> 00:29:20.240
So I'm going to read first Samuel twenty six. You

530
00:29:20.279 --> 00:29:22.079
can follow along with me as i read, or you

531
00:29:22.119 --> 00:29:25.279
can just listen, and then we will pray and then

532
00:29:25.319 --> 00:29:31.279
consider this text together. First Samuel, chapter twenty six. This

533
00:29:31.440 --> 00:29:36.759
is God's word. Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibea, saying,

534
00:29:37.640 --> 00:29:41.359
is not David hiding himself on the hill of Hoki Law,

535
00:29:41.839 --> 00:29:45.519
which is on the east of Joshmone. So Saul arose

536
00:29:45.599 --> 00:29:48.119
and went down to the wilderness of Zif with three

537
00:29:48.119 --> 00:29:51.359
thousand chosen men of Israel to seek David in the

538
00:29:51.359 --> 00:29:54.839
wilderness of Zif, and Saul encamped on the hill of

539
00:29:54.880 --> 00:29:57.680
hockey Law, which is beside the road on the east

540
00:29:57.680 --> 00:30:02.519
of Joshimone. But David remained in the wilderness. When he

541
00:30:02.599 --> 00:30:05.200
saw that Saul had come after him. In the wilderness,

542
00:30:05.559 --> 00:30:08.480
David sent out spies and learned that Saul had indeed come.

543
00:30:09.400 --> 00:30:12.160
Then David rose and came to the place where Saul

544
00:30:12.200 --> 00:30:16.000
had encamped. And David saw the place where Saul lay

545
00:30:16.640 --> 00:30:19.839
with Abner, the son of Naer, the commander of his army.

546
00:30:20.640 --> 00:30:24.160
Saul was lying within the encampment, while the army was

547
00:30:24.240 --> 00:30:29.200
encamped around him. Then David said to a Himelech the Hittite,

548
00:30:29.599 --> 00:30:33.680
and to Joab's brother Abashi, the son of Zuriah, who

549
00:30:33.720 --> 00:30:36.440
will go down with me into the camp to Saul.

550
00:30:37.200 --> 00:30:40.279
And Abeshi said, I will go down with you. So

551
00:30:40.480 --> 00:30:44.440
David and Abashi went to the army by night, and

552
00:30:44.599 --> 00:30:48.640
there lay Saul sleeping within the encampment with his spear

553
00:30:48.839 --> 00:30:52.440
stuck in the ground at his head, and Abner and

554
00:30:52.480 --> 00:30:56.599
the army lay around him. Then Abeshi said to David,

555
00:30:56.960 --> 00:31:00.720
God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now,

556
00:31:00.759 --> 00:31:03.400
please let me pin him to the earth with one

557
00:31:03.480 --> 00:31:07.519
stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice.

558
00:31:07.680 --> 00:31:11.519
But David said to Abshi, do not destroy him. For

559
00:31:11.680 --> 00:31:14.720
who can put out his hand against the Lord's anointed

560
00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.039
and be guiltless. And David said, as the Lord lives,

561
00:31:19.440 --> 00:31:22.519
the Lord will strike him, or his day will come

562
00:31:22.559 --> 00:31:26.200
to die, or he will go down into battle and perish.

563
00:31:26.640 --> 00:31:29.279
The Lord forbid that I should put out my hand

564
00:31:29.440 --> 00:31:32.839
against the Lord's anointed. But take now the spear that

565
00:31:32.920 --> 00:31:35.359
is at his head and the jar of water, and

566
00:31:35.440 --> 00:31:39.160
let us go. So David took the spear and the

567
00:31:39.240 --> 00:31:41.920
jar of water from Saul's head, and they went away.

568
00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:46.240
No man saw it or knew it, nor did any awake,

569
00:31:46.519 --> 00:31:50.079
for they were all asleep because a deep sleep from

570
00:31:50.119 --> 00:31:54.759
the Lord had fallen upon them. Then David went over

571
00:31:54.839 --> 00:31:57.720
to the other side and stood far off on the

572
00:31:57.759 --> 00:32:01.160
top of the hill, with a great space between them.

573
00:32:01.319 --> 00:32:03.880
And David called to the army and to Abner, the

574
00:32:03.880 --> 00:32:08.000
son of Nair, saying, will you not answer Abner? Then

575
00:32:08.079 --> 00:32:11.319
Abner answered, who are you who calls to the king?

576
00:32:12.160 --> 00:32:15.000
And David said to Abner, are you not a man

577
00:32:15.400 --> 00:32:18.079
who is like you in Israel? Why then, have you

578
00:32:18.119 --> 00:32:21.279
not kept watch over your lord the king? For one

579
00:32:21.319 --> 00:32:23.839
of the people came in to destroy the king of

580
00:32:23.880 --> 00:32:27.000
your lord. This thing that you have done is not good,

581
00:32:27.400 --> 00:32:30.119
as the Lord lives. You deserve to die because you

582
00:32:30.200 --> 00:32:33.759
have not kept watch over your lord, the Lord's anointed.

