Dec. 5, 2024

The Spear Pt 2

The Spear Pt 2

We continue our review of a sermon on 1 Samuel 26

We continue our review of a sermon on 1 Samuel 26

WEBVTT

1
00:00:02.359 --> 00:00:05.160
Looking at our world from a theological perspective.

2
00:00:05.559 --> 00:00:09.960
This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central.

3
00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:17.440
Good morning everyone. It is Thursday, December fifth, twenty twenty four.

4
00:00:17.960 --> 00:00:21.960
It is currently nine thirty one am Central Time, and

5
00:00:22.039 --> 00:00:24.960
I am coming to you live from the Theology Central

6
00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:31.239
studio located right here in Abilene, Texas, and right.

7
00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:32.399
Now at this very moment.

8
00:00:32.439 --> 00:00:37.119
If I'm being fully transparent, I'm a little ticked off

9
00:00:37.240 --> 00:00:41.600
right now. Right If I could get my hands on

10
00:00:41.759 --> 00:00:46.920
someone right now, yeah, I probably wouldn't be very Christian.

11
00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:49.679
You see, there's a window right here behind me, right,

12
00:00:49.719 --> 00:00:52.439
And if I was to look out this window about

13
00:00:52.479 --> 00:00:56.920
half a block away from my house, about a half

14
00:00:56.960 --> 00:01:01.159
a block away from this studio, that's where the mail

15
00:01:01.240 --> 00:01:05.719
box is plural are located for everyone on this half

16
00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:10.359
of the housing development of the neighborhood. Okay, I don't

17
00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:11.920
know how many boxes there are there.

18
00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:16.439
I don't know one. I don't know, probably maybe nine,

19
00:01:16.719 --> 00:01:19.000
there may be nine there. And so what you do?

20
00:01:19.159 --> 00:01:22.079
You have a key, right, and so when you know

21
00:01:22.120 --> 00:01:24.200
the mail has been delivered, you leave your house, you

22
00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:26.200
walk about half a block down, You put the key

23
00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:27.840
in the little box, you take your mail out you

24
00:01:27.920 --> 00:01:31.599
lock the box. If there's a package, whether they'll put

25
00:01:31.599 --> 00:01:34.359
a key in your box. Right, They'll put a key

26
00:01:34.359 --> 00:01:36.280
in your box, and then you open up the big

27
00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:37.920
box and then you take out the package.

28
00:01:37.959 --> 00:01:38.200
Right.

29
00:01:38.280 --> 00:01:40.439
So that's where our mail is about half a block away.

30
00:01:40.599 --> 00:01:43.079
Probably many of you who live in a neighborhood or

31
00:01:43.120 --> 00:01:46.280
a housing development of some sort, you probably have something similar.

32
00:01:46.439 --> 00:01:49.239
You probably have seen this, right, So instead of having

33
00:01:49.239 --> 00:01:51.599
a mailbox right there on your at your house, it's

34
00:01:51.680 --> 00:01:54.319
just the mailman can just pull up there, open up

35
00:01:54.359 --> 00:01:56.159
all the boxes, put the mail right there. It doesn't

36
00:01:56.159 --> 00:01:57.920
have to go from house to house to house to house.

37
00:01:58.000 --> 00:01:59.760
I'm assuming it makes it easier on them.

38
00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:00.680
There you go.

39
00:02:00.920 --> 00:02:06.280
It's a nice system, I guess, right, well, it was

40
00:02:06.359 --> 00:02:09.879
a nice system. We don't know exactly which day. What

41
00:02:10.039 --> 00:02:12.159
happened is I went to check the mail yesterday. I

42
00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:15.439
opened up the box and I'm like, there is no

43
00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:21.039
mail in my box zero. Something's weird, something's wrong. That

44
00:02:21.159 --> 00:02:24.560
makes no sense, right, I know I haven't. I haven't

45
00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:25.199
checked it in.

46
00:02:25.159 --> 00:02:26.080
A couple of days.

47
00:02:26.439 --> 00:02:29.319
I know that there should be at least a new episode,

48
00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:32.120
a new episode, a new issue of the sort of

49
00:02:32.120 --> 00:02:35.240
the Lord newspaper because I subscribe to that. I think

50
00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:38.240
I'm a month behind. So where is that? There were

51
00:02:38.280 --> 00:02:40.759
some packages that we know we're supposed to have arrived,

52
00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:43.000
in fact said that it had been delivered.

53
00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:45.759
So there's nothing in our mailbox. What is going on?

54
00:02:46.039 --> 00:02:46.240
Right?

55
00:02:46.599 --> 00:02:48.599
So we call the post office.

56
00:02:48.240 --> 00:02:52.080
And they're like, well, until further notice, we're holding all

57
00:02:52.199 --> 00:02:55.719
mail at the post office because are you ready for this?

58
00:02:58.199 --> 00:03:03.960
Someone broke in and stole all the mail, all the mail, everything,

59
00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:05.680
Our packages are gone.

60
00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:08.039
Anything that we have, it's all been stolen. All of

61
00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:08.520
it's gone.

62
00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:15.039
Everything there has been stolen. So we have packages that

63
00:03:15.080 --> 00:03:17.919
are gone. I hope there's nothing else. I hope there's

64
00:03:17.960 --> 00:03:21.159
no like, you know, checks or anything that has bank

65
00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:23.719
account or any kind of information that someone could do

66
00:03:23.719 --> 00:03:29.680
something with. It's been completely stolen. And that is irritating.

67
00:03:30.120 --> 00:03:34.199
That is frustrating. Who knows what the long term consequences

68
00:03:34.240 --> 00:03:35.639
could be. We're gonna have to make sure we check

69
00:03:35.639 --> 00:03:37.520
our bank account and check this, and check this, make

70
00:03:37.560 --> 00:03:40.759
sure nobody got any information still, our identity, any.

71
00:03:40.599 --> 00:03:41.759
Of those kinds of things.

72
00:03:41.960 --> 00:03:44.840
Someone broke in and stole all the mail, ladies and gentlemen,

73
00:03:44.919 --> 00:03:47.560
all the ma and what makes it crazy. My next

74
00:03:47.639 --> 00:03:53.599
door neighbor is a county sheriff. His bronco is right there,

75
00:03:53.639 --> 00:03:57.159
is SUV right there, says you know, sheriff is right there,

76
00:03:57.199 --> 00:04:00.719
he's literally next door. Someone did that did and even

77
00:04:00.919 --> 00:04:02.919
they didn't even make someone go, well, wait a minute,

78
00:04:02.960 --> 00:04:06.159
there's a police officer. There's there's a law enforcement officer

79
00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:08.599
who lives right there. There's his vehicle. They didn't care.

80
00:04:08.840 --> 00:04:11.360
They broke in, stole everything.

81
00:04:12.759 --> 00:04:15.520
So all of our mail is gone. So now we

82
00:04:15.599 --> 00:04:17.600
have to try to figure out what to do. Do

83
00:04:17.720 --> 00:04:20.399
we get we had? I mean, yeah, it's going to

84
00:04:20.439 --> 00:04:20.800
be a man.

85
00:04:20.920 --> 00:04:24.519
So you talk about irritating, yes, talk about frustrating, yes.

86
00:04:27.800 --> 00:04:30.199
Now I bring all of that up because one, it's real.

87
00:04:30.279 --> 00:04:34.399
I just found out maybe fifteen minutes before going live

88
00:04:34.439 --> 00:04:36.839
on the air, So I just found it out. So

89
00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:38.519
I mean, I'm gonna be fully transparent.

90
00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:40.560
That's right now. I'm very angry, I'm.

91
00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:43.519
Very frustrated, but I'm gonna use it as a bigger illustration.

92
00:04:44.920 --> 00:04:45.680
I just want you to.

93
00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:49.000
See that situation is something that is irritating, something that

94
00:04:49.079 --> 00:04:53.519
is frustrating, something that could have financial consequences depending on

95
00:04:53.560 --> 00:04:55.639
what people can do with what information that they stole

96
00:04:55.920 --> 00:04:58.720
like it could have very negative consequences. But in your

97
00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:02.639
life and in my life, we've situation sometimes that are irritating,

98
00:05:03.560 --> 00:05:07.240
that are frustrating. Sometimes it goes beyond irritating and frustrating

99
00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:16.079
to painful, difficult, tragic, horrible, horrifying. Sometimes we experience very

100
00:05:16.199 --> 00:05:18.839
very very negative consequences in our life.

101
00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:20.040
And what if?

102
00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:24.639
What if to that you could bring an end to

103
00:05:24.680 --> 00:05:28.199
the pain, to the frustration, to the difficulty. You could

104
00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:31.839
bring an end to it in a specific situation, and

105
00:05:31.959 --> 00:05:33.600
all you have to do is.

106
00:05:33.639 --> 00:05:36.319
Commit one sin.

107
00:05:36.759 --> 00:05:39.720
You commit one sin, and you could end the pain,

108
00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:44.439
in the frustration, in the irritation, in the horrific situation.

109
00:05:44.600 --> 00:05:49.279
You can make it all go away. What would you do?

110
00:05:49.959 --> 00:05:54.079
Would you commit the sin to make the problem go away?

111
00:05:54.240 --> 00:05:57.879
Or would you say, no, I'm a Christian, I will

112
00:05:57.879 --> 00:06:05.600
not commit that sin. Now, that's the hypothetical situation we

113
00:06:05.720 --> 00:06:09.680
have been presented, and we were presented this hypothetical situation

114
00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:13.079
in a sermon last night that is based on First Samuel,

115
00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:18.680
chapter twenty six. The hypothetical situation is, hey, this thing

116
00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:20.360
is causing you pain and suffering.

117
00:06:20.519 --> 00:06:21.560
All you have to do is.

118
00:06:21.560 --> 00:06:24.240
Do this it's a sin, but if you do it,

119
00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:26.120
it ends your pain and suffering.

120
00:06:26.319 --> 00:06:30.399
Would you do it? Now? It's a thought provoking question.

121
00:06:30.519 --> 00:06:31.439
I will give them that.

122
00:06:31.639 --> 00:06:35.680
It is an interesting question philologically, I'm struggling with it,

123
00:06:35.720 --> 00:06:39.800
and as I explained last night, my struggle, I mean,

124
00:06:39.879 --> 00:06:42.639
I hope it makes sense to you. The weird part

125
00:06:42.680 --> 00:06:44.600
to me is, wait a minute, I'm not going to

126
00:06:44.680 --> 00:06:50.519
commit this sin to end my pain and suffering. Okay, great,

127
00:06:50.560 --> 00:06:54.879
that sounds good in a hypothetical situation, but think about

128
00:06:54.920 --> 00:06:59.519
it logically, whether I commit that sin or don't commit

129
00:06:59.560 --> 00:07:02.279
that sin, and I'm in a perpetual state of sin.

130
00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:05.120
Because as a Christian, we are all in a perpetual

131
00:07:05.160 --> 00:07:07.920
state of sin. The Bible tells us to be holy

132
00:07:07.959 --> 00:07:10.920
as God is holy. We are never that, So we're in.

133
00:07:10.920 --> 00:07:12.000
A perpetual state of sin.

134
00:07:12.279 --> 00:07:14.040
Love God with all of our heartlind, body, and soul.

135
00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:16.000
We never do that. So we're in a perpetual state

136
00:07:16.040 --> 00:07:18.279
of sin. So whether I commit this sin or don't

137
00:07:18.279 --> 00:07:21.680
commit this sin, I'm still sinning. I'm gonna be sinning today,

138
00:07:21.720 --> 00:07:24.040
I'm gonna be sending this afternoon. I'm gonna be sinning tonight.

139
00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:25.319
I'm gonna be sinning tomorrow.

140
00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:25.560
Now.

141
00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:27.839
I know when I bring this up, people get nervous,

142
00:07:28.120 --> 00:07:31.319
as I stated yesterday, because it sounds like I'm excusing sin.

143
00:07:31.560 --> 00:07:33.199
I'm not trying to excuse sin.

144
00:07:33.240 --> 00:07:37.279
I'm trying to look at this scenario from a realistic perspective. Hey,

145
00:07:37.480 --> 00:07:40.480
if you commit this sin, you can stop all your suffering.

146
00:07:40.600 --> 00:07:42.199
Okay, well I'm not going to commit that sin.

147
00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:46.759
Okay, great, but I'm still committing fifteen thousand other sins. Okay,

148
00:07:46.759 --> 00:07:49.720
maybe fifteen thousands a little hyperbole, but I'm committing sin.

149
00:07:49.800 --> 00:07:54.000
I'm in a perpetual state of sin. So, because sin

150
00:07:54.079 --> 00:07:56.240
is more than just an action. And just think, even

151
00:07:56.279 --> 00:08:00.399
if I don't commit the sin physically, whatever that's is,

152
00:08:00.399 --> 00:08:03.120
I could stop to suffering. Even if I don't commit

153
00:08:03.160 --> 00:08:06.680
the sin physically, I could still walk away and be

154
00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:10.920
guilty of it in my mind and my heart and

155
00:08:10.959 --> 00:08:14.759
my desire. So then would that make the problem go, Well, no,

156
00:08:14.879 --> 00:08:17.319
you've got to physically do this. You see, it becomes

157
00:08:17.720 --> 00:08:21.600
I just don't know if it even works logically, I

158
00:08:21.639 --> 00:08:24.600
don't I don't even know if it works. But this

159
00:08:24.920 --> 00:08:28.279
was the hypothetical that we were presented. Now, the situation

160
00:08:28.439 --> 00:08:30.480
is this first Samuel chapter twenty six.

161
00:08:30.519 --> 00:08:32.159
All right, we have David.

162
00:08:32.279 --> 00:08:35.159
If you look at first Samuel twenty six five, I'm

163
00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:37.679
not going to read the entire chapter. You can go

164
00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:40.240
back to part one where the entire chapter was read

165
00:08:40.600 --> 00:08:43.679
for you, and you should read for Samuel twenty six.

