Sermon Tone Analysis

When I was a little boy I knew the most dangerous place in the world was my own bedroom.

Not all the time; it only became dangerous after dark, after dad turns off the light and I was all alone in the dark.

This is when the monsters come out.

No, I could never actually *see *them, but I do distinctly remember hearing the small subtle noises they made as I lay there eyes wide open with covers over my head.

I always knew if I ever did see them, it was all over.

Monsters do not leave witnesses.

I also remember one night explaining to my father about the monsters.

He took me outside, walking around the dark house, shining a flashlight in each corner and crevasse, assuring me there were no monsters.

I wanted so badly to tell him /dad, these were not stupid monsters- they knew better than to let *you* see them./

They’re hiding, waiting for him to go to his room, so they could resume toying with me.

There I lay there in my bed, in the dark hiding under the covers, which everybody knows are an impenetrable barrier against child-eating monsters.

They made me feel safe and sound in a dangerous world.

As I grew older I learned my bedroom really wasn’t really all that dangerous.

It’s the outside world where all the real monsters are: real monsters that fly airplanes into buildings, who kidnap kids from their families, who use and abuse people of all ages, disease and death that fill—all these fill the world with danger.

Hiding beneath the covers cannot keep you safe.

So how do you deal with it?

How can you and I really safe and sound in a dangerous world?

I believe we get some help from the life of David.

David knew what it was to live in a dangerous world.

In *1 Sam.

19* faces a murderous king named Saul who’s trying to kill him.

From this chapter you and I can learn how we can be safe and sound in a dangerous world.

*PRAYER*

*I.

INNOCENCE WILL NOT ALWAYS DELIVER YOU FROM DANGER.

(v.

1-7)*

*            *Many of us think just being a good person makes us immune from the trials and tragedies of life.

Play by the rules, live and let live, try to treat everybody right, and everything will turn out OK.

When anything really bad happens we ask /what did I do to deserve this? /Many times the answer is /nothing.

/

/            /This is true of David.

King Saul means to kill him, even though David had never done anything to Saul.

It took Saul’s son, Prince Jonathan, to speak up for his friend.

Notice what he says in *vs.

4-5* (*read*).

/David hasn’t done anything wrong!

Why do you want to kill him?

/Jonathan’s speech seems to change his dad’s mind.

Saul and David reconcile and all seems well, until Saul has another of his fits, and once again David has to run for his life.

/David’s innocence does not deliver him from danger.

/

Innocence will not deliver you from danger, either.

Many of us naively  assume really bad things only happen to really bad people.

We figure the farther away from trouble we live, the harder it is for danger to find us.

Stay away from trouble and trouble will stay away from you.

This is our strategy for living safe and sound in a dangerous world  

            Does it work?

Well, yes and no.

Nobody can deny living a good moral life will keep you out of trouble.

Living right keeps you away from many dangers that come with doing wrong.

It pays to buckle your seat belt and eat right.

It pays to go to the doctor and get check-ups.

It’s a good idea to stay away from people or places where trouble seems to always follow.

Drug dealers face dangers you and I who don’t do drugs don’t deal with.

At the same time, doing right does not guarantee deliverance from all danger.

The Bible tells us that the world is a dangerous place even for the righteous:

*Ps 34:19* /Many are the afflictions of the righteous… /

*John 16:33*/…in the world, you will have tribulation… /

*2 Ti 3:12* /Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution./

/            /David was a man after God’s own heart, a man God Himself chose to be King of His own people.

Yet for many years David is a hunted man, one step from death.

You and I must accept the fact: even though being a Christian and doing what’s right always pays off in the end, innocence will not always keep you safe and sound in a dangerous world.

From the May 28, 1998, edition of /USA Today /letters to the editor:

Will somebody help me save my son?

My son is two years old and is a reflection of complete innocence.

He knows nothing of the killing within the schools….

He knows nothing of the abuse that happens within the homes of children just his age…he is oblivious to the tragedies that occur every day across the country.

And as he clutches his blanket, sleeping soundly, dreaming of the mommy and daddy who love him, he has no idea of the complete social and moral decay of our country.

Does anyone care anymore?

Will someone please, please help me save my son?—Edward Moats, Belle air Beach, Florida~*

Innocence will not keep even those we love the most in a dangerous world.

But not only will innocence not always deliver you from danger

*II.

LOVE WILL NOT ALWAYS DELIVER YOU FROM DANGER.

(v.8-17)*

During the 1960s a band from Liverpool England called the Beatles sang a song that said

over and over again /all you need is love…love is all you need./

Those were nice words but /is/ love all you need to make you safe and sound in a dangerous world?

David flees from the murderous Saul home to the loving arms of his wife Michal.

Michal finds out about Saul’s assassins.

/You’re a dead man if you stay here tonight /she tells her beloved husband.

So she devises a plan: first, she lets him down from a back window.

Then she dresses up a statue, places it in David’s bed, and waits for morning.

She buys David a little more running time by pretending he’s sick when the soldiers come for him.

Saul orders them to bring David on his deathbed.

But once again, David eludes the angry king’s clutches.

Michal is not exactly a saint in her actions- keeping idols in her home, deceiving and lying to her father.

She’d do almost anything to save the man she loved.

And her plan worked.

/ /

So is love the key to living safe and sound in a dangerous world?

Yes, and no.

Love is a one of the most powerful forces in the universe.

The love of a parent will move them to do almost anything to provide and protect their kids.

You’ve heard stories of lovers and friends who willingly sacrifice for the sake of the one they love.

Even Jesus once told us:

*Jn 15:13* /Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends./

Years ago, a young mother was making her way across the hills of South Wales, carrying her tiny baby in her arms, when she was overtaken by a blinding blizzard.

She never reached her destination but when the blizzard subsided her body was found by searchers, who discovered she had taken off all her outer clothing and wrapped it about her baby, who, to their great surprise and joy, they found he was alive and well.

She had given her life for her child.[i]

I have no doubt every mother and father in this room would do the same thing for their own child t.

But love does not always make us safe and sound in this dangerous world.

Michal’s love for her husband saved him from death that night, but not from the danger in the coming days.