583
00:32:34.480 --> 00:32:38.160
And now see where the king's spear is and the

584
00:32:38.279 --> 00:32:42.559
jar of water that was at his head. Saul recognized

585
00:32:42.640 --> 00:32:46.880
David's voice and said, is this your voice, my son, David?

586
00:32:47.440 --> 00:32:50.559
And David said, it is my voice, my lord, o King.

587
00:32:51.480 --> 00:32:54.160
And he said, why does my lord pursue after his

588
00:32:54.279 --> 00:32:57.599
servant for what have I done? What evil is on

589
00:32:57.680 --> 00:33:01.799
my hands? Now? For let therefore let the Lord the

590
00:33:01.880 --> 00:33:04.920
King hear the words of his servant. If it is

591
00:33:04.960 --> 00:33:08.119
the Lord who has stirred you up against me, may

592
00:33:08.119 --> 00:33:11.039
he accept an offering. But if it is men, may

593
00:33:11.039 --> 00:33:13.720
they be cursed before the Lord. For they have driven

594
00:33:13.759 --> 00:33:15.799
me out this day that I should have no share

595
00:33:15.839 --> 00:33:21.119
in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, go serve other gods. Now, therefore,

596
00:33:21.240 --> 00:33:23.880
let not my blood fall to earth, away from the

597
00:33:23.920 --> 00:33:26.680
presence of the Lord. For the King of Israel has

598
00:33:26.720 --> 00:33:29.680
come out to seek a single flea, like one who

599
00:33:29.720 --> 00:33:34.440
hunts a partridge in the mountains. Then Saul said, I

600
00:33:34.599 --> 00:33:38.119
have sinned. Return my son David, for I will no

601
00:33:38.200 --> 00:33:41.519
more do you harm, because my life was precious in

602
00:33:41.559 --> 00:33:45.359
your eyes this day. Behold, I have acted foolishly and

603
00:33:45.440 --> 00:33:49.200
have made a great mistake. And David answered and said,

604
00:33:49.960 --> 00:33:53.240
here is the spear, o King. Let one of the

605
00:33:53.319 --> 00:33:57.240
young men come over and take it. The Lord rewards

606
00:33:57.279 --> 00:34:00.920
every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness. For the

607
00:34:00.960 --> 00:34:04.039
Lord gave you into my hand today, and I would

608
00:34:04.079 --> 00:34:08.079
not put out my hand against the Lord's anointed. Behold,

609
00:34:08.599 --> 00:34:11.519
as your life was precious this day and my sight.

610
00:34:12.280 --> 00:34:14.880
So may my life be precious in the sight of

611
00:34:14.920 --> 00:34:18.880
the Lord, and may he deliver me out of all tribulation.

612
00:34:20.079 --> 00:34:24.599
Then Saul said to David, blessed be you, my son, David.

613
00:34:24.719 --> 00:34:27.960
You will do many things and will succeed in them.

614
00:34:28.280 --> 00:34:31.679
So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place.

615
00:34:32.679 --> 00:34:35.320
This is God's word, and it's given for our good.

616
00:34:36.639 --> 00:34:39.199
Let's pray and ask us help as we consider it

617
00:34:39.239 --> 00:34:45.400
this morning, Our Father in heaven, will you help us

618
00:34:45.519 --> 00:34:49.280
as we come to your word? Will you take away

619
00:34:49.320 --> 00:34:53.159
any blinders that may be over our eyes? Will you

620
00:34:53.280 --> 00:34:57.800
unstop our ears to hear your truth? Will you lift

621
00:34:57.840 --> 00:35:02.000
our gaze to our Lord gi and the wonderful salvation

622
00:35:02.119 --> 00:35:05.679
and deliverance we have in him. Will you humble us

623
00:35:05.719 --> 00:35:09.239
with your grace? Will you strengthen us in your weakness.

624
00:35:09.679 --> 00:35:13.320
Will you break us down in our pride and restore

625
00:35:13.400 --> 00:35:16.079
us and make us more like our savior. It's in

626
00:35:16.119 --> 00:35:17.800
his name we pray. Amen.

627
00:35:19.719 --> 00:35:25.159
Okay, there's the hot chapter. Wow, Oh man, I've got

628
00:35:25.239 --> 00:35:27.760
so many I've already raised a lot of questions about

629
00:35:28.119 --> 00:35:29.679
the way he set this up. Hey, what are you

630
00:35:29.719 --> 00:35:31.559
going to do with the spear? What if there was

631
00:35:32.079 --> 00:35:33.679
one sin you could commit to make all of your

632
00:35:33.719 --> 00:35:35.400
problems go away? Would you do that? And I already

633
00:35:35.400 --> 00:35:37.880
talked about all of the kind of the issues with

634
00:35:37.960 --> 00:35:42.920
that whole even question. But man, did anything jump out

635
00:35:42.960 --> 00:35:47.360
at you in this text? You know what jumped out

636
00:35:47.360 --> 00:35:54.360
at me? First Samuel, twenty six This is crazy, verse twelve.