166
00:08:43.879 --> 00:08:46.320
But let me just try to just summarize this first

167
00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:49.840
Samuel twenty six, Verse five. David arose and came to

168
00:08:49.879 --> 00:08:54.600
the place where Saul had encamped. So here's David and

169
00:08:55.120 --> 00:08:58.480
King Saul has he found a place to camp out

170
00:08:58.519 --> 00:09:00.440
for the evening, for the night, for the day, for

171
00:09:00.480 --> 00:09:04.360
the week, however long he his encampment. Now, remember, Saul

172
00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:07.559
has been hunting down David, trying to kill him. Saul

173
00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:12.720
has been a source of great pain, suffering, persecution, all

174
00:09:12.840 --> 00:09:15.679
kinds of negative things for David. Right, So David is

175
00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:18.440
you know, he's got to be tired of it, he's

176
00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:22.279
got to be exhausted from it, and you know, living

177
00:09:22.360 --> 00:09:24.759
in fear that at any point Saul is going to

178
00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:28.120
catch up with him and kill him. Well, David arose,

179
00:09:28.279 --> 00:09:30.519
he came to the place where Saul had encamped. And

180
00:09:30.639 --> 00:09:34.480
David saw the place where Saul lay and Abner, the

181
00:09:34.480 --> 00:09:38.639
son of Ner, the commander of his army. Say, let

182
00:09:38.679 --> 00:09:41.120
me read this again. Now, So David arose and came

183
00:09:41.159 --> 00:09:44.039
to the place where Sau had encamped. And David saw

184
00:09:44.440 --> 00:09:47.879
the place where Saul lay, and Abner, the son of Ner,

185
00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:51.399
the commander of his army. So there's Saul and there's

186
00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:54.279
the commander of his army. They're laying right there.

187
00:09:55.720 --> 00:09:56.960
Oh wow, that's it.

188
00:09:56.919 --> 00:10:00.799
Looks like a from a military perspective. From a strategic perspective,

189
00:10:01.080 --> 00:10:05.480
there's the king, there's the commander, one place, one moment.

190
00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:09.080
You see how the problem could be resolved.

191
00:10:10.279 --> 00:10:14.080
Now, Saul lay within the camp with the people and

192
00:10:14.159 --> 00:10:18.919
camped all around him. Then David answered and said Ahimelech

193
00:10:19.000 --> 00:10:24.000
the Hittite, and to Abishai, the son of Zarui, brother

194
00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:27.000
of Joe, ab saying, who shall go down with me

195
00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:30.519
to Saul in the camp. And Abishai said, I will

196
00:10:30.519 --> 00:10:33.159
go down with you. So David and Abishai came to

197
00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:38.799
the people by night, and there saw Lay sleeping within

198
00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:43.799
the camp with his spear stuck in the ground by

199
00:10:44.039 --> 00:10:46.840
his head.

200
00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:52.200
Now here's everyone there. They're all asleep.

201
00:10:52.759 --> 00:10:56.840
Saul is there, even the commander is there. They're all

202
00:10:56.960 --> 00:11:00.879
laying right there. And Dave been in abish, I were

203
00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:02.639
able to walk all the way up to Saul.

204
00:11:02.840 --> 00:11:04.039
And there's the spear.

205
00:11:05.159 --> 00:11:07.600
So obviously all David needs to do is pick up

206
00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:10.799
the spear stab Saul. He could, he could if if

207
00:11:10.799 --> 00:11:13.840
he had the opportunity get to the commander stay, he could.

208
00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:17.200
He could end at all. In fact, David could have.

209
00:11:17.240 --> 00:11:19.919
Just brought in all of his troops everyone is asleep.

210
00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:24.080
Just wipe them all out, just get rid of all

211
00:11:24.120 --> 00:11:26.759
of them. He could end all. All he has to

212
00:11:26.840 --> 00:11:30.159
do is take a spear, stab it through Saul.

213
00:11:30.679 --> 00:11:34.000
The end. All of his problems go away, the end.

214
00:11:34.159 --> 00:11:40.759
Everything is resolved, at least practically speaking. Now in the

215
00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:44.639
sermon we reviewed, the pastor then creates the scenario.

216
00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:45.200
Well, what would you do?

217
00:11:45.480 --> 00:11:48.039
What is the spear that you could pick up? And

218
00:11:48.120 --> 00:11:51.360
you could use that spear, even though it may be sinful,

219
00:11:51.559 --> 00:11:52.600
you could use.

220
00:11:52.480 --> 00:11:55.960
That spear and solve all of your problems. Would you

221
00:11:56.039 --> 00:11:56.399
do it?

222
00:11:58.080 --> 00:11:58.279
Well?

223
00:11:58.279 --> 00:11:59.159
What happens here?

224
00:11:59.240 --> 00:12:00.240
Well, there the.

225
00:12:00.279 --> 00:12:02.799
Spear, it's in the ground, it's right by his head,

226
00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:06.759
and Abner and the people lay all around him.

227
00:12:06.840 --> 00:12:09.559
Remember Abner, who's Abner? Well we go right back.

228
00:12:09.639 --> 00:12:14.000
Remember we'll see here and Abner the son of a

229
00:12:14.039 --> 00:12:16.759
nerd the commander of his army. So Saul's laying there,

230
00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:19.840
Abner's right there, there's the commander, and there's the king.

231
00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:22.120
He can get rid of both of them. What the

232
00:12:22.159 --> 00:12:31.080
same spear. Then, Abishai said to David, God has delivered

233
00:12:31.120 --> 00:12:34.120
your enemy into your hand to stay now. Therefore, please

234
00:12:34.200 --> 00:12:36.879
let me strike him at once with the spear right

235
00:12:36.919 --> 00:12:38.600
to the earth, and I will not have to strike

236
00:12:38.679 --> 00:12:39.480
him a second time.

237
00:12:39.639 --> 00:12:41.360
Now, Abishi is like, hey, you don't even need to

238
00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:43.000
do anything. I'll take care of.

239
00:12:43.000 --> 00:12:43.720
It for you.

240
00:12:48.840 --> 00:12:51.919
But but David said to Abishai, do not destroy him.

241
00:12:52.120 --> 00:12:55.080
For who can stretch out his hand against the Lord's

242
00:12:55.080 --> 00:13:00.159
anointed and be guiltless? David said, furthermore, as the Lord lives,

243
00:13:00.360 --> 00:13:03.759
the Lord shall strike him, or his days shall come

244
00:13:03.799 --> 00:13:06.559
to die, or he shall go out to battle and perish.

245
00:13:06.759 --> 00:13:09.039
The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand

246
00:13:09.080 --> 00:13:11.919
against the Lord's anointed. But please take now the spear

247
00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:13.879
and the jug of water that our bias head, and

248
00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:16.519
let us go. So David took the spear and the

249
00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:19.159
jug of water by Saul's head, and they got away,

250
00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:22.159
and no man saw or knew it or awoke for

251
00:13:22.279 --> 00:13:24.440
they were all asleep because a deep sleep from the

252
00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:29.519
Lord had fallen on them. This passage you just raises

253
00:13:29.559 --> 00:13:34.320
so many questions. So Saul has been pursuing David. People

254
00:13:34.440 --> 00:13:38.320
have died. What Saul had eighty five priests killed, and

255
00:13:38.360 --> 00:13:45.240
then a particular city. Saul has everyone killed in it, man, woman, boy, girl, infant,

256
00:13:45.559 --> 00:13:48.759
and even the animals. He had everyone killed because he

257
00:13:48.879 --> 00:13:52.080
was upset thinking that they helped David. So people have

258
00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:57.519
died in this ongoing dispute between Saul and David. Right,

259
00:13:57.759 --> 00:14:00.200
So then you could argue, okay, so where is God

260
00:14:00.240 --> 00:14:05.080
in all of this? Well, here, God puts everyone asleep.

261
00:14:05.240 --> 00:14:08.879
They're all asleep, there's David in his army. It could

262
00:14:08.919 --> 00:14:12.600
all end. I mean, God put them to sleep. David

263
00:14:12.600 --> 00:14:15.360
could come in, kill them all and be the end

264
00:14:15.399 --> 00:14:17.919
of it. But David's like, no, no, no, I can't

265
00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:20.200
do this. So God put them.

266
00:14:20.120 --> 00:14:21.600
All to sleep.

267
00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:26.399
So that David could come in be faced with this

268
00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:29.480
opportunity to take a spear and end all of this.

269
00:14:30.360 --> 00:14:32.799
But then David's like, no, why would God put them

270
00:14:32.840 --> 00:14:36.080
to sleep just so David could be confronted with this situation?

271
00:14:36.399 --> 00:14:41.679
Why wouldn't God then put them all to sleep where

272
00:14:41.679 --> 00:14:45.519
they could have been defeated long ago before anybody else.

273
00:14:45.320 --> 00:14:47.320
Had to die or anybody else had.

274
00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:52.240
To suffer that this story presents so many philosophical problems

275
00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:55.120
that I don't even know how to unravel them, right,

276
00:14:55.120 --> 00:14:56.919
I mean, I mean, isn't that not I mean it

277
00:14:56.919 --> 00:14:58.399
should disturb you as a reader.

278
00:14:58.440 --> 00:14:59.360
Wait a minute, Wait a minute.

279
00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:02.240
So God put them to sleep, But where was God

280
00:15:02.279 --> 00:15:05.960
when Saul was slaughtering all the priests and killing everyone

281
00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:08.480
in the city. God couldn't bother to, hey, guys, go

282
00:15:08.519 --> 00:15:12.679
to sleep and stop it from happening. He put them

283
00:15:12.679 --> 00:15:15.320
all to sleep here just so that David could come

284
00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:18.240
in and be confronted with a situation where there is

285
00:15:18.279 --> 00:15:21.240
a spear. If I say sword, I apologize, there is

286
00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:23.759
a spear, and you could get rid of get rid

287
00:15:23.799 --> 00:15:24.039
of him.

288
00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:26.399
But no, no, no, no, no, no, David, Devd's not going

289
00:15:26.440 --> 00:15:26.799
to do it.

290
00:15:26.919 --> 00:15:27.159
Now.

291
00:15:27.360 --> 00:15:30.440
We could have a long discussion about David not doing

292
00:15:30.480 --> 00:15:31.200
this right.

293
00:15:31.879 --> 00:15:33.519
Because this seems to go with.

294
00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:38.519
The teaching that all earthly authority is appointed by God,

295
00:15:39.080 --> 00:15:42.240
and so it's not up to us to remove that

296
00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:46.000
earthly authority, no matter how ungodly it may be, or

297
00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:48.879
no matter how much it may persecute us.

298
00:15:49.399 --> 00:15:53.399
We're not to We're not to do that, all right.

299
00:15:53.600 --> 00:15:58.000
Now, that raises all kinds of questions throughout history about

300
00:15:58.039 --> 00:15:59.960
lots of issues, all right, So we could get into

301
00:16:00.039 --> 00:16:02.879
a whole discussion about that, but the pastor didn't really

302
00:16:02.919 --> 00:16:05.000
want to get into that, and the pastor didn't want

303
00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:08.840
to mention. Wait, so God steps in to put him

304
00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:10.720
to sleep here, But why wouldn't God?

305
00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:14.159
God could have ended this entire situation.

306
00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:18.399
Fifty tos Okay, all right, there's just so many issues,

307
00:16:18.840 --> 00:16:22.440
but he wanted to create this hypothetical in your life.

308
00:16:22.600 --> 00:16:28.519
You're gonna find yourself in painful, difficult circumstances, and sometimes

309
00:16:28.519 --> 00:16:30.399
you're gonna see the spear there and all you have

310
00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:31.919
to do is pick up the spear.

311
00:16:31.720 --> 00:16:34.639
And use it and you can make it all go away.

312
00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:38.159
But it would be sinful to do so will you

313
00:16:38.480 --> 00:16:42.480
commit the sin to fix all of those problems, to

314
00:16:42.720 --> 00:16:43.559
end your pain?

315
00:16:46.519 --> 00:16:51.080
Now, that question then doesn't deal with the reality that

316
00:16:51.200 --> 00:16:53.440
even if even if I don't commit that sin, I'm

317
00:16:53.440 --> 00:16:56.320
gonna walk away still a sinner, still in sin, and

318
00:16:56.360 --> 00:16:58.600
so that so that just I don't.

319
00:16:58.440 --> 00:17:01.559
Even know how we work this out.

320
00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:05.480
So what we're gonna do is we're just gonna jump

321
00:17:05.480 --> 00:17:07.319
in kind of in the middle of this sermon.

322
00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:09.319
I backed it up a little bit. I didn't find a.

323
00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:12.440
Perfect place really to start it, so, but I've kind

324
00:17:12.440 --> 00:17:15.079
of given you the story basically in the sermon. Right now,

325
00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:17.640
the pastor is just kind of retelling the story. They're

326
00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:21.720
sneaking in, okay, Well, the reason they don't really have

327
00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:24.200
to sneak in because everyone's been put to sleep by God,

328
00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:27.240
so they're not waking up until God wakes them up. Literally,

329
00:17:27.319 --> 00:17:30.039
David could have walked around and killed everyone. He could

330
00:17:30.039 --> 00:17:34.000
have killed the commander, he could have killed the entire army, could.

331
00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:35.079
Have just destroyed them all.

332
00:17:35.400 --> 00:17:39.039
They're all asleep and they're not waking up until God

333
00:17:39.079 --> 00:17:40.759
wakes them up because God is the one who put

334
00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:41.319
them to sleep.

335
00:17:41.519 --> 00:17:44.720
Oh, this story is so confusing, But.

336
00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:49.559
Let's let's at least listen a little bit and then

337
00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:52.519
we'll just deal with some of the I just.

338
00:17:54.039 --> 00:17:55.839
Man, I don't really know what to do with it.

