Our sermon tonight comes from 1 Samuel 18, 1 Samuel chapter 18. We’re going to specifically be looking at verses 6 through 16, verses 6 through 16. The context is that David has slain Goliath and David is now with Saul. David has befriended Jonathan and he has returned victoriously from battle. So that’s where we pick up in the narrative regarding the life of David. Before I read the Scripture passage, let me pray for us.
You are the God that we praise. You are the God that we adore. You Father are who our hearts hunger for. Lord, we need to see You clearly tonight. We need to, by the power of Your Holy Spirit, be brought to a place of humbling ourselves before Your throne, before Your mighty hand. As we look at Saul and as we look at David, and most importantly as we see You in Your holy Scripture, would You draw us to Yourself, would You make us more like You, would You fill our hearts with wonder and praise and gratitude for Jesus? We pray all of this in Christ’s name, amen.
First Samuel 18, starting in verse 6, reading through verse 16. This is God’s holy Word:
“As they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments. And the women sang to one another as they celebrated,
‘Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands.’
And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, ‘They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom?’ And Saul eyed David from that day on.
The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand. And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, ‘I will pin David to the wall.’ But David evaded him twice.
Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul. So Saul removed him from his presence and made him a commander of a thousand. And he went out and came in before the people. And David had success in all his undertakings, for the Lord was with him. And when Saul saw that he had great success, he stood in fearful awe of him. But all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in before them.”
Amen. This is God’s Word.
Well this story here presents for us a contrast. And contrasts we find all around us. I remember vividly an experience of driving on the border of The United States and Mexico along El Paso. El Paso was on my right and Juarez was on my left. I remember the striking contrast as I looked left and as I looked right. The vast difference between the two places merely separated by a road. It was a stark contrast. Well here in this story we have a stark contrast that we need to see, a vivid difference. And it’s the difference between jealousy and humility. It’s the difference between vain glory and God’s glory. But we need to see that difference tonight. We need to understand that difference as we examine the life of Saul and we examine the life of David. But more importantly than that, as we see that difference, as we see the difference between jealousy and humility, what we need to do is be moved by the Holy Spirit and be moved by Scripture to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. That is where this text is directing us this evening – to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. So this is the outline this evening – the way of jealousy or the way of humility. The way of jealousy or the way of humility.
So first, the way of jealousy. Saul was a jealous king. When David returned victoriously from striking down the Philistine, our story tells us there was singing, there was dancing, there was music, there was joy in the streets, and our story tells us that the women were singing, “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” And this made Saul jealous. It doesn’t actually say the word “jealous” or “jealousy” in this text but all the tell-tale signs are there. Saul becomes angry; he becomes displeased; he becomes fearful. He says in verse 8, “What more can David have than the kingdom?” He’s fearful. He’s insecure. He’s paranoid. He has a bruised ego. He looks at David not as an ally, as an ally, but as a rival, and he becomes fixated upon him. Verse 9 says, “Saul’s eye was upon David from that day on.” Saul was jealous. He’s not concerned with his service to God as the king of Israel. He was not concerned with the wellbeing of the people. He was called to lead and called to rule. He was jealous and he was proud.
As much as we probably do not want to admit it, I think we have to realize that there is a lot of Saul in ourselves, that hopefully we do see as we look into our own hearts, we actually do see, need to see ourselves in Saul. We so often can be prideful, jealous people just like Saul. Could you imagine if David failed in some kind of colossal and public way, could you imagine the relief and the joy that would bring Saul? Are there people in your life whose failure might bring you pleasure? Whose praise and whose recognition and whose honor would cause you to feel bitterness? Who is it in your life who if they were honored it would cause you to be bitter and resentful? Whose success would threaten? Who are the people you have a hard time being around because you feel they have it better than you in some way? You see, we can be jealous people just like Saul, and this jealousy can even creep into the life of the church. One commentator, I thought, did a great job of pointing out how the jealousy that Saul displays, it can creep even into Christian ministry, even into church life. And I think this is something to be especially cautious of.