637
00:35:54.440 --> 00:35:57.800
First Samuel, Chapter twenty six, Verse twelve. So David took

638
00:35:57.920 --> 00:36:00.360
the spear and the jug of water by Saul's head,

639
00:36:00.679 --> 00:36:03.159
and they got away, and no man saw or knew

640
00:36:03.239 --> 00:36:06.920
it or awoke, for they were all asleep because a

641
00:36:07.039 --> 00:36:12.119
deep sleep from the Lord had fallen on them. No,

642
00:36:12.159 --> 00:36:15.599
wait a minute, Wait a minute. So God intervenes in

643
00:36:15.639 --> 00:36:18.920
this situation to make them all fall asleep. Couldn't God

644
00:36:18.920 --> 00:36:23.920
have intervened in this long drawn out drama. We're Saul

645
00:36:24.119 --> 00:36:26.239
trying to kill him, and all of the things that

646
00:36:26.280 --> 00:36:28.800
go we all I mean, you just go read everything

647
00:36:28.840 --> 00:36:31.719
that happens. People died, There's all kinds of things that

648
00:36:31.760 --> 00:36:34.239
happened in the story. So God intervenes to make them

649
00:36:34.280 --> 00:36:37.440
all sleep, But he doesn't intervene to stop these people

650
00:36:37.480 --> 00:36:39.679
from being killed, or this from happening, or from this

651
00:36:39.719 --> 00:36:45.159
from happening that is the most just melts my brain.

652
00:36:45.599 --> 00:36:47.559
The concept in it, like, wait a minute, wit So,

653
00:36:47.639 --> 00:36:50.519
God can intervene at any time, but he doesn't intervene

654
00:36:50.519 --> 00:36:53.360
here to spare these people's lives. He doesn't intervene here.

655
00:36:53.480 --> 00:36:55.800
He doesn't He could have fixed He could have. He

656
00:36:55.840 --> 00:36:59.719
could have just intervened, changed Saul's heart and fixed the

657
00:36:59.719 --> 00:37:01.920
whole probably. I mean, there's a million things they could

658
00:37:01.920 --> 00:37:07.000
have done. So then what would we have to what

659
00:37:07.239 --> 00:37:08.199
would we take from this?

660
00:37:08.440 --> 00:37:08.599
Then?

661
00:37:08.719 --> 00:37:14.719
Everything that happened, the craziness, the death, the destruction, everything

662
00:37:14.760 --> 00:37:18.960
that happened. God was clearly then organizing orchestrating it. And

663
00:37:19.360 --> 00:37:21.440
because i mean here he intervened just to make everyone

664
00:37:21.480 --> 00:37:23.920
go to sleep. I mean, doesn't that not bother you?

665
00:37:23.960 --> 00:37:25.480
Doesn't that not jump out of you? Going win him

666
00:37:25.480 --> 00:37:28.239
at witnam at wit him. If God can intervene here

667
00:37:28.440 --> 00:37:34.159
in this situation, I say say, keep everyone asleep now,

668
00:37:34.280 --> 00:37:37.280
he said. But the story ends with Saul saying I'm

669
00:37:37.280 --> 00:37:40.519
not gonna harm you anymore. And I'm sorry, Dasaul do

670
00:37:40.639 --> 00:37:44.800
anything else. I'm just asking you the question. Now, let's

671
00:37:44.800 --> 00:37:47.079
see how he handles this. But I've already pointed out

672
00:37:47.079 --> 00:37:51.239
some major struggles I would have with this story. Let's

673
00:37:51.239 --> 00:37:54.920
see what he does with the story.

674
00:37:55.639 --> 00:37:58.199
Well, as we consider our text this morning, we'll do

675
00:37:58.320 --> 00:38:02.400
so with three points and the relatively simple I think

676
00:38:02.480 --> 00:38:08.360
it's David's temptation, then David's response, and then Jesus response.

677
00:38:08.760 --> 00:38:12.960
So look at David's temptation, David's response, and then we'll

678
00:38:13.000 --> 00:38:17.920
consider together Jesus' response. So, first of all, let's notice

679
00:38:18.000 --> 00:38:23.360
David's temptation in this story. The people of Ziff, the

680
00:38:23.480 --> 00:38:27.400
Ziff Fights, they're not our favorite people in for Samuel.

681
00:38:27.760 --> 00:38:31.440
They've betrayed David before, back in chapter twenty three, they

682
00:38:31.559 --> 00:38:35.360
sold him out and saw Saul came down hunting after David,

683
00:38:35.440 --> 00:38:39.000
and here they are at it again. This time they

684
00:38:39.079 --> 00:38:41.639
go find Saul and they let him know they know

685
00:38:41.840 --> 00:38:45.400
David's location, and again even though Saul had said he

686
00:38:45.559 --> 00:38:49.079
was sorry, he takes three thousand of his choicest soldiers

687
00:38:49.400 --> 00:38:52.880
and he goes out against David's six hundred men and

688
00:38:52.920 --> 00:38:57.000
they encamp on the hill. But David also has scouts,

689
00:38:57.559 --> 00:39:01.480
and those scouts lay out saw location, and then David

690
00:39:01.559 --> 00:39:04.360
himself goes in and scouts it out. We don't get