339
00:17:56.000 --> 00:17:59.640
I've been I've been thinking about it all well a

340
00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:02.759
good of the morning, and I don't know if I've

341
00:18:02.839 --> 00:18:06.839
resolved anything here. I'm hoping this is one of those

342
00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:09.599
This is one of those episodes where you upload thinking

343
00:18:09.920 --> 00:18:15.160
this should spark like hours of discussion, and sometimes these

344
00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:17.039
are the messages you won't hear anything about.

345
00:18:17.079 --> 00:18:20.440
But there's I just I've got so many issues with this.

346
00:18:20.720 --> 00:18:21.960
I don't even know where to begin.

347
00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:24.759
So we're just gonna let the pastor pick up the

348
00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:29.680
message again and again. His whole concept is, Hey, the

349
00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:32.839
sword or the sword the spear? Why do I keep

350
00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:39.440
saying sword the spear? The spear represents and his allegory,

351
00:18:39.559 --> 00:18:44.319
his metaphorical use of this, that opportunity that you may

352
00:18:44.400 --> 00:18:48.119
have to commit usin to fix all the things causing

353
00:18:48.119 --> 00:18:52.359
you pain and suffering, Will you use the spear? And

354
00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:55.359
the argument is we should not use the spear, even

355
00:18:55.400 --> 00:18:58.000
if it means making all of our problems go away.

356
00:18:58.759 --> 00:19:01.839
But my thing is, so I could use the spear,

357
00:19:01.960 --> 00:19:04.559
commit a sin and make all my problems go away.

358
00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:09.279
Or I could walk away still a sinner, still in sin,

359
00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:13.759
but I still then have all my problems. And you

360
00:19:13.799 --> 00:19:16.319
could argue all of your problems and all the suffering

361
00:19:16.519 --> 00:19:19.599
sometimes serves as a temptation for you to grumble and

362
00:19:19.640 --> 00:19:21.200
complain and get bitter.

363
00:19:21.160 --> 00:19:22.039
And doubt God.

364
00:19:22.400 --> 00:19:25.519
So by committing one sin, I could end the source

365
00:19:25.559 --> 00:19:28.640
of all of the temptation to commit all these other sins.

366
00:19:28.759 --> 00:19:30.400
You see, because David.

367
00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:32.839
If you look at some of the things David had

368
00:19:32.920 --> 00:19:40.440
done in his ongoing issues with Saul, we could argue,

369
00:19:40.599 --> 00:19:45.519
did David commit any sin leading up to first Samuel

370
00:19:45.559 --> 00:19:51.720
twenty six and his dealings with Saul? Maybe maybe we'll

371
00:19:51.720 --> 00:19:54.359
look into that, because if he's been committing other sin

372
00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:58.880
leading up to this point, but now he's not going

373
00:19:58.960 --> 00:20:02.039
to commit this sin, all this gets really complicated.

374
00:20:02.119 --> 00:20:03.200
But let's we're just.

375
00:20:03.160 --> 00:20:06.000
Gonna jump back into this sermon and then we'll just

376
00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:08.279
we'll just we're gonna just kind of use this a

377
00:20:08.279 --> 00:20:10.279
little bit to get into these other discussions.

378
00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:10.759
Here we go.

379
00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:18.200
But the major question in this narrative is this, what

380
00:20:18.519 --> 00:20:23.039
is David going to do with the spear? What is

381
00:20:23.079 --> 00:20:25.880
he gonna do with the spear? The spears mentioned six

382
00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:29.000
times in this narrative account. It's really the center of

383
00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:34.400
what's going on. An Abashi. He knows what David should do,

384
00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:38.319
doesn't he? I love this now, please, And what's crazy

385
00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:41.039
to me about this is they're like whispering it probably

386
00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:44.039
and they're having this conversation. Now, please let me pin

387
00:20:44.119 --> 00:20:46.440
him to the earth with one stroke of the spear.

388
00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:50.319
Don't worry Saul may have missed. I'm not gonna miss

389
00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:53.519
I won't have to strike him twice. This will all

390
00:20:53.680 --> 00:20:57.920
be done. And notice what he's holding out to David.

391
00:20:58.039 --> 00:21:03.440
In this he's saying, David, use the spear to solve

392
00:21:03.799 --> 00:21:08.759
your problems. Saul is your enemy. He keeps making your

393
00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:14.480
life miserable. Look, David, God has given him into your hand.

394
00:21:14.880 --> 00:21:20.480
Let's end this thing. And David, think about how poetic

395
00:21:20.559 --> 00:21:24.759
this is. Think about the justice of this. This is

396
00:21:24.839 --> 00:21:28.359
the same spear that Saul has used to throw at

397
00:21:28.440 --> 00:21:30.720
you and try and kill you, and to throw at

398
00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:37.559
Jonathan to try and kill him. But now that spear

399
00:21:38.039 --> 00:21:42.920
is right here. And he knows, probably from the incident

400
00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:46.480
that took place in the cave, that David doesn't want

401
00:21:46.519 --> 00:21:50.519
to be the one to kill Saul. And maybe Abashi

402
00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:53.440
thinks that David has a sensitive conscience or something. I

403
00:21:53.799 --> 00:21:56.960
don't know what he really thinks about it. But notice

404
00:21:56.960 --> 00:22:00.440
what he says, David, you don't even have to be

405
00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:01.599
the one to kill him.

406
00:22:02.039 --> 00:22:04.319
You don't have to lift up your hand against Saul.

407
00:22:04.519 --> 00:22:07.519
The Lord brought us here so I could do it

408
00:22:07.559 --> 00:22:10.839
for you, and I'm a really good shot, and so

409
00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:12.200
it's all gonna work out.

410
00:22:13.279 --> 00:22:15.079
And so what we see in.

411
00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:18.240
This narrative is that there's a way to look at

412
00:22:18.279 --> 00:22:23.319
the situation where the spear is there as the solution

413
00:22:23.640 --> 00:22:28.400
to David's problems, and before we move on to think

414
00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:32.279
about David's response and what he amazingly does.

415
00:22:34.680 --> 00:22:38.759
Okay, so there's this the spear keep wanting calling it

416
00:22:38.799 --> 00:22:41.000
a sword all day, So I'm just if I call

417
00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:44.160
it a sword fifty times, just say, man, that guy's

418
00:22:44.200 --> 00:22:46.720
an idiot. Okay, all right, But there is the spear

419
00:22:47.119 --> 00:22:50.440
I remember, and his telling of this story, the spear

420
00:22:50.559 --> 00:22:53.279
represents something David could do to fix all of his problems,

421
00:22:53.359 --> 00:22:55.480
but it would be sinful, it would be wrong, it

422
00:22:55.519 --> 00:23:00.319
would be ungodly. So then he then creates the quotquestion

423
00:23:00.359 --> 00:23:03.759
for you and me, if we were facing a situation

424
00:23:03.799 --> 00:23:06.480
where we could use a metaphorical spirit to fix all

425
00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:08.359
of our problems, but it would be a sinful would

426
00:23:08.359 --> 00:23:09.920
we commit that sin now?

427
00:23:09.960 --> 00:23:10.200
To me?

428
00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:12.960
Like, as I've already discussed an outline on a number

429
00:23:13.000 --> 00:23:17.680
of issues, but what's even more just frustrating about this

430
00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:21.920
and trying to understand this is just consider this question,

431
00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:28.160
how many sins had David committed in his ongoing issues.

432
00:23:27.640 --> 00:23:30.720
With Saul Before you even get to First Samuel.

433
00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:32.640
Twenty six, He's like, Okay, I'm not going to commit

434
00:23:33.079 --> 00:23:36.920
that sin. But has he not committed sin leading up

435
00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:38.359
to First Samuel twenty six?

436
00:23:39.559 --> 00:23:39.759
See?

437
00:23:39.799 --> 00:23:44.279
I think if we look at the biblical narrative to

438
00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:47.440
try to assess David's actions and intentions, to say, from

439
00:23:47.759 --> 00:23:51.759
First Samuel eighteen through First Samuel twenty five, the Bible

440
00:23:51.799 --> 00:23:54.960
provides very detailed accounts of David's interactions with Saul.

441
00:23:55.119 --> 00:23:56.279
Nobody can deny that.

442
00:23:57.960 --> 00:24:02.119
Now, David's conduct is often portrayed as righteous and contrast

443
00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:03.440
to Saul's actions.

444
00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:06.720
It is also clear if you go.

445
00:24:06.680 --> 00:24:11.640
From First Samuel eighteen to First Samuel twenty five, that David,

446
00:24:11.759 --> 00:24:15.759
like all humans, were not sin less. So now this

447
00:24:15.799 --> 00:24:18.599
is where it gets kind of like, this is where

448
00:24:18.599 --> 00:24:20.720
the story is. I think this is the problem with

449
00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:25.799
historical narratives and the Bible. Historical narratives are just describing

450
00:24:25.839 --> 00:24:28.599
what happened. I know, as preachers, we want to grab

451
00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:32.440
onto it and turn it into some morality, tell.

452
00:24:32.519 --> 00:24:33.839
Some moral lesson.

453
00:24:34.079 --> 00:24:37.240
Hey, Hey, hey, David, there was the spear and he

454
00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:39.960
could end all of his problems by committing a sin. Hey,

455
00:24:40.079 --> 00:24:42.519
what would you do if you could endure problems by

456
00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:43.319
committing a sin?

457
00:24:43.559 --> 00:24:47.079
Would you do it? And the implication is don't do it,

458
00:24:47.799 --> 00:24:53.799
don't do it, be godly. But the issue is David

459
00:24:54.359 --> 00:24:58.160
already committed multiple sins.

460
00:24:59.160 --> 00:25:02.519
Let's just look at some of his actions, all right, now, One,

461
00:25:02.599 --> 00:25:06.759
we can see some positive David consistently refrains from retaliating,

462
00:25:07.079 --> 00:25:11.880
retaliating against Saul even when Saul unjustly pursues him and

463
00:25:11.920 --> 00:25:15.519
even throwing spears in First Samuel chapter eighteen and chasing

464
00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:18.599
David in First Samuel twenty four. He seems to respect

465
00:25:18.680 --> 00:25:21.680
Saul as the Lord's anointed and refuses to kill him

466
00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:24.519
even when given the opportunities, such as end the cave

467
00:25:24.599 --> 00:25:27.400
in First Samuel twenty four, so on Samuel twenty four.

468
00:25:27.559 --> 00:25:30.920
For Samuel twenty six, David is presented an opportunity where

469
00:25:30.920 --> 00:25:33.319
he could just kill Saul and end it, but he

470
00:25:33.400 --> 00:25:36.359
does not do so, based on the idea, Hey, that's

471
00:25:36.440 --> 00:25:40.359
God's anointed God putting him in power. I'm not to

472
00:25:40.440 --> 00:25:45.920
then do anything to remove him from power. All right,

473
00:25:46.799 --> 00:25:54.119
that's a good thing. But we know in first Samuel

474
00:25:54.160 --> 00:25:58.319
twenty one, I think it's verses ten through fifteen. To

475
00:25:58.519 --> 00:26:02.880
escape from the Philistine The Philistine King David pretends to

476
00:26:02.920 --> 00:26:06.359
be insane. Now, well, this is a survival strategy. You

477
00:26:06.359 --> 00:26:10.240
could argue, Well, that involved deceit and lying. Now is

478
00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:12.359
deceit and lying?

479
00:26:12.440 --> 00:26:15.960
Okay? During times of war? See this is where the biblical.

480
00:26:15.480 --> 00:26:18.559
Morality can become very difficult because what we will say, Well,

481
00:26:18.559 --> 00:26:20.599
in a time of war, you may have to lie,

482
00:26:20.799 --> 00:26:23.519
you may have to deceive. Well, also in a time

483
00:26:23.559 --> 00:26:27.680
of war, can't you kill the one you're fighting a

484
00:26:27.720 --> 00:26:29.200
war against?

485
00:26:29.400 --> 00:26:31.720
See David's like, hey, I can't kill him.

486
00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:35.160
But in these other situations And first Samuel twenty one,

487
00:26:35.559 --> 00:26:40.759
to escape the Philistine King, David uses deceit. Is deceit

488
00:26:40.799 --> 00:26:43.519
and lying always wrong. You see, now this can be

489
00:26:43.559 --> 00:26:46.559
these things can get a little crazy.

490
00:26:46.680 --> 00:26:48.200
But guess what he also does.

491
00:26:48.720 --> 00:26:52.400
And first Samuel twenty one, verses one through two, David

492
00:26:52.519 --> 00:26:55.480
lies to a hemeleg claiming he is on a secret

493
00:26:55.519 --> 00:26:59.880
mission from Saul. This lie indirectly leads to the massacre

494
00:27:00.160 --> 00:27:01.400
of the priest of.

495
00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:06.880
Knob by Saul. And one Samuel twenty two, eighteen through nineteen.

496
00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:12.039
David lies again again using deceit, and guess what happens

497
00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:12.839
eighty five?

498
00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:13.839
I think it's eighty five.

499
00:27:13.880 --> 00:27:19.119
Priests are slaughtered and the entire city is everyone's killed, man, woman, boy, girl,

500
00:27:19.240 --> 00:27:23.039
even babies and animals are killed because of David's lie.

501
00:27:23.599 --> 00:27:26.200
Oh but now he gets the first Samuel twenty six. Ah,

502
00:27:26.240 --> 00:27:30.119
I can't, I can't do this now the way the

503
00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:33.319
sermon is presented. Oh see, David's not going to commit

504
00:27:33.359 --> 00:27:37.400
this sin, but he's already been committing sin. He lied,

505
00:27:37.839 --> 00:27:41.319
then he lied again, and his lie is the indirect

506
00:27:41.440 --> 00:27:43.920
cause of all these people being slaughtered.

507
00:27:50.519 --> 00:27:50.599
Now.

508
00:27:50.680 --> 00:27:55.799
In one Samuel twenty five, right before twenty six, nay

509
00:27:55.880 --> 00:27:59.880
Ball insults David. David initially plans to kill Nayball and

510
00:28:00.160 --> 00:28:03.880
all the males in his household. This intention is sinful,

511
00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:08.799
and it demonstrates uncontrolled anger and a lack of trust

512
00:28:09.160 --> 00:28:13.799
in God. Abigail's intervention prevents him from carrying out his act.