And I want you to imagine, imagine if many of the Gospel preaching churches in our area, they grew – doubled, tripled – and we stayed the same. Would that be a reason for rejoicing or would that make us insecure? Would that make us feel jealous? Would that make us feel resentful? There’s no place for jealousy in Christian ministry. There’s no place for jealousy in the life of a Christian and yet we so often find it in our hearts and find it in our minds.
You know, the thing about jealousy is that jealousy is sticky. It brings other sins with it. Other sins follow along with jealousy. Jealousy never comes alone. Notice in this story Saul’s paranoid obsession with David. It grows into bitterness and then it grows into murderous rage and manipulation. Verse 10 says that God has essentially given Saul over to his sinful desires and a harmful, an evil spirit rests upon Saul. And verses 11 through 13 say that Saul hurls a spear at David in a fit of rage; he is hoping to pin him against the wall. And then as David evades the end of his spear, he sends him away, being fearful of him. You see, jealously has consumed Saul. Jealousy has led Saul into fits of rage, into murderous malice. Jealousy never comes alone. And it’s true for us too that if you harbor jealousy in your heart, it will consume you. It will consume you. You cannot play around with jealousy, you cannot downplay it just because maybe other people don’t see it. You can’t just tolerate jealousy. You have to kill it quickly. You have to nip it in the bud as soon as you feel the pangs of jealousy in your heart. You have to turn to Christ quickly, earnestly, thoroughly, over and over again, as you see the jealous heart that you have – quickly to Christ, over and over again in repentance. Of course the good news is that heaven rejoices when a sinner repents, and yet we can’t play around with jealousy. We can’t let it linger in our hearts. It will consume us as it consumed Saul.
You know it’s pretty easy to see the sins that follow Saul’s jealousy, right, but I would also want to suggest to you that there are sins, there is a sin that precedes Saul’s jealousy. Maybe you could say it’s at the foundation of Saul’s jealousy. You see, Saul had long ago forsaken the glory of God and he had chosen vain glory. He had forsaken the glory of God and he had chosen to exalt himself, to serve himself, and so Saul, he needed praise. Saul craved praise. I heard a pastor once say that praise is like perfume. It smells nice but if you drink it, it will kill you. Saul was drunk on the praise of men. He was drunk on the praise of men and he needed praise. He craved praise. And rather than being focused on the glory of God, he did anything he could to receive affirmation and the praise of men. And it killed his soul. And it almost killed David too. Paul writes in Galatians, “For am I now seeking the approval of man or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. So for all of us who are servants of Christ, are we trying to please man or are we trying to please God? Are we trying to bring glory to ourselves or are we trying to bring glory to God? There is no place for vain glory in the life of a Christian, in the life of a servant of God.
And yet, so often, we find it in our hearts. Don’t we? We look at our hearts and we look, if we’re honest, we look just like Saul. We’re jealous, we’re prideful, we’re envious, we’re insecure. I had a friend who once visited a Christian counselor and he would go see this Christian counselor and at one point the counselor said to him, he said, “You know what I think your real problem is, is you want people to worship you. You want people to worship you.” That was exactly what he needed to hear and it changed his life. And so often we can be just like that. We want other people to worship us. And maybe tonight, maybe we need to see ourselves in Saul, we need to see ourselves in Saul so that we can turn to Christ. We need to see ourselves in Saul so that we can humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and turn to Him and experience His presence, His preservation. We can know His promises.
And so that is the second point. That’s the next thing. That is the contrast. There’s the way of jealousy and there’s the way of humility. And this story has a lot to show us about the way of humility. It helps us to understand where true humility comes from, where it’s found. And there’s quite possibly more, but I would suggest that this story shows us at least three things about a life of true humility, a life of humbling ourselves before the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords under His mighty hand. It shows us that we need to trust His preservation, trust His preservation, we need to delight in God’s presence, and we need to believe His promises. His preservation, His presence, and His promise.