691
00:39:04.400 --> 00:39:06.880
many details of all of this, but what he comes

692
00:39:06.920 --> 00:39:09.400
to find out is that Saul is at the center

693
00:39:09.920 --> 00:39:13.239
with three thousand people around him, and he's there with

694
00:39:13.280 --> 00:39:18.000
his cousin Abner, who's the commander of his army. And then,

695
00:39:18.280 --> 00:39:21.440
in this way that reminds us of Jonathan taking his

696
00:39:21.599 --> 00:39:24.840
armor bearer and going up on the hill against the Philistines,

697
00:39:25.280 --> 00:39:28.800
David takes one man with him. He takes Abashi, who's

698
00:39:28.840 --> 00:39:32.480
his nephew, and they sneak into the camp at night,

699
00:39:33.920 --> 00:39:36.840
and they as they make their way through the camp,

700
00:39:37.679 --> 00:39:40.079
which would have taken so long, like I'd love I

701
00:39:40.119 --> 00:39:42.519
can't wait to see the movie of this someday, Like

702
00:39:42.599 --> 00:39:47.079
how David and Abathar work their way through all these

703
00:39:47.159 --> 00:39:52.280
sleeping soldiers, but they come across this amazing providence.

704
00:39:55.280 --> 00:39:57.880
I don't know if it would be that dramatic to

705
00:39:57.960 --> 00:40:01.360
watch God put a deep sleep on all of them.

706
00:40:01.760 --> 00:40:04.159
So maybe they were sneaking around, but there would have

707
00:40:04.199 --> 00:40:06.119
been no reason to sneaking around because they weren't gonna

708
00:40:06.119 --> 00:40:08.480
wake up because they were supernaturally put to sleep. And

709
00:40:08.960 --> 00:40:13.119
I did just double check. It doesn't appear after first

710
00:40:13.159 --> 00:40:17.719
Samuel twenty six, It doesn't appear Saul makes any more

711
00:40:17.760 --> 00:40:22.679
direct attempts upon it doesn't appear after first Samuel twenty

712
00:40:22.719 --> 00:40:26.239
six that Saul makes any more direct attempts to kill David.

713
00:40:27.159 --> 00:40:31.639
So his problem in a sense is solved not by

714
00:40:31.920 --> 00:40:36.519
using the spear, but by not using the spear. All right, So,

715
00:40:36.519 --> 00:40:40.920
so in reality, his opening question was, what if you

716
00:40:40.920 --> 00:40:43.519
could commit a sin and make all of your problems

717
00:40:43.559 --> 00:40:46.760
go away? Well, it seems the story is what if

718
00:40:46.800 --> 00:40:50.920
you couldn't? What if you could not sin, it would

719
00:40:51.000 --> 00:40:53.679
make all your problems go away? Right? Not not whether

720
00:40:54.119 --> 00:40:56.559
could you sin and make all your problems go away?

721
00:40:56.559 --> 00:40:59.039
Would you do it? Well, in this particular case, if

722
00:40:59.039 --> 00:41:00.639
you would have killed Saul, that would have made all

723
00:41:00.639 --> 00:41:03.320
of his problems go away. I don't know. Well, by

724
00:41:03.360 --> 00:41:05.400
not killing Saul it seems to make some of his

725
00:41:05.440 --> 00:41:08.480
problems go Yeah. If I don't know if this works,

726
00:41:08.599 --> 00:41:12.000
Let's see how he builds this. His initial question was,

727
00:41:12.199 --> 00:41:13.960
what if there was a sin you could commit to

728
00:41:13.960 --> 00:41:16.519
make all your problems go away? And my thing is,

729
00:41:16.559 --> 00:41:18.599
even if I don't commit the sin, I'm already in sin,

730
00:41:18.840 --> 00:41:21.000
so that that whole thing kind of falls apart. But

731
00:41:21.199 --> 00:41:24.480
it looks like what happened David doesn't commit the quote

732
00:41:24.559 --> 00:41:27.599
unquote sin, and well, at least the problem goes away.

733
00:41:28.079 --> 00:41:30.320
So then is the then do we take this? If

734
00:41:30.320 --> 00:41:32.639
we don't commit sin, all of our problems go away?

735
00:41:32.840 --> 00:41:35.079
You see how the logical You see, here's the problem.

736
00:41:35.119 --> 00:41:38.639
When you take these stories and start applying them, you

737
00:41:38.679 --> 00:41:40.920
see where you can Hey, is this what you tell

738
00:41:40.960 --> 00:41:43.559
the church? If you will just not commit the sin

739
00:41:43.880 --> 00:41:47.360
to make your problems go away, your problems will go away?

740
00:41:47.599 --> 00:41:50.480
Because well, if you obey, God will make all of

741
00:41:50.519 --> 00:41:53.599
your problems go away. The thing is, can we I

742
00:41:53.599 --> 00:41:56.880
don't know? Let's see what he does.