513
00:28:14.119 --> 00:28:17.079
So he had violent intentions and was going to slaughter

514
00:28:17.359 --> 00:28:21.680
all of these people. Now that that's murder in the heart.

515
00:28:21.920 --> 00:28:24.720
So he's already murdered in the heart. He's already lied.

516
00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:27.279
His lie has already led to people being slaughtered, but

517
00:28:27.319 --> 00:28:29.799
he gets the first Samuel twenty six, and we're like, see,

518
00:28:30.039 --> 00:28:35.039
David would not commit the sin, but he's already been

519
00:28:35.039 --> 00:28:38.000
committing sin. And we know later on he's going to

520
00:28:38.039 --> 00:28:45.200
have a man killed. I think we've got to be

521
00:28:45.359 --> 00:28:48.000
I know, as preachers, we love to jump into these

522
00:28:48.160 --> 00:28:53.240
historical narratives and try to like create a morality tell

523
00:28:53.359 --> 00:28:53.960
And I don't.

524
00:28:53.759 --> 00:28:55.119
Know if it's always that easy.

525
00:28:55.319 --> 00:29:00.240
These stories are layered and complicated and complex, and and

526
00:29:00.279 --> 00:29:02.720
you know what we find out and all of these stories,

527
00:29:03.359 --> 00:29:07.240
the so called heroes of the story are really sinful

528
00:29:07.359 --> 00:29:10.200
human beings. I don't care if it's David. I don't

529
00:29:10.200 --> 00:29:12.920
care if it's don't you name the person in the

530
00:29:12.960 --> 00:29:15.799
old Abraham, Moses, It doesn't matter.

531
00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:21.480
They are all sinners. But we like to create from

532
00:29:21.559 --> 00:29:24.680
these stories these idea. Oh look, so what would you

533
00:29:24.920 --> 00:29:25.759
there's the spear?

534
00:29:26.039 --> 00:29:29.000
Are you going to use it? Be like David and

535
00:29:29.079 --> 00:29:33.640
don't commit the sin. Don't make all of your problems

536
00:29:33.640 --> 00:29:38.440
go away. But just think, by now this is even

537
00:29:38.480 --> 00:29:45.559
more complicated. Saul has killed other people in his pursuit

538
00:29:45.759 --> 00:29:50.200
of David. If David doesn't kill Saul, isn't he then

539
00:29:50.359 --> 00:29:53.599
leaving the door open for Saul to kill more people

540
00:29:53.799 --> 00:29:57.400
in his pursuit of him. So, then, is David putting

541
00:29:57.440 --> 00:30:00.680
other people's lives at risk by not I mean, why

542
00:30:00.720 --> 00:30:03.359
wouldn't he just then surrender himself and say, look, stop

543
00:30:03.480 --> 00:30:04.400
killing other people.

544
00:30:04.480 --> 00:30:08.480
Here I am. But no, he keeps running, Saul keeps

545
00:30:08.559 --> 00:30:12.359
chasing other people get caught in the crossfire. They die.

546
00:30:12.400 --> 00:30:14.279
And when I say crossfire, not obviously like there were

547
00:30:14.279 --> 00:30:16.920
was guns. They get caught in the crossfire of the conflict.

548
00:30:17.200 --> 00:30:17.920
They die.

549
00:30:18.319 --> 00:30:20.319
But then David is like, I'm not going to commit

550
00:30:20.400 --> 00:30:31.519
this sin, even though he's committed other sins. So David

551
00:30:31.599 --> 00:30:34.559
used deceit as a strategy on multiple occasions. While some

552
00:30:34.599 --> 00:30:36.880
of these actions could be seen as an act of survival,

553
00:30:37.079 --> 00:30:39.680
they also reflect a lack of trust in God's provision

554
00:30:39.880 --> 00:30:46.400
and protection. David's intent to kill Neball shows his possibility

555
00:30:46.440 --> 00:30:50.880
at times of having great anger and evengeful spirit. Fleeing

556
00:30:50.920 --> 00:30:54.680
to the Philistines and feigning madness might indicate moments where

557
00:30:54.759 --> 00:30:55.480
David's fear.

558
00:30:55.480 --> 00:30:57.000
Outweighed his faith.

559
00:31:01.039 --> 00:31:05.279
So before we get to twenty six, David has committed sins.

560
00:31:08.759 --> 00:31:11.079
Now the way this pastor is framing it all, he

561
00:31:11.160 --> 00:31:13.640
has to do here is commit one more sin and

562
00:31:13.720 --> 00:31:14.480
stop all of this.

563
00:31:14.759 --> 00:31:18.599
But David doesn't. And now that becomes a hypothetical situation

564
00:31:18.720 --> 00:31:19.079
for us.

565
00:31:23.960 --> 00:31:26.039
All right, let's see what the pastor goes on to. Now,

566
00:31:26.079 --> 00:31:28.359
now he's going to really turn this into all about us.

567
00:31:28.680 --> 00:31:30.359
He's getting ready to flip this all about us.

568
00:31:32.680 --> 00:31:35.559
I think it's good to pause and consider the temptation

569
00:31:35.839 --> 00:31:39.440
that he faced and how we ourselves might face that

570
00:31:39.720 --> 00:31:40.240
as well.

571
00:31:42.039 --> 00:31:43.440
Do you ever feel this way.

572
00:31:44.319 --> 00:31:47.759
That you're back to the same old story. The situation

573
00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:52.599
hasn't changed. The same people are making your life miserable.

574
00:31:52.640 --> 00:31:55.839
Again. It's not Saul in the Zephytes.

575
00:31:56.599 --> 00:32:00.039
But maybe it's that coworker who's always stepping on you

576
00:32:00.400 --> 00:32:03.720
and trying to get ahead. Maybe it's the other kid

577
00:32:03.759 --> 00:32:08.279
who's always teasing you, who never includes you. Maybe it's

578
00:32:08.279 --> 00:32:11.720
that person who, no matter what good you seek to

579
00:32:11.759 --> 00:32:15.279
do to them, just seems to delight in making your

580
00:32:15.319 --> 00:32:20.000
life miserable. And maybe it's not about the people in

581
00:32:20.039 --> 00:32:25.160
your situation. Maybe it's the same exhausting situation that's tiring

582
00:32:25.200 --> 00:32:28.640
you out. You know, you've tried everything, but no matter

583
00:32:28.640 --> 00:32:31.480
what you do, you can't get ahead financially. You just

584
00:32:31.559 --> 00:32:35.680
can't make ends meet. Maybe you've fought against a certain

585
00:32:35.759 --> 00:32:38.839
sin for years, but now it feels like it's just

586
00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:44.319
more intense than ever. No matter what you do, it

587
00:32:44.359 --> 00:32:47.759
feels like the trials just keep coming, and not only

588
00:32:47.880 --> 00:32:50.480
just keep coming, they're getting worse.

589
00:32:52.359 --> 00:32:55.359
And like David in the cave, you've.

590
00:32:55.119 --> 00:32:58.759
Tried the right way, You've tried doing the good things,

591
00:33:00.079 --> 00:33:02.839
but what good did that really do? I mean, David's

592
00:33:02.839 --> 00:33:05.000
sitting here and he's saying so, I even cried about

593
00:33:05.039 --> 00:33:08.400
everything for goodness sakes, and yet here we are again.

594
00:33:08.839 --> 00:33:12.799
I just can't keep going on like this. Something has

595
00:33:12.880 --> 00:33:17.759
to change. And then in our lives, the Lord brings

596
00:33:17.799 --> 00:33:23.640
this amazing providence. There it is that spear that could

597
00:33:23.680 --> 00:33:29.400
change everything. You find a weakness in your coworker that

598
00:33:29.440 --> 00:33:33.759
you could exploit or you could hold against them. You

599
00:33:33.799 --> 00:33:37.200
find out something super embarrassing about that kid who's always

600
00:33:37.200 --> 00:33:41.640
picking on you. There's that opportunity in a conflict to

601
00:33:41.759 --> 00:33:45.039
just say that truth that you've held back for so long.

602
00:33:46.359 --> 00:33:48.359
There's that detail that you could leave out of the

603
00:33:48.519 --> 00:33:51.720
tax form or that situation that you could just not

604
00:33:51.839 --> 00:33:56.039
report and see what happens. And when you find yourself

605
00:33:56.119 --> 00:34:00.240
in that providence. So often there's an abashi right there,

606
00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:03.440
they reminding you you don't even have to do the

607
00:34:03.440 --> 00:34:07.440
thing that you think is wrong. Someone else can send

608
00:34:07.440 --> 00:34:10.559
the text, someone else can spread.

609
00:34:10.199 --> 00:34:11.159
All that information.

610
00:34:12.039 --> 00:34:14.079
You don't have to grab the spear and go do

611
00:34:14.199 --> 00:34:17.159
the big sin, but you could just give into this

612
00:34:17.360 --> 00:34:22.679
smaller one that everyone else does. You don't have to lie.

613
00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:26.719
You just don't have to say all the truth. Just

614
00:34:26.800 --> 00:34:28.719
throw it out there with a little spin on it.

615
00:34:29.360 --> 00:34:32.960
See what happens. You don't have to hurt the other person.

616
00:34:34.480 --> 00:34:37.360
You could just not do the loving thing that would

617
00:34:37.400 --> 00:34:43.599
help them. You See, we, like David, so often find

618
00:34:43.639 --> 00:34:47.679
ourselves in these tempting situations where our hearts long to

619
00:34:47.840 --> 00:34:53.400
do the thing that would make the situation change, especially

620
00:34:53.400 --> 00:34:57.480
when we find ourselves in this ongoing wilderness running.

621
00:34:57.960 --> 00:34:59.360
Like David was facing.

622
00:35:01.280 --> 00:35:05.039
What do you do when the spear is right there

623
00:35:06.119 --> 00:35:09.440
and it seems like it will make all your troubles disappear?

624
00:35:10.360 --> 00:35:13.280
What are we supposed to think? How are we supposed

625
00:35:13.320 --> 00:35:18.840
to respond? Well, David gives us an amazing example of

626
00:35:18.880 --> 00:35:19.559
what we can do.

627
00:35:22.119 --> 00:35:25.320
Okay, so there's this whole setup again. This is the

628
00:35:25.920 --> 00:35:29.280
hypothetical scenario that he develops from all of this.

629
00:35:29.360 --> 00:35:30.760
Hey, there's the spear.

630
00:35:31.119 --> 00:35:35.400
Okay, it's right there by Saul's head. Take it, kill Saul.

631
00:35:35.639 --> 00:35:37.760
All your problems go away. But it would be sinful.

632
00:35:37.800 --> 00:35:43.119
So now, metaphorically speaking, allegorically speaking, okay, what is that

633
00:35:43.159 --> 00:35:45.480
spear that you could pick up and you could commit

634
00:35:45.559 --> 00:35:48.440
this one sent and all your problems go away? Obviously,

635
00:35:48.480 --> 00:35:51.639
the message of this sermon is be like David, don't

636
00:35:51.719 --> 00:35:54.719
use the spear and there and deal with all of

637
00:35:54.760 --> 00:35:57.159
your problems, because that's the right thing to do. Again,

638
00:35:57.199 --> 00:35:59.719
there's still lots of issues with this, so I sort

639
00:35:59.719 --> 00:36:03.599
of thinking and kind of analyzing and critiquing this hypothetical

640
00:36:04.039 --> 00:36:06.599
scenario and just trying to work through some of this

641
00:36:06.719 --> 00:36:11.719
all right now. The pastor's interpretation of First Samuel twenty

642
00:36:11.760 --> 00:36:16.199
six basically introduces this hypothetical scenario, what if you could

643
00:36:16.199 --> 00:36:18.960
commit a single sin to and all your pain problems

644
00:36:18.960 --> 00:36:22.599
I'm suffering now. Obviously, this scenario, as you've just listened

645
00:36:22.639 --> 00:36:25.840
to the pastor and me already explained this earlier, draws

646
00:36:25.880 --> 00:36:29.039
parallels between David's temptation to kill Saul and the moral

647
00:36:29.079 --> 00:36:37.440
dilemmas Christians face today. The comparison is thought provoking, but

648
00:36:37.559 --> 00:36:41.920
it raises theological and logical concerns regarding the proper application

649
00:36:42.239 --> 00:36:45.559
of the text. At least I think so, Right, So

650
00:36:45.639 --> 00:36:47.920
I'm going to try to offer somewhat of a critique.

651
00:36:48.000 --> 00:36:51.199
I still think it's thought provoking. I still love the fact.

652
00:36:50.960 --> 00:36:53.480
That this is brought up, because I mean, I'm still

653
00:36:53.519 --> 00:36:56.000
struggling with it. But as I've already indicated, when we

654
00:36:56.079 --> 00:36:59.320
take these narratives and we try to create kind of

655
00:36:59.360 --> 00:37:02.400
a moral story from it, we find ourselves with a

656
00:37:02.400 --> 00:37:05.199
lot of issues. Just remember, David had already committed all

657
00:37:05.280 --> 00:37:07.800
kinds of sins prior to First Samuel twenty six. He's

658
00:37:07.840 --> 00:37:11.000
going to commit sin after First Samuel twenty six. So

659
00:37:11.039 --> 00:37:13.920
it really comes down to he's committed sin prior, he's

660
00:37:13.920 --> 00:37:15.760
going to commit sin after Bud.

661
00:37:15.960 --> 00:37:20.960
Hey, he's not going to commit this sin, Like, how

662
00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:24.440
do you even measure that? It becomes very difficult.

663
00:37:24.599 --> 00:37:29.239
But let's look at an exegetical analysis, right, is this

664
00:37:29.360 --> 00:37:30.599
application correct?

665
00:37:30.639 --> 00:37:33.199
Is this a correct application? Now?