So first, God’s preservation. We see in the story that God preserves David. Does He not? You see that David evades the spear thrown at him by Saul. You see that he goes out multiple times to face the terrors of battle and each time the text tells us that he returns, that he came back. And he came back victoriously. You see, God preserved David. God preserved David’s safety from the spear, from the battlefield. And God also preserves David’s honor. At the beginning of the story and the end of the story, David receives honor. And David knew that this comes from God. This was nothing ultimately that he did. This was all God’s preservation. It was all God, not him, that kept him safe, that preserved him. And this is what gave him the courage to go out. This is what gave him the courage to go out in battle, to serve an unpredictable and violent king, to play music for him day by day as verse 10 says. David knew this. And it’s a joy, actually, to read the Psalms in the context of David’s life story. In Psalm 4 he writes, “For You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.” In Psalm 54 verse 4 he says, “Behold, God is my helper. God is the upholder of my life.” You see, David knew where his preservation came from. The question is for us, “Do we?” Do we know that our safekeeping, do we know that everything that we have, everything good that we have comes from God?
I remember before I took my ordination committee exams, my oral exams, I was nervous – believe it or not! And I won’t mention who were the men who interviewed me – you would know some of them! And it was a little bit of an intimidating group, we’ll put it that way, and I was nervous and I think probably appropriately so in some ways. And I spoke to my pastor, my former pastor from my childhood, and one of the things that he told me that I’ll always remember was this – “Scott, remember your honor is in God’s hands. Your honor is in God’s hands.” And it’s true for you. Your honor is in God’s hands. Your future is in God’s hands. Your life is in God’s hands. Every breath, every meal, every safe trip home – all of it. It’s all God. It’s all of His preservation. It’s all His safe keeping. And I think if we’re honest with ourselves this can make us uncomfortable because we like to be in control. Maybe it scares us a little bit to entrust ourselves wholly to God or really to believe and trust and see this as a good thing. We spend so much time worrying about what people think of us, we spend so much time trying to control our image, we worry and fret over what will happen in the future, and that shows us – we find this hard to believe, we find it hard to trust, we find it hard to humble ourselves to the point of actually recognizing that it is God and God alone who preserves us.
So what do we need? What do we need if we struggle to rest in this reality? Well I would argue that you need to look to the cross. The ultimate preservation and provision in Christ Jesus on the cross that in His sacrificial love He would love us enough to spill His blood for us. And you need to see the goodness, the unmatched goodness of God and love of God for you. And that, that is what will help you trust Him. That is what will equip you and enable you to trust God with your whole self. You need to look to the cross. You need to look to the resurrection and see both the goodness and the power of God. That this God who preserves you is both good and merciful and mighty and glorious. God’s preservation. We see it. Do we rest in it? Do we humble ourselves to see that all things come from Him?
But secondly we need God’s presence. We need to know God’s presence. Our text tells us that God was with David. Verse 12, Saul was afraid of David because God was with him. The root of David’s success in the story, the reason for David’s success in the story is simply this – that God was with him. This is the core of this story. This is the heartbeat of this story. David had success because God was with him. And you see, David knew this. David delighted in this. You see it all over the Psalms, but listen to how he writes of God’s presence in Psalm 16. In verse 1 he says, “I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord and I have no good apart from You.’” In verse 5 he says, “The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup.” In verse 8 he says, “I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be shaken.” And in verse 11 he says, “In your presence there is fullness of joy and at your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.
You see, God was with David. God was with him and David knew it and David delighted in it. In a life of humbling ourselves before the Lord is recognizing that we desperately need His presence. And as believers who have come to Him in Christ Jesus, having His presence is our chief joy. It is our chief pleasure. It means everything to us. This is a life of humility. Again, we spend so much time people pleasing, chasing the approval and the applause of others, but I like how Matthew Redman says it when he says, “Fifteen minutes of fame is far too short for one who enjoys the eternal fellowship of the King.” “Fifteen minutes of fame is far too short for one who enjoys the eternal fellowship of the King.” And you know, there is no greater honor, there is no greater security, there is no greater success, there is no greater delight than God’s presence, than having fellowship with God. Isn’t this what the communion table is all about? Fellowship with the King of Kings, all by grace, all because of the finished work of Christ Jesus. There is no greater delight than God’s presence.