743
00:41:58.599 --> 00:42:02.360
Saul and Abner are there, and instead of doing what

744
00:42:02.440 --> 00:42:05.440
soldiers should typically do, keeping watch throughout the night to

745
00:42:05.480 --> 00:42:08.360
make sure your king and commander of your army are fine,

746
00:42:09.079 --> 00:42:13.519
they are sound asleep. And not only that, Saul's spear

747
00:42:14.480 --> 00:42:20.760
is right there by his head, and Abishai whisperingly exclaims,

748
00:42:21.320 --> 00:42:25.320
God has given your enemy into your hand this day.

749
00:42:26.639 --> 00:42:31.119
And the text tells us that abishi is right. Even

750
00:42:31.159 --> 00:42:34.760
though you know, when we think back to Saul coming

751
00:42:34.800 --> 00:42:37.679
into the cave and David sparing his life, we know

752
00:42:38.400 --> 00:42:42.480
that God sovereignly ordained Saul to come into that cave. Well,

753
00:42:42.480 --> 00:42:45.239
when we come to this text, though, it makes it

754
00:42:45.400 --> 00:42:49.519
explicit for us that God's providential hand was behind this

755
00:42:49.679 --> 00:42:53.079
whole thing. Verse twelve says no man saw it or

756
00:42:53.159 --> 00:42:55.960
knew it, nor did any awake, for they were all

757
00:42:56.000 --> 00:43:00.880
asleep because a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen

758
00:43:00.960 --> 00:43:04.559
upon them. A deep sleep like what came over Adam

759
00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.280
and Abraham, falls upon these men. The bottom line is this,

760
00:43:09.880 --> 00:43:14.599
God made it happen. David was able to find Saul.

761
00:43:14.920 --> 00:43:17.840
David was able to get to Saul without being noticed

762
00:43:18.519 --> 00:43:21.039
because God had given him into his hand.

763
00:43:23.440 --> 00:43:28.559
Now, this this is where I would struggle, right, this

764
00:43:28.800 --> 00:43:32.440
is where I would struggle because if God is the

765
00:43:32.480 --> 00:43:35.760
one directing all of this, then what all about all

766
00:43:35.760 --> 00:43:39.199
the situations where things went wrong. I'm gonna I'm just

767
00:43:39.239 --> 00:43:40.719
gonna I'm just gonna look see if I can find

768
00:43:40.719 --> 00:43:42.280
a number here. I'm gonna look something up.

769
00:43:42.960 --> 00:43:53.039
How many is he? How many people died and Sauls

770
00:43:56.039 --> 00:44:03.960
campaign against David?

771
00:44:06.800 --> 00:44:10.400
Okay, the Bible does not provide an exact number of

772
00:44:10.400 --> 00:44:13.280
people who died during Sal's campaign against David. However, it

773
00:44:13.280 --> 00:44:16.000
does mention several violent episodes that occurred as a result

774
00:44:16.000 --> 00:44:19.519
of Saul's obsessive pursuit of David. We have the massacre

775
00:44:19.679 --> 00:44:23.039
at Knob for Samuel twenty two eighteen through nineteen, and

776
00:44:23.119 --> 00:44:26.000
a particular brutal episode, Saul ordered the slaughter of the

777
00:44:26.039 --> 00:44:31.159
priest of Nob because they had unknowingly helped David doag.

778
00:44:31.280 --> 00:44:34.280
The Itamite carried out the order, killing eighty five priests

779
00:44:34.280 --> 00:44:36.760
who wore the linen he fought. Additionally, the entire town

780
00:44:36.760 --> 00:44:41.079
of Knob was destroyed, including men, women, children, infants, and animals.

781
00:44:41.679 --> 00:44:44.400
So all of these people are slaughtered. God steps in

782
00:44:44.440 --> 00:44:47.199
here to make everyone fall asleep, but it does not

783
00:44:47.360 --> 00:44:50.079
step in to save any of the people, even babies

784
00:44:50.119 --> 00:44:54.679
being slaughtered. You see where philosophically, these are things you

785
00:44:54.800 --> 00:44:59.039
have to struggle with when dealing with the text. Casualties

786
00:44:59.039 --> 00:45:03.760
and skirmishes. While sauls pursued David with his army in

787
00:45:03.800 --> 00:45:06.360
the wilderness of Zif and the desert of Maeon, there

788
00:45:06.360 --> 00:45:09.159
were likely deaths during these encounters, so the Bible does

789
00:45:09.199 --> 00:45:13.760
not record specific numbers. Saw mobilized significant military resources in

790
00:45:13.800 --> 00:45:17.239
these campaigns, suggesting some degree of conflict, but these engagements

791
00:45:17.239 --> 00:45:21.880
often ended without major battles because David evaded capture. Other

792
00:45:21.960 --> 00:45:25.400
consequences of Saul's obsession. While not directly attributed to Saul's campaign,

793
00:45:25.639 --> 00:45:28.519
his focus on pursuing David weakened Israel's ability to defend

794
00:45:28.519 --> 00:45:32.880
itself and directly contributing to losses and other conflicts, conflicts

795
00:45:32.880 --> 00:45:36.960
such as against the Philistines. So the point is, people die,

796
00:45:37.000 --> 00:45:40.400
we know, at a minimum, eighty five priests die at

797
00:45:40.440 --> 00:45:45.440
a minimum, and an entire town is destroyed, men, women, children, babies,

798
00:45:45.679 --> 00:45:53.039
and animals. Hey, but God sovereignly stepped in and made

799
00:45:53.039 --> 00:45:57.360
these people fall asleep. Didn't bother to sovereignly step in?