666
00:37:33.280 --> 00:37:36.239
The narrative of First Samuel twenty six revolves around David's

667
00:37:36.239 --> 00:37:40.639
opportunity to kill Saul and end to suffering. David refuses,

668
00:37:41.320 --> 00:37:45.239
citing respect for God's anointed and trust in God's sovereignty.

669
00:37:46.199 --> 00:37:52.360
The text highlights David's moral integrity and faith in God's timing.

670
00:37:53.400 --> 00:37:57.440
Right now, again, when we say it reflects David's morality,

671
00:37:57.599 --> 00:38:00.880
you see how confusing that is. He's committed leading up

672
00:38:00.880 --> 00:38:04.159
to it, He's going to commit sin after it. He's

673
00:38:04.199 --> 00:38:06.599
already in a perpetual status in because he doesn't love

674
00:38:06.639 --> 00:38:08.400
God with all of his heart, mind, body, because no

675
00:38:08.440 --> 00:38:11.599
one ever does. The Old Testament says be holy as

676
00:38:11.639 --> 00:38:13.719
God is holy. David is not as holy as God

677
00:38:13.760 --> 00:38:19.559
as holy, So David's already in a perpetual state of sin. Now,

678
00:38:19.599 --> 00:38:24.400
the hypothetical, the hypothetical scenario kind of general, kind of

679
00:38:24.440 --> 00:38:28.440
in a general way. It takes David's specific historical temptation

680
00:38:28.840 --> 00:38:32.000
and tries to make it a universal principle about sin.

681
00:38:32.760 --> 00:38:38.639
So you take this, this situation of David's life, it's

682
00:38:38.679 --> 00:38:43.119
a historical it's a historical temptation, it's a historical narrative,

683
00:38:43.440 --> 00:38:45.679
and then we try to turn that into a kind

684
00:38:45.719 --> 00:38:48.880
of a principle about sin that applies to everyone at

685
00:38:48.880 --> 00:38:53.760
all times. Now, David's situation does involve a clear moral

686
00:38:53.840 --> 00:38:59.280
dilemma whether to kill Saul. The hypothetical introduces a broader

687
00:38:59.320 --> 00:39:04.840
temptation committing any sin to end suffering. This shifts the

688
00:39:04.880 --> 00:39:09.000
focus from David's particular respect for Saul as God's anointed

689
00:39:09.159 --> 00:39:12.360
to a generalized ethical struggle. So, to just make sure

690
00:39:12.360 --> 00:39:16.199
we already realize what's happening for David, the situation is,

691
00:39:16.719 --> 00:39:20.159
Saul is not just a problem that can be resolved

692
00:39:20.159 --> 00:39:25.039
by committing a sin. Saul is God's anointed that would

693
00:39:25.079 --> 00:39:27.719
have to be killed in order to end his suffering.

694
00:39:27.960 --> 00:39:32.960
Can you take that very specific and then generalize it to, hey,

695
00:39:33.119 --> 00:39:37.039
here's your problem. You could commit the sin and fix it. Well,

696
00:39:37.280 --> 00:39:41.079
that's going to be very different than killing God's anointed, right,

697
00:39:41.920 --> 00:39:45.159
isn't there a different Can we generalize that and make

698
00:39:45.239 --> 00:39:46.440
this scenario work?

699
00:39:51.679 --> 00:39:52.480
I just don't know.

700
00:39:53.039 --> 00:39:56.559
Now, the scenario does reflect the broader theme of trusting

701
00:39:56.599 --> 00:40:00.360
God rather than taking matters into one's hands. However, risk

702
00:40:00.480 --> 00:40:04.320
oversimplifying the text by equating David's refusal to harm Saul

703
00:40:04.400 --> 00:40:09.280
with contemporary ethical dilemmas that may lack the same philological grounding.

704
00:40:10.199 --> 00:40:13.000
I think there is some I don't know if this

705
00:40:13.119 --> 00:40:15.000
is a clear.

706
00:40:16.199 --> 00:40:17.000
Well this is.

707
00:40:16.920 --> 00:40:19.719
What happens, So can I can connect it to this.

708
00:40:20.079 --> 00:40:25.480
There's lots of differences here, and well, David may show

709
00:40:25.559 --> 00:40:29.519
trust in God in this situation, he's shown a lack

710
00:40:29.559 --> 00:40:33.599
of trust in God in other situations where he lied

711
00:40:34.079 --> 00:40:34.840
and got a lot.

712
00:40:34.679 --> 00:40:39.079
Of people killed, where he deceived and pretended to be

713
00:40:39.239 --> 00:40:42.599
mad when he wasn't. That's using deceit. That's not trusting God.

714
00:40:44.159 --> 00:40:48.480
And could you not argue, hey, well, David, sauls pursuing

715
00:40:48.519 --> 00:40:50.960
you and other people getting caught in the midst of

716
00:40:50.960 --> 00:40:54.559
this and dying, Well, trust God and just surrender yourself.

717
00:40:54.559 --> 00:40:57.039
You could make an argument, well, if he really trusted God,

718
00:40:57.239 --> 00:40:58.960
he would have just woken up Saul and say, you

719
00:40:59.000 --> 00:41:00.480
know what, this has got to come to an end.

720
00:41:00.599 --> 00:41:04.480
People are suffering here. I am you could make an

721
00:41:04.559 --> 00:41:09.960
argument there right now.

722
00:41:10.440 --> 00:41:13.880
So I just don't know if the text clearly transfers

723
00:41:13.920 --> 00:41:15.920
over to a good application for us. I don't know

724
00:41:15.960 --> 00:41:20.800
if it works perfectly, But maybe there's some philological problems

725
00:41:20.800 --> 00:41:26.159
that could arise from this. See the scenario assumes moral absolutes,

726
00:41:26.639 --> 00:41:31.960
applying any sin to end suffering is unjustifiable. While this

727
00:41:32.039 --> 00:41:36.920
aligns with Biblical teachings on righteousness, it simplifies complex ethical

728
00:41:36.960 --> 00:41:41.880
dilemmas where intentions and outcomes may conflict lying to save

729
00:41:41.920 --> 00:41:46.840
a life in Exodus Chapter one, verses fifteen through twenty one,

730
00:41:47.159 --> 00:41:50.000
is it ever okay to lie to save a life?

731
00:41:50.280 --> 00:41:57.239
Or is it always wrong to lie?

732
00:41:57.480 --> 00:41:57.880
See?

733
00:41:57.920 --> 00:42:01.599
This is almost creates the moral absolution, kind of a

734
00:42:01.679 --> 00:42:04.960
moral absolutes versus contextual ethics.

735
00:42:06.519 --> 00:42:07.920
David and other parts of the.

736
00:42:07.880 --> 00:42:11.880
Text he lies. Some people say, well it makes sense,

737
00:42:11.920 --> 00:42:14.440
and war Well, wouldn't it make sense then to kill Saul?

738
00:42:21.280 --> 00:42:25.400
See this is about moral absolutes versus maybe contextual ethics.

739
00:42:27.119 --> 00:42:29.920
Is it always so simple? Is it always black and white? Well,

740
00:42:30.039 --> 00:42:31.760
there's a part of us that wants to say that

741
00:42:31.840 --> 00:42:36.039
it is. But the Old Testament narratives can get very

742
00:42:36.079 --> 00:42:42.480
difficult sometimes in how to navigate the hypothetical suggestion or

743
00:42:42.519 --> 00:42:46.320
the hypothetical scenario. Seems to suggest that suffering should always

744
00:42:46.360 --> 00:42:49.079
be endured without shortcuts.

745
00:42:48.840 --> 00:42:51.000
Reflecting the sermon's emphasis.

746
00:42:51.199 --> 00:42:54.159
In this entire sermon, it reflects the emphasis on trusting

747
00:42:54.159 --> 00:42:58.320
God's deliverance. However, this view can oversimplify Christian response to

748
00:42:58.400 --> 00:43:04.280
suffering neglect situations where proactive measures, though morally ambiguous, may

749
00:43:04.320 --> 00:43:08.360
be justified. Do we simply say, hey, you're suffering. Guess what,

750
00:43:08.920 --> 00:43:12.320
don't do anything wrong to stop the suffering.

751
00:43:12.639 --> 00:43:15.199
Just endure the suffering. Trust God in it.

752
00:43:15.280 --> 00:43:22.119
Well, okay, again David, he's like, I'm not going to

753
00:43:22.159 --> 00:43:23.920
do this and I'm just going to endure the suffering.

754
00:43:23.960 --> 00:43:27.159
But he's done other things, which again demonstrates we're never

755
00:43:27.599 --> 00:43:28.960
clearly always right.

756
00:43:29.079 --> 00:43:29.440
I mean, we.

757
00:43:31.039 --> 00:43:33.840
Always are a mixture of good and right. That's why

758
00:43:33.880 --> 00:43:37.519
it's never I mean, we're always just wherever good is,

759
00:43:37.800 --> 00:43:40.440
sin is right there next to it because we are sinners.

760
00:43:45.760 --> 00:43:50.280
Drawing parallels between David's actions and contemporary believers, risk may

761
00:43:50.280 --> 00:43:55.840
be overextending the typology. David's refusal to harm Saul reflects

762
00:43:55.840 --> 00:43:59.079
his unique role in Israel's history, particularly as a foreshadowing

763
00:43:59.119 --> 00:44:05.679
of Christ. Lying this narrative universally may obscure the crystological focus. Okay,

764
00:44:05.760 --> 00:44:09.039
maybe I just don't know if it works. I don't

765
00:44:09.079 --> 00:44:11.159
know if it's that if it's that.

766
00:44:11.239 --> 00:44:13.000
Easy to transfer it over.

767
00:44:16.440 --> 00:44:20.559
Are there any logical concerns with this hypothetical scenario that

768
00:44:20.639 --> 00:44:24.519
he has created. Well, the scenario seems to frame the

769
00:44:24.679 --> 00:44:31.119
choice as binary, commit sin or endore suffering. This is

770
00:44:31.159 --> 00:44:34.920
an over This may be an oversimplification of a real

771
00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:40.000
life situation where alternatives often exist and moral reasoning involves

772
00:44:40.079 --> 00:44:41.599
nuanced decision making.

773
00:44:42.119 --> 00:44:42.960
I don't know if things.

774
00:44:42.840 --> 00:44:45.800
Are always that binary, it's always so this or that.

775
00:44:46.119 --> 00:44:52.079
Sometimes things are complicated and layered. But I think another

776
00:44:52.199 --> 00:44:55.119
issue is it kind of so not only is maybe

777
00:44:55.159 --> 00:45:00.559
a kind of an unrealistic as an oversimplification, Maybe it's

778
00:45:00.679 --> 00:45:03.400
just like it's either it's this or that.

779
00:45:03.400 --> 00:45:07.000
It may not be that simple, but could it not?

780
00:45:07.280 --> 00:45:12.800
Also kind of basically as a reduction of sin's complexity,

781
00:45:12.840 --> 00:45:17.639
maybe see by pop By putting this forth as a

782
00:45:17.679 --> 00:45:22.079
single sin as a solution, the hypothetical scenario falls to

783
00:45:22.199 --> 00:45:27.280
account for the cascading effects of sin, both spiritually and relationally.

784
00:45:27.599 --> 00:45:32.719
Sin rarely functions as an isolated act with contained consequences.

785
00:45:32.880 --> 00:45:36.480
Sin never works that way. You David could have committed

786
00:45:36.519 --> 00:45:38.719
that sin and fixed all the problems? Would it have

787
00:45:38.800 --> 00:45:45.559
fixed all the problems? Sin is never Sin is complex.

788
00:45:46.039 --> 00:45:48.360
Well if you do this, well what if you do that? Well,

789
00:45:48.400 --> 00:45:49.920
if you do this, it's a sin. But if you

790
00:45:49.920 --> 00:45:54.440
don't do this, I mean, it's so complicated. There's the external,

791
00:45:54.480 --> 00:45:57.480
there's the internal, there's this could cause this, and this

792
00:45:58.679 --> 00:46:02.199
it seems to just reduce it to David was forced,

793
00:46:02.559 --> 00:46:06.280
was was faced with just one situation, And then you

794
00:46:06.320 --> 00:46:12.679
could argue, well, we'll, we'll we'll talk about that in

795
00:46:12.679 --> 00:46:15.079
a minute. We'll talk about what happens in twenty seven.

796
00:46:15.280 --> 00:46:17.440
We may mention twenty seven in a minute. We may

797
00:46:17.440 --> 00:46:20.360
mention twenty seven in a minute. All right, But if

798
00:46:20.360 --> 00:46:25.159
you if you're asking believers to consider this hypothetical, it

799
00:46:25.239 --> 00:46:31.039
may unintentionally induce guilt or anxiety, especially if they struggle

800
00:46:31.079 --> 00:46:35.400
to distinguish between resisting sin and addressing suffering through legitimate means.

801
00:46:35.400 --> 00:46:36.519
It may it may.

802
00:46:36.360 --> 00:46:39.239
Lead this whole story could lead to hey, hey, hey, hey,

803
00:46:39.480 --> 00:46:42.800
don't do anything to stop the pain and suffering, just

804
00:46:43.039 --> 00:46:43.679
endure it.

805
00:46:43.719 --> 00:46:47.320
Well, I understand this is an idea about sinning.

806
00:46:47.599 --> 00:46:48.400
I don't know.

807
00:46:48.480 --> 00:46:49.199
It just seems to.

808
00:46:49.239 --> 00:46:58.320
Become becomes more complicated. So I was struggling with this.

809
00:46:58.400 --> 00:47:02.079
So I did then approach Ai. And this is what

810
00:47:02.360 --> 00:47:06.599
I said to Ai. From a philological perspective, doesn't Christianity

811
00:47:06.639 --> 00:47:11.960
make this approach almost nonsensical? If I commit or don't

812
00:47:11.960 --> 00:47:15.480
commit one sin, the reality is I'm in a perpetual

813
00:47:15.519 --> 00:47:17.920
state and cycle of sin because we can never keep

814
00:47:17.960 --> 00:47:20.000
the basic laws like be holy as God is holy,

815
00:47:20.280 --> 00:47:22.679
loved God with all our heart, soul, mind, and body.