And so the obvious question for us tonight is, “Do you know God’s presence?” Not, “Do you know about God?” Not even, “Do you know what the Bible says about God?” – “Do you know God’s presence?” In other words, “Have you humbled yourself? Have you owned your sin and have you cast yourself upon the mercy of Christ Jesus?” If so, if so, you have Him forever. He will always be yours and you will always be His. He will never leave you. He will never forsake you. But He will carry you with the strength of His right hand all the way to glory. He will never ever leave your side. You will always have His presence. And so that’s the question – “Have you humbled yourself under the mighty hand of God and have you confessed your sin and have you turned to Him and received His grace in a time of need?” Saul never did this. But David did. David did. And David delighted in God’s presence. We must encounter God. We need to encounter Him and submit ourselves to Him and receive His grace. We need God’s presence.
And finally, we need to believe His promises. You know David is an example to us here. He certainly is. And David is an example throughout his life in all the ways he should be an example to us. He was not perfect; he had failures. And yet, in this way, he is an example to us in faith, in humility. But David’s not just an example. He is a type. He points us to someone greater. He is a signpost. He is a signpost for an even greater servant, another servant. The servant who is the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to how Isaiah speaks of this servant of the Lord in speaking about Christ. In Isaiah 42 it says this, “Behold my servant whom I uphold, my chosen in whom my soul delights. I have put my Spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break; a faintly burning wick he will not quench. He will faithfully bring forth justice.”
God upheld His servant, David, and He upheld His greater servant, Christ Jesus, the second person of the trinity, who, “though He was in the form of God did not count equality with God something to be grasped but lowered Himself to the point of death, even death on a cross.” And yet this verse is telling us that God upheld His chosen servant, Christ Jesus, who His Spirit rested upon, who He delighted in. And this chosen servant will bring forth justice. God upheld, just like He upheld David, God the Father upheld God the Son, Jesus Christ, throughout His earthly mission.
And yet He does it in such a surprising way. A surprising way that we need to see. You know, David was adored in this story. At the end of Jesus’ life He was mocked, He was spat on, He was betrayed, He was abandoned, He was certainly not praised. He was arrested by an unjust mob. He had no popularity. He had no praise. The people disregarded Him. The people hated Him. There was no evading the end of the spear for Christ Jesus. He was pierced for our transgressions. By His wounds we are healed. He was pinned to a wooden cross, willingly, in love for His people. And He satisfied justice just like Isaiah said He would, and yet He didn’t do so with a sword. He did so by giving up His very own life for those He loved, for those He was committed to. And in doing so, He satisfied the wrath of God for all believers and He quenched the demands of justice. You see, God upheld His servant, Jesus Christ, God the Son. He upheld Him; God the Father did. And yet it led to His death; it led to His crucifixion, for us.
And you see, that’s where a life of humility must end. That’s where a life of humility must end. That’s where a life of humility must stay all the time – at the foot of the cross. Humility, a life of humility, humbling ourselves before the Lord, it begins and ends at the foot of the cross. It is believing the promise of the grace of Christ Jesus for us and clinging to it because we know that is our only hope. Because we are just like Saul. And without the blood of Jesus we will have nothing. Without the blood of Jesus we will not have forgiveness, we will not have healing, we will not have restoration. Humility looks to Jesus. It clings to Jesus. And it follows Jesus.
And so as we think about this story, as we think about Saul, we think about David and we think about this sovereign God, above it all, I hope that this contrast has become clear to you – the contrast between pride and humility, the contrast between vainglory and jealousy and envy and humility and seeking God’s glory above all else. And you know this really isn’t about behavior at first. It’s not so much about choosing to be humble; it’s not something you just do. The real question is, “Who do you trust? Do you trust yourself or do you trust God?” This merciful and mighty and gracious God that you see in 1 Samuel 18, that you see all through Scripture, our beloved Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave up everything for us. Who do you trust? That’s the question. And I hope the story that God has given us has made it abundantly clear.
Let me pray for us.It really is so simple, God – we either trust You or we trust ourselves. We know that’s a work of Your Holy Spirit so Father, would You, by Your Spirit, break into our hearts, humble us, let us see Your preservation of us, Your beautiful presence in our lives, and ultimately the promises that we have in Christ Jesus – the promises of salvation and forgiveness and eternal glory. Help us to see that, and in doing so, would we trust You above all else. Amen.