800
00:45:57.480 --> 00:46:02.599
You see where that? I know that makes Christians uncomfortable

801
00:46:02.599 --> 00:46:05.199
with me, But it's something we have to deal.

802
00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:08.440
With, right. See.

803
00:46:08.519 --> 00:46:12.559
God's sovereignty is a wonderful concept when it all works

804
00:46:12.599 --> 00:46:16.199
out in a beautiful way and it ends like a

805
00:46:16.239 --> 00:46:19.719
Disney movie and they lived happy, happily ever after and

806
00:46:19.760 --> 00:46:24.239
they rode off into the sunset. Oh, God's sovereignty is wonderful.

807
00:46:24.360 --> 00:46:27.599
When an entire town is burning and everyone's dead, it's

808
00:46:27.679 --> 00:46:34.960
not so oh God's sovereignty in this particular case, because God,

809
00:46:35.079 --> 00:46:43.800
God could have he intervened here. I mean, does that ever?

810
00:46:44.079 --> 00:46:45.760
Does I mean? Does that? I mean just from a

811
00:46:46.519 --> 00:46:50.360
not forget a theological perspective, just from a normal person

812
00:46:50.440 --> 00:46:53.119
who reads. When you read the Bible, like man, God

813
00:46:53.199 --> 00:46:56.679
intervened here, What an amazing thing. And then later on

814
00:46:56.760 --> 00:46:59.800
you'll be like, these people are all dying. Where's God?

815
00:47:01.400 --> 00:47:02.840
These people are? Where's God?

816
00:47:04.639 --> 00:47:05.000
Where?

817
00:47:05.039 --> 00:47:08.280
And then you know, fifteen chapters later, God intervenes in

818
00:47:08.320 --> 00:47:15.280
some miraculous way.

819
00:47:15.440 --> 00:47:20.920
But the major question in this narrative is this, what

820
00:47:21.280 --> 00:47:25.760
is David going to do with the spear? What is

821
00:47:25.800 --> 00:47:28.639
he gonna do with the spear? The spears mentioned six

822
00:47:28.760 --> 00:47:31.760
times in this narrative account. It's really the center of

823
00:47:31.800 --> 00:47:37.119
what's going on. An abashi. He knows what David should do,

824
00:47:37.119 --> 00:47:41.039
doesn't he? I love this now, please, And what's crazy

825
00:47:41.039 --> 00:47:43.760
to me about this is they're like whispering it probably

826
00:47:44.280 --> 00:47:46.760
and they're having this conversation. Now. Please let me pin

827
00:47:46.880 --> 00:47:49.199
him to the earth with one stroke of the spear.

828
00:47:49.440 --> 00:47:53.079
Don't worry, Saul may have missed. I'm not gonna miss

829
00:47:53.360 --> 00:47:56.239
I won't have to strike him twice. This will all

830
00:47:56.400 --> 00:48:00.639
be done. And notice what he's holding out to David

831
00:48:00.760 --> 00:48:06.199
in this He's saying, David, use the spear to solve

832
00:48:06.559 --> 00:48:11.519
your problems. Saul is your enemy. He keeps making your

833
00:48:11.519 --> 00:48:17.199
life miserable. Look, David, God has given him into your hand.

834
00:48:17.599 --> 00:48:23.199
Let's end this thing. And David, think about how poetic

835
00:48:23.280 --> 00:48:27.519
this is. Think about the justice of this. This is

836
00:48:27.559 --> 00:48:31.119
the same spear that Saul has used to throw at

837
00:48:31.159 --> 00:48:33.480
you and try and kill you, and to throw at

838
00:48:33.559 --> 00:48:40.280
Jonathan to try and kill him. But now that spear

839
00:48:40.760 --> 00:48:45.679
is right here, and he knows, probably from the incident

840
00:48:45.719 --> 00:48:49.239
that took place in the cave, that David doesn't want

841
00:48:49.239 --> 00:48:53.239
to be the one to kill Saul. And maybe Abashi

842
00:48:53.360 --> 00:48:56.199
thinks that David has a sensitive conscience or something. I

843
00:48:56.519 --> 00:48:59.639
don't know what he really thinks about it, but notice

844
00:48:59.639 --> 00:49:03.159
what he'sa says, David, you don't even have to be

845
00:49:03.199 --> 00:49:05.719
the one to kill him. You don't have to lift

846
00:49:05.800 --> 00:49:08.519
up your hand against Saul. The Lord brought us here

847
00:49:09.239 --> 00:49:11.800
so I could do it for you, and I'm a

848
00:49:11.840 --> 00:49:14.960
really good shot, and so it's all going to work out.