816
00:47:22.800 --> 00:47:24.480
So I went to AI and was like, hey, I

817
00:47:24.480 --> 00:47:26.239
got a problem with this entire sermon.

818
00:47:26.280 --> 00:47:27.519
I got a problem with this.

819
00:47:28.360 --> 00:47:31.599
So I wanted to know how AI would critique my approach.

820
00:47:31.639 --> 00:47:35.280
So AI said, you raise a critical philological concern that

821
00:47:35.360 --> 00:47:39.679
challenges the practicality of the sermon's hypothetical scenario from.

822
00:47:39.559 --> 00:47:41.519
A biblical and philological perspective.

823
00:47:41.760 --> 00:47:46.159
Christianity indeed acknowledges the perpetual nature of human sinfulness, which

824
00:47:46.239 --> 00:47:49.039
complicates the notion of a single act of obedience or

825
00:47:49.039 --> 00:47:53.880
disobedience resolving, suffering, or fulfilling God's standard of holiness. So

826
00:47:54.199 --> 00:47:58.639
then it says, let's well. AI then says, I'm going

827
00:47:58.679 --> 00:48:05.360
to critique this entire situation, and then it gives some observations. First,

828
00:48:05.440 --> 00:48:09.199
AI gives me the Christian doctrine of sin perpetual state

829
00:48:09.239 --> 00:48:13.199
of sinfulness. Christianity teaches that all humans are inherently sinful.

830
00:48:13.519 --> 00:48:17.320
Even after salvation, believers remain in a constant struggle against

831
00:48:17.320 --> 00:48:19.880
sin due to their fallen nature. Thus, the idea of

832
00:48:19.880 --> 00:48:23.960
refraining from a single sin as a decisive moral victory

833
00:48:24.280 --> 00:48:27.960
fills incongruent with the broader reality of ongoing sin.

834
00:48:28.119 --> 00:48:30.159
Hey, well, David didn't commit.

835
00:48:29.920 --> 00:48:32.960
This sin, but as we've already seen, he committed sin

836
00:48:33.079 --> 00:48:33.920
leading up to it.

837
00:48:34.079 --> 00:48:39.360
He's going to commit sin after it. So how does

838
00:48:39.400 --> 00:48:40.199
that even work?

839
00:48:41.320 --> 00:48:43.639
The Biblical commands to be holy as I am holy,

840
00:48:44.320 --> 00:48:46.920
and to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, strength,

841
00:48:47.000 --> 00:48:51.480
body are absolute standards no one can fully achieve. These

842
00:48:51.559 --> 00:48:54.559
laws serve not as achievable goals, but as a reminder

843
00:48:54.559 --> 00:48:57.360
of our need for grace. Sin is not limited to

844
00:48:57.400 --> 00:48:59.920
an isolated action, but includes thoughts at a.

845
00:49:00.079 --> 00:49:00.920
Dudes and motives.

846
00:49:01.039 --> 00:49:04.280
This holistic understanding of sin means that even avoiding a

847
00:49:04.320 --> 00:49:07.119
single sinful act does not make one righteous, as a

848
00:49:07.159 --> 00:49:10.800
heart remains inclined towards sin. So AI is like, hey,

849
00:49:11.079 --> 00:49:13.000
you're right, people are sinful.

850
00:49:13.320 --> 00:49:15.280
So reducing this to.

851
00:49:16.880 --> 00:49:20.320
Committing an act or not committing an act just seems

852
00:49:20.360 --> 00:49:31.199
to over just seems to ignore the reality. The hypotheticals,

853
00:49:31.559 --> 00:49:33.719
well we I'll just read some different things here that

854
00:49:33.760 --> 00:49:36.360
AI goes on to say, I won't read everything. The

855
00:49:36.440 --> 00:49:41.559
hypothetical emphasizes moral decision making, as though avoiding one sin

856
00:49:41.679 --> 00:49:46.119
could secure righteousness or solve suffering. This approach risk veering

857
00:49:46.199 --> 00:49:49.679
into legalism, ignoring the core Christian doctrine that salvation and

858
00:49:49.719 --> 00:49:54.119
sanctification comes through grace. Not works, since Christians continually fall

859
00:49:54.159 --> 00:49:56.840
short of God's standard. Focusing on whether to commit or

860
00:49:56.880 --> 00:50:00.519
avoid a single sin misses the point of grace. Gospel

861
00:50:00.519 --> 00:50:03.239
message is that Christ's righteousness, not our own, is the

862
00:50:03.280 --> 00:50:06.159
basis for our standing before God. So again, it just

863
00:50:06.199 --> 00:50:09.519
seems to reduce sin to one act, and sin is

864
00:50:09.599 --> 00:50:18.000
much more. It's more than that. There's some logical problems here.

865
00:50:18.239 --> 00:50:23.280
Perpetual sin neutralizes the hypothetical impact. If believers are in

866
00:50:23.320 --> 00:50:26.159
a constant cycle of sin, avoiding one sin does not

867
00:50:26.239 --> 00:50:29.360
fundamentally alter that state before God. The focus on a

868
00:50:29.400 --> 00:50:32.639
single moment of sin fails to address the deeper, ongoing

869
00:50:32.960 --> 00:50:37.679
reality of human sinfulness. The hypothetical suggests that avoiding sin

870
00:50:37.880 --> 00:50:40.440
will somehow lead to a better outcome, or at least

871
00:50:40.519 --> 00:50:45.039
a clear conscience. However, suffering often persists regardless of moral choices,

872
00:50:45.119 --> 00:50:48.159
as seen in Job's story or Paul's Thorn in the Flesh.

873
00:50:48.320 --> 00:50:52.239
Christianity teaches that humanity's problem is a corporate and system

874
00:50:52.360 --> 00:50:56.679
and systemic, not just individual. This broader understanding undermines the

875
00:50:56.760 --> 00:51:03.039
hypothetical narrow focus on personal decision making. All right, so

876
00:51:03.440 --> 00:51:07.880
AI offers a lot of ongoing issues. I've got pages

877
00:51:07.920 --> 00:51:12.679
here of things. AI gives me, like, you know, an

878
00:51:12.880 --> 00:51:18.199
entire novel, an entire book on all of the issues here.

879
00:51:18.199 --> 00:51:21.039
But I am going to ask Ai something. I'm going

880
00:51:21.079 --> 00:51:32.880
to ask AI something. Does David commit sin? And First

881
00:51:33.599 --> 00:51:44.519
Samuel twenty seven right after the events of First Samuel

882
00:51:45.679 --> 00:51:58.800
twenty six? I see here, I see so here we go.

883
00:51:59.599 --> 00:52:01.599
See this is where he gets I told you he

884
00:52:01.639 --> 00:52:05.519
commits sin right before and then this is what AI says.

885
00:52:06.119 --> 00:52:06.400
Yes.

886
00:52:06.559 --> 00:52:10.079
David's actions and First Samuel twenty seven immediately following the

887
00:52:10.079 --> 00:52:12.960
events of First Samuel twenty six can be viewed as

888
00:52:13.000 --> 00:52:16.960
sinful or at least morally questionable from a thiological perspective,

889
00:52:17.159 --> 00:52:20.320
while the text does not explicitly label his actions as sinful.

890
00:52:20.559 --> 00:52:21.519
David engages and.

891
00:52:21.599 --> 00:52:25.480
Deceit violence and a lack of trust in God's protection.

892
00:52:26.440 --> 00:52:29.840
And First Samuel twenty seven one through four what he

893
00:52:29.920 --> 00:52:34.199
flees to the Philistines after sparing Saul's life. David expresses

894
00:52:34.280 --> 00:52:37.599
to Spare saying, now I shall perish one day by

895
00:52:37.639 --> 00:52:39.960
the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me

896
00:52:40.239 --> 00:52:42.559
than I should escape to the land of the Philistines.

897
00:52:43.000 --> 00:52:47.159
So it's like, what this seems to demonstrate. David's like, Okay,

898
00:52:47.159 --> 00:52:49.320
I'm not going to use the spear. I'm not going

899
00:52:49.360 --> 00:52:52.480
to do this. I'm gonna be Godly because he's the anointed.

900
00:52:52.639 --> 00:52:55.679
And then immediately after he's like, but I'm now gonna

901
00:52:55.719 --> 00:52:59.920
be killed by Saul. So you can see that internal

902
00:53:00.760 --> 00:53:04.639
his external may not match what was going on in Internally,

903
00:53:04.679 --> 00:53:07.639
He's like, man, I just messed up. Now I'm going

904
00:53:07.679 --> 00:53:10.159
to die, and so I've got to run to the Philistines.

905
00:53:10.800 --> 00:53:13.239
Well wait a minute, I thought David was showing his

906
00:53:13.480 --> 00:53:14.559
trust in God.

907
00:53:16.039 --> 00:53:18.079
It didn't last very long, did it.

908
00:53:20.199 --> 00:53:23.199
This statement reflects a lack of trust in God's promise

909
00:53:23.239 --> 00:53:26.599
to make David king. Despite God's repeated deliverance from Saul,

910
00:53:26.800 --> 00:53:30.800
David seems overwhelmed by fear and uncertainty certainty, leading him

911
00:53:30.840 --> 00:53:33.360
to take refuge among Israel's enemies.

912
00:53:33.440 --> 00:53:40.440
He runs to Israel's enemies like, see, you can't just.

913
00:53:40.440 --> 00:53:44.960
Reduce this story to there's the spear, David doesn't use it,

914
00:53:45.000 --> 00:53:48.199
and now we create this hypothetical situation The story is

915
00:53:48.280 --> 00:53:50.840
much more complex, just like life is that is much

916
00:53:50.880 --> 00:53:57.039
more complex. He makes an alliance with Akish. All right,

917
00:53:57.360 --> 00:54:01.320
David seeks asylum from Akish, King of God, and as

918
00:54:01.400 --> 00:54:05.239
given the town of Ziklag. While this move provides temporary

919
00:54:05.280 --> 00:54:07.880
safety of allignes David with the Philistines, where the enemies

920
00:54:07.920 --> 00:54:11.000
of Israel. This compromises his position as the future king

921
00:54:11.039 --> 00:54:13.760
of God's people.

922
00:54:14.000 --> 00:54:15.079
Deception and raids.

923
00:54:15.079 --> 00:54:18.320
For Samuel twenty seven eight through twelve, David leads raids

924
00:54:18.639 --> 00:54:26.760
against neighboring peoples and destroying entire populations. David would leave

925
00:54:26.840 --> 00:54:30.599
neither man nor woman alive for Samuel twenty seven to nine,

926
00:54:30.800 --> 00:54:33.760
so he won't kill Saul, but he goes and kills

927
00:54:33.800 --> 00:54:44.320
other people. However, he deceives Akish by claiming that he

928
00:54:44.440 --> 00:54:48.000
is attacking Judah and other Israel territories. This convinces Akish

929
00:54:48.000 --> 00:54:51.079
that David has turned against Israel, making him a trusted ally.

930
00:54:51.280 --> 00:54:57.719
David's actions involves deceit, excessive violence, plundering including livestock, clothing,

931
00:54:57.760 --> 00:55:03.119
and other goods. So he lies, he kills, he stials,

932
00:55:03.480 --> 00:55:08.119
but hey, David didn't use the spear, so.

933
00:55:08.000 --> 00:55:09.320
You could say it this way.

934
00:55:09.800 --> 00:55:12.880
See, he turns this story in David didn't use the

935
00:55:12.960 --> 00:55:16.519
spear right, but he could have solved all of his

936
00:55:16.599 --> 00:55:19.840
problems by using the spear well, by not using the spear.

937
00:55:20.119 --> 00:55:22.079
David then finds himself.

938
00:55:21.679 --> 00:55:27.119
Now killing, lying, deceiving, and stealing. Like this story is no,

939
00:55:27.280 --> 00:55:28.280
I don't know how we.

940
00:55:28.400 --> 00:55:31.199
Just turned this into this, Morald. The whole thing is

941
00:55:31.320 --> 00:55:37.119
confusing to me. Let's see how he treats how David's

942
00:55:37.519 --> 00:55:38.239
actions here.

943
00:55:40.679 --> 00:55:43.119
So we noticed, first of all, David's temptation. But now

944
00:55:43.119 --> 00:55:45.519
we come to our second point, which is to look

945
00:55:45.679 --> 00:55:51.599
at David's response. And as we look at David's response,

946
00:55:52.239 --> 00:55:54.639
two things really stand out, and I want us to

947
00:55:54.679 --> 00:55:57.480
look at both of those in turn. The first is

948
00:55:58.760 --> 00:56:04.280
David was committed to doing right and not wrong. David

949
00:56:04.480 --> 00:56:06.280
was committed to doing.

950
00:56:06.079 --> 00:56:07.920
Right and not wrong.

951
00:56:09.159 --> 00:56:12.119
In verse nine, his words are so telling, who can

952
00:56:12.159 --> 00:56:15.119
put out his hand against the Lord's anointed.

953
00:56:15.199 --> 00:56:17.400
And be guiltless?

954
00:56:17.760 --> 00:56:20.480
He understands that it would be a sin for him

955
00:56:21.079 --> 00:56:25.400
to do wrong to Saul, and so David has resolved

956
00:56:25.559 --> 00:56:29.400
not to do wrong to Saul. His hand would not

957
00:56:29.480 --> 00:56:32.199
be the hand of harm, and in fact, he wouldn't

958
00:56:32.199 --> 00:56:36.079
even allow other people to do that under his command,

959
00:56:37.039 --> 00:56:40.519
and he even chastises Abner and all the other soldiers

960
00:56:40.519 --> 00:56:42.960
on the other side of the hill because they haven't

961
00:56:42.960 --> 00:56:45.280
done their job protecting Saul. He says, what you have

962
00:56:45.320 --> 00:56:47.800
done is not good and you deserve to die for

963
00:56:47.840 --> 00:56:50.639
the way you have failed to protect.

964
00:56:50.280 --> 00:56:51.760
This man's life.

965
00:56:51.960 --> 00:56:55.280
And so David is committed to not doing what's wrong.

966
00:56:56.559 --> 00:56:59.440
But notice he's also committed to doing what's right.

967
00:57:01.719 --> 00:57:05.280
I mean, the absurdity here is hard for me.

968
00:57:05.840 --> 00:57:09.480
Or maybe I don't know the contrasting David is committed

969
00:57:09.519 --> 00:57:12.840
to not doing wrong, and then in First Samuel twenty seven,

970
00:57:13.039 --> 00:57:16.199
immediately after he won't use the spear. Look at Fort

971
00:57:16.199 --> 00:57:19.360
Samuel twenty seven nine. Whenever David attacked the land, he

972
00:57:19.480 --> 00:57:22.840
left neither man nor woman alive, but took away the sheep,

973
00:57:22.960 --> 00:57:25.920
the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the apparel and

974
00:57:25.960 --> 00:57:31.239
returned and came to akish.

975
00:57:29.119 --> 00:57:30.679
He's slaughtering people.

976
00:57:32.239 --> 00:57:35.880
He is using to see he teams up with Israel's

977
00:57:36.000 --> 00:57:37.920
enemies and slaughters people.

978
00:57:37.960 --> 00:57:41.559
But hey, David is committed to not doing wrong.

979
00:57:41.679 --> 00:57:47.440
In twenty six see David won't kill Saul, but then

980
00:57:47.800 --> 00:57:50.920
as a result, now he's scared for his life flees

981
00:57:51.079 --> 00:57:53.800
teams up with the bad guys and kills people.

982
00:57:53.960 --> 00:57:55.840
And what did those people are being slaughtered?

983
00:57:55.840 --> 00:58:04.840
Do Innocent women, innocent men died had their property stolen

984
00:58:05.079 --> 00:58:11.079
by good guy David because David would not kill Saul. Oh,

985
00:58:11.199 --> 00:58:13.480
I won't kill Saul, but I'll go kill that woman

986
00:58:13.519 --> 00:58:16.199
over there. I won't kill Saul, but i'll go kill

987
00:58:16.199 --> 00:58:18.119
that man over there. I won't kill Saul, but I'll

988
00:58:18.119 --> 00:58:20.840
steal all of their property. Hey, hey, I'll.

989
00:58:20.639 --> 00:58:23.639
Go team up with the but but I won't kill Saul.

990
00:58:26.480 --> 00:58:28.880
If David would have killed Saul, then all these other

991
00:58:28.880 --> 00:58:32.079
people would have been spared. So we're gonna turn this

992
00:58:32.159 --> 00:58:35.079
story into be like David. Okay, I'll be like David.

993
00:58:35.199 --> 00:58:37.760
I won't use I keep saying the sword. I won't

994
00:58:37.840 --> 00:58:40.519
use the spear. I won't use the spear. I won't

995
00:58:40.719 --> 00:58:43.639
I won't kill Saul. I won't do this bad thing.

996
00:58:43.840 --> 00:58:45.880
But you know what, I'm not gonna do this bad

997
00:58:45.920 --> 00:58:48.079
thing here to end all of my problems and suffering,

998
00:58:48.159 --> 00:58:52.159
I'm just gonna go, I don't know, still kill slaughter people.

999
00:58:52.480 --> 00:58:56.079
But hey, I didn't do that one sin. Oh, David's

1000
00:58:56.119 --> 00:59:01.920
such a good guy. What a great guy, David. If

1001
00:59:01.920 --> 00:59:04.159
you would have killed Saul, then these other people wouldn't

1002
00:59:04.159 --> 00:59:10.840
have had to die. But David doesn't kill Saul with

1003
00:59:11.000 --> 00:59:13.800
the spear, not the sword. How many times am I

1004
00:59:13.800 --> 00:59:16.000
going to mess that up? And yet what does he do?

1005
00:59:16.800 --> 00:59:25.440
Like, I don't even know how you what in the world? Okay?

1006
00:59:28.639 --> 00:59:29.360
I love it.

1007
00:59:29.440 --> 00:59:32.280
At the end this conversation that he has with Saul,

1008
00:59:32.360 --> 00:59:35.559
which is actually the last time they speak together in

1009
00:59:35.880 --> 00:59:40.119
this entire narrative account, and as they're talking about what

1010
00:59:40.360 --> 00:59:43.679
just happened, and as Saul is pleading for David to

1011
00:59:43.760 --> 00:59:48.519
come back to him, they describe David's actions that day

1012
00:59:49.280 --> 00:59:55.119
as seeing Saul's life as precious. In verse twenty one,

1013
00:59:55.760 --> 01:00:01.239
even Saul, in all his unbelief and in all his

1014
01:00:01.280 --> 01:00:06.480
hatred of David, could say, my life was precious in.

1015
01:00:06.440 --> 01:00:08.119
Your eyes this day.

1016
01:00:09.559 --> 01:00:12.960
You see, David was focused not only on not doing

1017
01:00:13.000 --> 01:00:16.599
what's wrong, but David was also focused on doing what

1018
01:00:16.760 --> 01:00:20.679
was right. And what was right is to see Saul's

1019
01:00:20.760 --> 01:00:25.039
life as precious, to honor his life with the dignity

1020
01:00:25.320 --> 01:00:26.239
that it deserves.

1021
01:00:30.599 --> 01:00:33.599
Hey, Hey, David was committed to do what's right because

1022
01:00:33.719 --> 01:00:38.159
he saw Saul's life is something that is to be respected.

1023
01:00:38.280 --> 01:00:41.079
And in other words, the dignity of life.

1024
01:00:41.119 --> 01:00:43.960
I guess the men and women's slaughtering over in chapter

1025
01:00:44.000 --> 01:00:47.880
twenty seven they don't matter. I guess the men, women

1026
01:00:47.920 --> 01:00:51.519
and children got slaughtered earlier on because of David's lie.

1027
01:00:51.800 --> 01:00:55.760
The whole thing seems to First Samuel twenty seven.

1028
01:00:57.159 --> 01:01:01.480
On Samuel twenty seven undermines the premise of the entire sermon.

1029
01:01:01.880 --> 01:01:04.880
The sermon builds its argument around David's moral restraint at

1030
01:01:04.880 --> 01:01:09.800
for Samuel twenty six, using it to create a hypothetical scenario,

1031
01:01:10.199 --> 01:01:12.400
what if you could commit a sin and make all

1032
01:01:12.440 --> 01:01:15.519
your suffering go away. David's refusal to harm Saul is

1033
01:01:15.519 --> 01:01:19.159
presented as an idealized response of trust in God and

1034
01:01:19.199 --> 01:01:23.239
faithfulness under pressure. However, in First Samuel twenty seven immediately

1035
01:01:23.280 --> 01:01:28.039
shows David's succumbing to fear, despair, and morally ambiguous actions,

1036
01:01:28.159 --> 01:01:32.159
which disrupts the clean moral narrative the sermon tries to construct.

1037
01:01:34.320 --> 01:01:37.360
The sermon betrays David as a model of moral restraint

1038
01:01:37.440 --> 01:01:40.519
who refuses to use the spear, commits sin to solve

1039
01:01:40.559 --> 01:01:44.159
a suffering, a man fully trusting in God's deliverance despite

1040
01:01:44.159 --> 01:01:47.519
the ongoing threat of Saul, A foreshadowing of Christ's perfect

1041
01:01:47.519 --> 01:01:51.920
obedience under temptation. The hypothetical scenario rest on the assumption

1042
01:01:52.159 --> 01:01:55.880
that David's refusal to kill to sin and not killing

1043
01:01:55.920 --> 01:01:59.760
Saul exemplifies the believer's ideal response when faced with tim

1044
01:01:59.760 --> 01:02:04.039
tae to alleviate suffering through sin. But in First Samuel

1045
01:02:04.079 --> 01:02:08.599
twenty seven we have a completely contrasting picture, and First

1046
01:02:08.639 --> 01:02:12.599
Samuel twenty seven David despairs and doubts God's promises. David

1047
01:02:12.639 --> 01:02:16.079
explicitly doubts God's ability to protect him from Saul. Now

1048
01:02:16.119 --> 01:02:18.719
I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul,

1049
01:02:18.800 --> 01:02:22.159
one Samuel twenty seven to one. This contradicts the trust

1050
01:02:22.280 --> 01:02:26.039
emphasized in On Samuel twenty six. He takes matters into

1051
01:02:26.039 --> 01:02:28.920
his own hands. Instead of waiting for God's deliverance. David

1052
01:02:28.960 --> 01:02:33.199
flees to the Philistines, allying himself with Israel's enemies. He

1053
01:02:33.320 --> 01:02:37.840
engages in deception and violence. David deceives akish the Philistine

1054
01:02:37.920 --> 01:02:41.239
king by about the targets of his raids, and engages

1055
01:02:41.280 --> 01:02:48.400
in morally questionable violence by annihilating entire populations, including non combatants.

1056
01:02:48.519 --> 01:02:54.599
He's killing innocence, he's killing civilians. These actions revealed that David,

1057
01:02:54.679 --> 01:02:58.159
like all humans, is not consistently righteous. His actions in

1058
01:02:58.239 --> 01:03:02.519
First Samuel twenty seven are riven by fear, self preservation,

1059
01:03:02.760 --> 01:03:06.559
and pragmatism rather than the faith and restraint seen in

1060
01:03:06.599 --> 01:03:12.360
First Samuel twenty six. First Samuel twenty seven undermines the

1061
01:03:12.559 --> 01:03:20.519
entire sermon hypothetical situation moral consistency is unrealistic. The sermon

1062
01:03:20.559 --> 01:03:23.960
assumes that David's restrain in First Samuel twenty six is

1063
01:03:23.960 --> 01:03:27.599
a sustainable model of faithfulness. However, First Samuel twenty seven

1064
01:03:27.679 --> 01:03:30.159
demonstrated that even David, a man after God's own heart,

1065
01:03:30.320 --> 01:03:33.760
struggles with ongoing sin and fails to struggle to trust

1066
01:03:33.800 --> 01:03:38.280
God consistently. Sin cannot be avoided and practice or thought.

1067
01:03:38.440 --> 01:03:41.559
The sermon frames the moral dilemma as a binary choice

1068
01:03:41.599 --> 01:03:44.760
to commit one sin to end suffering or to endure faithfully.

1069
01:03:44.920 --> 01:03:47.400
But for Samuel twenty seven shows that even when avoiding

1070
01:03:47.440 --> 01:03:52.440
one sin killing Saul, other sins, deception, doubt, violence, and

1071
01:03:52.559 --> 01:03:57.599
often arise in response to ongoing suffering. The sermon emphasizes

1072
01:03:57.719 --> 01:04:01.119
unwavering trust in God, but First Samuel twenty seven highlights

1073
01:04:01.159 --> 01:04:05.280
the reality that even faithful believers can waiver under pressure.

1074
01:04:05.559 --> 01:04:08.880
David's fear of Saul overrides his confidence in God's promise,

1075
01:04:09.000 --> 01:04:13.599
leading to flaw decisions. The sermon links David's response to

1076
01:04:13.639 --> 01:04:17.480
Saul with Christ's perfect obedience. However, On Samuel twenty seven

1077
01:04:17.519 --> 01:04:22.360
reveals David's fallibility, highlighting the contrast between David a flaw

1078
01:04:22.559 --> 01:04:32.159
human being and Christ's the perfect savior to align with

1079
01:04:32.199 --> 01:04:34.239
the reality of First Samuel twenty seven.

1080
01:04:34.559 --> 01:04:36.239
A more philologically.

1081
01:04:35.679 --> 01:04:39.280
Balanced approach to First Samuel twenty six would be acknowledge

1082
01:04:39.360 --> 01:04:43.800
David's humanity, emphasize that David's restraint and sparing Saul is

1083
01:04:43.840 --> 01:04:46.599
a moment of faithfulness, but not an indication of moral

1084
01:04:46.639 --> 01:04:50.800
perfection or sustainable righteousness. This should show that even David's

1085
01:04:50.800 --> 01:04:54.280
best moments are followed by failure, demonstrating humanity's ongoing need

1086
01:04:54.280 --> 01:04:55.079
for God's.

1087
01:04:54.760 --> 01:04:56.199
Mercy and Christ's righteousness.

1088
01:04:56.360 --> 01:05:01.559
Instead of equating David's action with Christ's perfection, use David's failure.

1089
01:05:01.360 --> 01:05:02.519
To point to Jesus.

1090
01:05:04.320 --> 01:05:09.679
First Samuel twenty seven indeed destroys the entire premise of

1091
01:05:09.920 --> 01:05:22.360
this sermon. Oh Man, alive, ladies and gentlemen, this is

1092
01:05:22.480 --> 01:05:26.360
why see you go to church. Someone takes for Samuel

1093
01:05:26.400 --> 01:05:31.280
twenty six preaches an entire sermon where the very next

1094
01:05:31.599 --> 01:05:37.280
chapter destroys the entire meaning the entire sermon. And guess

1095
01:05:37.280 --> 01:05:41.320
what if you remember part one. For this church that's

1096
01:05:41.360 --> 01:05:44.960
preaching for Samuel twenty six, they're preaching for Samuel twenty six.

1097
01:05:45.800 --> 01:05:49.960
Guess when they're gonna preach for Samuel twenty seven. Sometime

1098
01:05:50.000 --> 01:05:52.679
in twenty twenty five. They're taking the entire rest of

1099
01:05:52.719 --> 01:05:58.119
December off from preaching for Samuel. So by the time

1100
01:05:58.159 --> 01:06:00.960
you get to twenty seven, it's going to be completely

1101
01:06:01.039 --> 01:06:04.599
disjointed and disconnected from twenty six. How can you preach

1102
01:06:04.679 --> 01:06:08.079
twenty six in this standalone way without saying, wait a minute,

1103
01:06:08.079 --> 01:06:10.119
Wait a minute, guys, I can't say some of these

1104
01:06:10.119 --> 01:06:12.880
things because twenty seven is going to be a complete

1105
01:06:13.000 --> 01:06:15.119
contradiction of everything in twenty six.