849
00:49:16.000 --> 00:49:18.719
And so what we see in this narrative is that

850
00:49:18.760 --> 00:49:23.119
there's a way to look at the situation where the

851
00:49:23.159 --> 00:49:29.719
spear is there as the solution to David's problems. And

852
00:49:29.800 --> 00:49:33.159
before we move on to think about David's response and

853
00:49:33.400 --> 00:49:37.320
what he amazingly does. I think it's good to pause

854
00:49:37.519 --> 00:49:41.440
and consider the temptation that he faced and how we

855
00:49:41.519 --> 00:49:46.159
ourselves might face that as well. Do you ever feel

856
00:49:46.159 --> 00:49:49.559
this way that you're back to the same old story.

857
00:49:50.480 --> 00:49:55.039
The situation hasn't changed. The same people are making your

858
00:49:55.039 --> 00:50:00.119
life miserable Again. It's not Saul in the Zephites. But

859
00:50:00.159 --> 00:50:03.960
maybe it's that coworker who's always stepping on you and

860
00:50:04.039 --> 00:50:07.400
trying to get ahead. Maybe it's the other kid who's

861
00:50:07.400 --> 00:50:11.760
always teasing you, who never includes you. Maybe it's that

862
00:50:11.840 --> 00:50:15.199
person who, no matter what good you seek to do

863
00:50:15.320 --> 00:50:19.599
to them, just seems to delight in making your life miserable.

864
00:50:21.119 --> 00:50:24.039
And maybe it's not about the people in your situation.

865
00:50:24.119 --> 00:50:29.400
Maybe it's the same exhausting situation that's tiring you out.

866
00:50:30.159 --> 00:50:32.440
You know, you've tried everything, but no matter what you do,

867
00:50:32.559 --> 00:50:36.440
you can't get ahead financially, You just can't make ends meet.

868
00:50:37.039 --> 00:50:41.000
Maybe you've fought against a certain sin for years, but

869
00:50:41.119 --> 00:50:44.039
now it feels like it's just more intense than ever.

870
00:50:45.360 --> 00:50:48.880
No matter what you do, it feels like the trials

871
00:50:49.039 --> 00:50:53.119
just keep coming, and not only just keep coming, they're

872
00:50:53.159 --> 00:50:58.800
getting worse. And like David in the cave. You've tried

873
00:50:58.840 --> 00:51:03.480
the right way, You've tried doing the good things, but

874
00:51:03.599 --> 00:51:06.440
what good did that really do? I mean, David's sitting

875
00:51:06.440 --> 00:51:08.800
here and he's saying so I even cried about everything

876
00:51:08.840 --> 00:51:12.320
for goodness sakes, and yet here we are again. I

877
00:51:12.679 --> 00:51:17.920
just can't keep going on like this. Something has to change,

878
00:51:18.039 --> 00:51:22.960
And then in our lives the Lord brings this amazing providence.

879
00:51:24.159 --> 00:51:29.599
There it is that spear that could change everything. You

880
00:51:29.679 --> 00:51:33.679
find a weakness in your coworker that you could exploit

881
00:51:34.360 --> 00:51:37.880
or you could hold against them. You find out something

882
00:51:38.000 --> 00:51:41.280
super embarrassing about that kid who's always picking on you.

883
00:51:42.679 --> 00:51:45.800
There's that opportunity in a conflict to just say that

884
00:51:45.880 --> 00:51:50.039
truth that you've held back for so long. There's that

885
00:51:50.159 --> 00:51:52.559
detail that you could leave out of the tax form,

886
00:51:52.639 --> 00:51:56.159
or that situation that you could just not report and

887
00:51:56.280 --> 00:51:59.639
see what happens. And when you find yourself in that

888
00:51:59.679 --> 00:52:04.159
problem evidence so often there's an abashi right there reminding

889
00:52:04.199 --> 00:52:07.280
you you don't even have to do the thing that

890
00:52:07.320 --> 00:52:11.360
you think is wrong. Someone else can send the text,

891
00:52:12.000 --> 00:52:15.840
someone else can spread all that information. You don't have

892
00:52:15.920 --> 00:52:18.400
to grab the spear and go do the big sin.

893
00:52:19.360 --> 00:52:21.679
But you could just give into the smaller one that

894
00:52:21.800 --> 00:52:23.440
everyone else does.

895
00:52:25.840 --> 00:52:28.760
Now this is this is interesting. Now we can ask

896
00:52:28.800 --> 00:52:30.800
ourselves does all of this fit? I mean, does all

897
00:52:30.840 --> 00:52:34.320
of this apply? So basically, hey, you're facing a situation.