1106
01:06:17.079 --> 01:06:18.400
Let's at least wrap this up.

1107
01:06:21.440 --> 01:06:21.679
Now.

1108
01:06:21.719 --> 01:06:25.360
It's important to realize too, that in David's commitment to

1109
01:06:25.960 --> 01:06:28.880
not doing what's wrong and in his commitment to doing

1110
01:06:28.960 --> 01:06:34.960
what's right, he's also not a fool about this. David

1111
01:06:35.039 --> 01:06:37.840
shows us amazing wisdom, especially in the face of an

1112
01:06:37.920 --> 01:06:43.440
unrepentant person, which is what Saul ultimately is. You know,

1113
01:06:43.519 --> 01:06:47.800
in the narrative, Saul lays it on thick, doesn't he

1114
01:06:47.800 --> 01:06:50.960
he's moved, He says more than he ever has. He

1115
01:06:51.000 --> 01:06:54.880
says he's sinned, he says he's been a fool. He

1116
01:06:54.920 --> 01:06:59.559
says he's made a great mistake. He invites David to return.

1117
01:06:59.679 --> 01:07:05.159
He promises he's never gonna hurt him. And I think Saul,

1118
01:07:05.360 --> 01:07:08.280
in his self deception, believes all those things when he's

1119
01:07:08.320 --> 01:07:08.800
saying them.

1120
01:07:10.679 --> 01:07:14.280
But will it actually change what he does? It won't.

1121
01:07:14.760 --> 01:07:16.360
And what's so encouraging here.

1122
01:07:16.280 --> 01:07:20.480
Is that David is wise and he sees Saul's empty

1123
01:07:20.519 --> 01:07:24.599
words for what they truly are. And I love it

1124
01:07:24.639 --> 01:07:26.840
how one commentator says this, and I was like, Oh,

1125
01:07:26.920 --> 01:07:29.280
that just makes sense of so much that we face

1126
01:07:29.320 --> 01:07:33.039
in life. He says, just because Saul has been a fool,

1127
01:07:33.920 --> 01:07:36.239
which is what Saul says of himself, I've been.

1128
01:07:36.199 --> 01:07:38.760
Like a nay ball, is basically what he's saying here.

1129
01:07:39.480 --> 01:07:42.559
Just because Saul has been a fool, it doesn't mean

1130
01:07:42.599 --> 01:07:45.800
that David has to be a fool. And so you

1131
01:07:45.880 --> 01:07:50.559
notice David doesn't go along with him. And so in

1132
01:07:50.599 --> 01:07:53.880
this section we see David is committed to doing what

1133
01:07:54.039 --> 01:07:58.639
is right to not doing what is wrong. And in reality.

1134
01:07:58.679 --> 01:08:01.280
He doesn't know how it's all going to turn out.

1135
01:08:02.519 --> 01:08:03.719
But the first thing that.

1136
01:08:03.639 --> 01:08:06.519
We see is he's wisely guided.

1137
01:08:06.280 --> 01:08:09.519
Walking through this trial by what is wrong and what

1138
01:08:09.639 --> 01:08:14.480
is right. But the second thing that we see is

1139
01:08:14.519 --> 01:08:17.239
not only was David committed to doing right and not wrong,

1140
01:08:18.039 --> 01:08:24.800
but David trusted the Lord's deliverance. David trusted the Lord's deliverance.

1141
01:08:26.479 --> 01:08:28.880
I mean, he just lays it on. David does all

1142
01:08:28.920 --> 01:08:35.239
these wonderful things. And the very next chapter, the very

1143
01:08:35.399 --> 01:08:38.000
next chap, I mean it starts off immediately David's like,

1144
01:08:38.039 --> 01:08:39.960
oh no, Saul's going to kill me.

1145
01:08:40.119 --> 01:08:41.880
Let me go join the Philistines.

1146
01:08:41.920 --> 01:08:44.479
And the next thing, you know, whenever David attacked the land,

1147
01:08:44.520 --> 01:08:47.000
he left neither man nor woman alive, but took away

1148
01:08:47.039 --> 01:08:49.239
the sheep, the ox, and the donkeys, the camels and

1149
01:08:49.279 --> 01:08:51.159
the apparel, and returned and came to akish.

1150
01:08:51.319 --> 01:08:54.199
He's out there slaughtering people. But David is such a

1151
01:08:54.279 --> 01:08:54.920
good guy.

1152
01:08:57.039 --> 01:09:00.279
So hey, hey, so just think about this. Logically, there

1153
01:09:00.319 --> 01:09:03.920
lies the spear, not the sword. There lies the spear

1154
01:09:04.239 --> 01:09:07.760
right next to Saul's head. All David needs to do

1155
01:09:07.920 --> 01:09:11.119
is take that spear, kill Saul, end it all.

1156
01:09:11.279 --> 01:09:12.560
But he won't do that.

1157
01:09:12.840 --> 01:09:15.840
So, hey, whenever you're facing a situation that could end

1158
01:09:15.880 --> 01:09:18.279
all of your problems and all of your suffering, don't

1159
01:09:18.399 --> 01:09:22.840
use the spear. Just trust God and do what is right. Okay,

1160
01:09:23.000 --> 01:09:27.319
sounds good, sounds great. So what is the end result

1161
01:09:27.439 --> 01:09:30.920
of David not using the spear? Oh, he just slaughters

1162
01:09:31.560 --> 01:09:35.720
multiple people. Hey, instead of killing one man, he kills

1163
01:09:36.039 --> 01:09:39.399
innocent people, non com He doesn't kill the combatant, the

1164
01:09:39.479 --> 01:09:42.119
man who's trying to kill him, the man's who's attacking him,

1165
01:09:42.159 --> 01:09:45.439
the man who has slaughtered other people. David's like, no, no, no, no,

1166
01:09:45.560 --> 01:09:50.279
can't kill him, but I can go kill them. So

1167
01:09:50.560 --> 01:09:54.039
the end result of David not using the spear is

1168
01:09:54.079 --> 01:10:04.920
that other people die at the hand of David.

1169
01:10:06.720 --> 01:10:07.720
Oh man.

1170
01:10:08.560 --> 01:10:12.000
See, I don't think the Bible was ever meant for

1171
01:10:12.199 --> 01:10:13.840
the way church is structured.

1172
01:10:14.119 --> 01:10:14.720
I don't think the.

1173
01:10:14.680 --> 01:10:17.279
Bible was ever meant for the church, because the church

1174
01:10:17.359 --> 01:10:21.960
is all about basically, the church is the hallmark channel

1175
01:10:22.199 --> 01:10:25.479
of theology. The church doesn't want to deal with the ugliness,

1176
01:10:25.600 --> 01:10:28.479
the reality of it, the complexities of it, sometimes the

1177
01:10:28.520 --> 01:10:31.439
apparent contradictions. We just want to turn everything into a

1178
01:10:31.520 --> 01:10:34.760
moral lesson. Oh, look at David he didn't use the

1179
01:10:34.840 --> 01:10:38.439
spear to be like, David, don't use the spear now.

1180
01:10:38.600 --> 01:10:41.520
Oh yeah, now you didn't use the spear. Now it's okay.

1181
01:10:41.560 --> 01:10:44.680
If you go and still kill and slaughter people, that's okay.

1182
01:10:44.760 --> 01:10:48.279
Oh we're not gonna worry about that, because we just

1183
01:10:48.319 --> 01:10:49.319
need a moral tale.

1184
01:10:49.319 --> 01:10:52.560
We need a little we need a little a moral lesson.

1185
01:10:52.600 --> 01:10:52.840
Here.

1186
01:10:52.880 --> 01:10:54.960
We got to give everyone a little moral lesson. It's

1187
01:10:55.439 --> 01:10:57.159
you know, it's time for veggie tails.

1188
01:10:57.279 --> 01:10:59.479
We gotta we gotta sing a little song, have a

1189
01:10:59.479 --> 01:11:02.079
little moral lesson, and everybody leaves church going.

1190
01:11:02.079 --> 01:11:02.880
Oh that was great.

1191
01:11:02.920 --> 01:11:05.199
Now it is a thought provoking question. I'm glad he

1192
01:11:05.319 --> 01:11:09.159
asked the thought provoking question. But the very next chapter

1193
01:11:09.319 --> 01:11:15.920
destroys the entire sermon. Now, I wouldn't destroy the sermon

1194
01:11:16.079 --> 01:11:18.399
if you said, look at we're gonna compare twenty six

1195
01:11:18.439 --> 01:11:22.000
and twenty seven. Now, maybe when they preach twenty seven

1196
01:11:22.199 --> 01:11:23.159
they will then come back.

1197
01:11:23.159 --> 01:11:24.680
But at that point it's gonna be so late.

1198
01:11:24.760 --> 01:11:27.800
It's gonna be like the people who were there on

1199
01:11:27.880 --> 01:11:30.119
that day, they may not even hear the sermon on

1200
01:11:30.159 --> 01:11:30.840
twenty seven.

1201
01:11:38.119 --> 01:11:43.239
Oh man, that is crazy.

1202
01:11:43.359 --> 01:11:45.359
I don't even know what to do. I don't even

1203
01:11:45.399 --> 01:11:47.359
know what to say. I'm just gonna leave it there

1204
01:11:47.399 --> 01:11:49.960
with you. I don't even know what to say. I'm

1205
01:11:50.199 --> 01:11:54.760
utterly completely blown away by what just transpired. Like I

1206
01:11:55.039 --> 01:11:57.239
look again, when we go into these reviews, I go

1207
01:11:57.359 --> 01:11:59.159
in blind, right, I go in blind.

1208
01:11:59.199 --> 01:12:00.960
I don't know where things are going. Right.

1209
01:12:01.319 --> 01:12:03.680
So in this particular case, I mean, obviously, now, because

1210
01:12:03.680 --> 01:12:05.960
we did the review last night, I had a pretty

1211
01:12:05.960 --> 01:12:09.000
good idea, but I still try to go in unprepared.

1212
01:12:09.399 --> 01:12:11.159
So then a lot of times it's in the midst

1213
01:12:11.159 --> 01:12:14.520
of listening that I'm over here, typing, researching, looking things up,

1214
01:12:14.920 --> 01:12:19.000
coming up with things, and I had no idea, Like

1215
01:12:19.399 --> 01:12:22.520
it didn't even cross my mind to look to twenty

1216
01:12:22.560 --> 01:12:24.319
seven until we got later in there, because I was

1217
01:12:24.359 --> 01:12:28.039
thinking the way he's describing this, what did David do

1218
01:12:28.119 --> 01:12:29.039
in twenty seven?

1219
01:12:29.560 --> 01:12:31.199
Because my I just knew.

1220
01:12:31.039 --> 01:12:33.399
That David is not going to be acting like the

1221
01:12:33.439 --> 01:12:36.399
way David is being demonstrated here, Like I just knew.

1222
01:12:36.439 --> 01:12:38.800
I just I just had I had a strong suspicion.

1223
01:12:38.840 --> 01:12:40.920
And then I look at twenty seven. Now you say, well,

1224
01:12:40.920 --> 01:12:42.600
you should have already I know, I should have already

1225
01:12:42.640 --> 01:12:44.199
known it, But I mean, you know, I don't always

1226
01:12:44.239 --> 01:12:47.840
remember every chapter at any given moment, when, especially when

1227
01:12:47.840 --> 01:12:50.399
you're listening live, I don't immediately go okay, wait, I

1228
01:12:50.520 --> 01:12:52.680
remember everything, So I had to look things up.

1229
01:12:52.720 --> 01:12:55.119
Okay, I mean, give me a little bit of a break.

1230
01:12:55.119 --> 01:12:55.399
Okay.

1231
01:12:55.479 --> 01:12:58.119
When you're reviewing things in real time, your brain is like,

1232
01:12:58.680 --> 01:13:01.319
you know, you're listening, to be listening, and I gotta

1233
01:13:01.359 --> 01:13:03.279
be thinking of what I'm going to say, and I'm

1234
01:13:03.319 --> 01:13:06.239
researching right, so like I'm doing it all at one time.

1235
01:13:06.399 --> 01:13:08.359
So maybe in a normal situation to be like, well,

1236
01:13:08.399 --> 01:13:10.279
wait a minute, what.

1237
01:13:10.239 --> 01:13:10.840
Is this sermon?

1238
01:13:10.880 --> 01:13:14.399
Even saying first Samuel twenty seven is going to destroy

1239
01:13:14.439 --> 01:13:16.800
this I should have caught it on immediately. I did not,

1240
01:13:17.199 --> 01:13:20.239
because I was so caught up on the hypothetical question

1241
01:13:20.760 --> 01:13:23.600
and how that applies to us that I just forgot

1242
01:13:23.640 --> 01:13:24.119
about the text.

1243
01:13:24.199 --> 01:13:24.680
Many times.

1244
01:13:24.680 --> 01:13:26.159
What you have to do I hate to do this.

1245
01:13:26.239 --> 01:13:28.359
I hate to say this many times. What you have

1246
01:13:28.439 --> 01:13:31.520
to do is you can't listen to the sermon. You

1247
01:13:31.600 --> 01:13:37.520
got to stop the sermon and go look at the text. Wow,

1248
01:13:37.680 --> 01:13:40.760
what a crazy that took a wild turn. That took

1249
01:13:40.800 --> 01:13:46.319
a crazy turn. All right, I'll stop there. Everyone, have

1250
01:13:46.319 --> 01:13:48.600
a great day. Hey, I just gave you a lot

1251
01:13:48.640 --> 01:13:52.479
of things to discuss. First, Samuel twenty six and twenty seven.

1252
01:13:54.000 --> 01:13:58.600
Have some good conversations today over lunch. All right, God

1253
01:13:58.600 --> 01:14:01.399
bless