898
00:52:34.559 --> 00:52:38.239
There's the spear. You could use it. Now Again, philologically though,

899
00:52:38.559 --> 00:52:42.719
from a true understanding of the law, even if you

900
00:52:42.800 --> 00:52:45.440
don't pick up the spear, even if you tell everyone

901
00:52:45.599 --> 00:52:48.760
back out of the cave or let's let the let

902
00:52:48.800 --> 00:52:52.480
this sleep, we're not going to touch this. Nobody nobody's

903
00:52:52.480 --> 00:52:55.000
sending the text. Nobody is going to do this. No

904
00:52:55.000 --> 00:52:57.280
one's going to send in the text form. Nobody's going

905
00:52:57.320 --> 00:53:03.559
to do anything, and everyone walks away and goes home. Philologically, though,

906
00:53:03.920 --> 00:53:07.239
if you wanted to do it, if you desired to

907
00:53:07.280 --> 00:53:09.599
do it, if you've done it in your mind and heart,

908
00:53:09.920 --> 00:53:14.440
you're still guilty of it. That's the only problem with

909
00:53:14.519 --> 00:53:18.559
this story. This is making it making sin very just external. Hey,

910
00:53:18.800 --> 00:53:21.480
as long as you don't take the spear and boom

911
00:53:21.880 --> 00:53:25.400
do the thing, then you're good to go. But philologically,

912
00:53:25.599 --> 00:53:27.559
you don't even have to touch the spear. You don't

913
00:53:27.679 --> 00:53:30.480
have to. You just can think it, desire it, want it.

914
00:53:31.519 --> 00:53:35.159
Even if you walk away, you may already be guilty

915
00:53:35.280 --> 00:53:40.960
of it. That's the part that's being forgotten here. Now,

916
00:53:41.159 --> 00:53:46.599
there are practical benefits from not doing those things right.

917
00:53:46.679 --> 00:53:49.519
You can say it's additional sin, it's a different kind

918
00:53:49.559 --> 00:53:53.639
of sin. There may be other consequences that come from it.

919
00:53:54.719 --> 00:53:58.079
So I'm not denying that part that there there's always

920
00:53:58.119 --> 00:54:02.519
practical value. But from a philological perspective, this becomes very

921
00:54:02.679 --> 00:54:05.480
like is that the point of the story or is

922
00:54:05.519 --> 00:54:09.960
the point of the story more about what's the godly

923
00:54:10.079 --> 00:54:19.039
attitude towards governmental authority that's even ungodly right? Is that

924
00:54:19.119 --> 00:54:21.039
the point of the is the point of the story?

925
00:54:21.239 --> 00:54:24.239
David is like, Hey, God appointed this authority. It's not

926
00:54:24.400 --> 00:54:28.239
for me to do anything. Is this kind of more

927
00:54:28.360 --> 00:54:31.440
just Romans thirteen in action? Is it more about that?

928
00:54:31.639 --> 00:54:34.559
Or is it about oh, this difficulty and this difficulty

929
00:54:34.599 --> 00:54:37.880
and and is that a good application? Or is that going?

930
00:54:38.480 --> 00:54:41.760
Is that? I don't know, I don't know if it works.

931
00:54:46.039 --> 00:54:49.159
You don't have to lie, You just don't have to

932
00:54:49.159 --> 00:54:51.800
say all the truth. Just throw it out there with

933
00:54:51.840 --> 00:54:55.800
a little spin on it. See what happens. You don't

934
00:54:55.800 --> 00:54:59.400
have to hurt the other person. You could just not

935
00:54:59.599 --> 00:55:05.199
do the loving thing that would help them. You see, we,

936
00:55:05.519 --> 00:55:10.000
like David, so often find ourselves in these tempting situations

937
00:55:10.360 --> 00:55:13.960
where our hearts long to do the thing that would

938
00:55:13.960 --> 00:55:18.840
make the situation change, especially when we find ourselves in

939
00:55:18.840 --> 00:55:25.880
this ongoing wilderness running like David was facing. What do

940
00:55:25.920 --> 00:55:30.599
you do when the spear is right there and it

941
00:55:30.639 --> 00:55:34.760
seems like it will make all your troubles disappear? What

942
00:55:34.800 --> 00:55:38.519
are we supposed to think? How are we supposed to respond?

943
00:55:41.199 --> 00:55:44.760
Now, we'll stop right there. I don't know if I

944
00:55:44.760 --> 00:55:52.480
have a good answer about some of this. I don't

945
00:55:52.519 --> 00:56:00.199
know if I have a good answer exactly. How does

946
00:56:00.239 --> 00:56:00.679
this apply?

947
00:56:06.400 --> 00:56:07.679
What is? Oh?

948
00:56:07.800 --> 00:56:14.679
Yeah, I'll let you spend some time with it, all right.

949
00:56:14.880 --> 00:56:16.480
I think we're definitely going to have to come back

950
00:56:16.519 --> 00:56:20.159
to this. We need to spend some more time with it.

951
00:56:20.239 --> 00:56:22.800
But we'll stop now, just kind of leave it there

952
00:56:23.079 --> 00:56:26.800
for you to just all well, if you're like me,

953
00:56:26.840 --> 00:56:29.199
I'm going to be haunted by this question all night.

954
00:56:29.320 --> 00:56:30.440
I don't know if I'm going to come up with

955
00:56:30.480 --> 00:56:33.199
a good answer, But yeah, you can spend some time

956
00:56:33.239 --> 00:56:35.639
with it and see what you come up with. All right.

957
00:56:35.760 --> 00:56:39.159
For now, we'll just leave it there, all right, the spear,

958
00:56:40.400 --> 00:56:41.679
What would you do with it.

959
00:56:45.199 --> 00:56:45.519
All right.

960
00:56:45.519 --> 00:56:49.320
Thanks for listening everyone, have a great night. God bless