Where Vengeance Belongs

TURN to 1 SAM 24:1.

**B4 BEGINNING: ANNOUNCE INVITE/GOSPEL CARDS

🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢

Intro:

(Q) EVER SEEN a SOMEONE DOING a BAD JOB @ WORK && YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD DO BETTER?

or SPECIFICALLY SEEN LEADER/MANAGER/ OWNER DOING POORLY.... & THOUGHT YOU’D DO a BETTER JOB @ THEIR POSITION WHEN YOU’RE DOWN the LADDER??

IT CAN BE EASY—LOOKING FROM OUTSIDE

🐢🐢

CHALLENGE: NEVER FEEL THIS WAY TOWARDS GOD...

@ TIMES… FALL INTO TRAP of THINKING WE’D DO a BETTER JOB @ RUNNING UNIVERSE

***PROBABLY DON’T QUITE REALIZE IT!

WE AT LEAST HAVE WAYS (IF WE WERE GOD) WE’D DO it DIFFERENTLY...

****COMMON AREA: EXECUTING REVENGE/JUSTICE.

LOOKING @ WRONGS COMMITTED…WONDERING WHY THERE’S NO PUNISHMENT

NOT ALL JUDGMENT COMES QUICKLY

GOD HAS PROMISED JUDGMENT = SURE to COME.

WE MUST TRUST HE’LL DO HIS JOB && HE’LL DO it BETTER THAN ANY of US EVER COULD!

DIVING INTO TEXT:

REMEMBER, WE’RE NOT DESERVING

WE DON’T WANT GOD’S JOB DESCRIPTION

🐢🐢🐢— 36 minutes left — 🐢🐢🐢

🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢

Recap:

LAST WEEK:

DAVID TURNS BACK to GOD in FAITH & TRUST.

HEARS of KEILAH’S (CITY) STRUGGLE W/ PHILISTINES && TAKES MATTER to GOD in PRAYER.

DAVID OBEYS & RESCUES CITY

YET SAUL = STILL on the PROWL...

&& SAUL GOES to PURSUE DAVID FROM CITY to WILDERNESS/DESERT, ETC.

TEXT LEFT OFF:

SAUL PURSUING DAVID CONSISTENTLY & DAVID FLEEING FOR MILES...

SAUL RIGHT on DAVID’S HEELS, READY to OVERTAKE HIM!…BUT GOD in PROVIDENCE HAS PHILISTINES ATTACK ISRAEL…DRAWING SAUL AWAY.

DAVID SPARED BECAUSE PHILISTINES DREW SAUL AWAY.

IN ALL THIS, WE SAW DAVID’S FAITH—GOING to GOD in PRAYER… REM. BELIEVERS HAVE OPEN DOOR to ACCESS THRONE of GRACE. USE IT!!

(T) TEXT TURNS BACK to SAUL… DAVID LEFT in STRONGHOLDS of ENGEDI, SAUL WENT to FIGHT PHILISTINES

LOOK W/ ME @ CH. 24 VS. 1

🐢🐢🐢— 33 minutes left — 🐢🐢🐢

🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢

Text (1 Samuel 24:1-22)

Setting (v1-2)

1 Samuel 24:1–22 (ESV)

1 When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.” 2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Wildgoats’ Rocks.

LAST WEEK: SAUL WENT to FIGHT PHILISTINES & DAVID @ ENGEDI...

**ONCE PHILISTINE PROBLEM = SOLVED… SAUL’S BACK.

SAUL GATHERS ARMY 5X BIGGER THAN DAVID’S & GOES to SEEK HIM.

(T) ONCE AGAIN—SAUL’S AT IT AGAIN… WILL HE EVER GIVE UP? WILL GOD EVER LET DAVID DOWN?

LOOK W/ ME @ VS. 3

🐢🐢🐢— 32 minutes left — 🐢🐢🐢

🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢

Rising Action (v3)

3 And he came to the sheepfolds by the way, where there was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave.

SAUL COMES W/ HUGE ARMY

***INSTEAD of FINDING DAVID…DAVID FINDS SAUL!!

SAUL = REAL GUY W/ NATURAL LIMITATIONS & BODILY PROCESSES

&& SAUL HAS to GO BATHROOM...

(WE FORGET HOW REAL BIBLICAL CHARACTERS WERE!)

🐢🐢

NO REST STOPS

NO PORTA-JOHNS

NO SHEETZ-RUN

SAUL FINDS NICE CAVE...

🐢🐢

***IN GOD’S PROVIDENCE…SAME CAVE WHERE DAVID & MEN WERE HIDING!

DAVID HAD ARMY of 600 GUYS...

CAVE LIKE SNOOPY’S DOGHOUSE??

**EITHER HUGE CAVE or THEY WERE SPREAD AMONGST MANY

REGARDLESS: WE KNOW DAVID = IN CAVE & SAUL CHOOSES SAME CAVE as a BATHROOM

(T) CRAZY to ME:

W/ SAUL’S INTELLIGENCE NETWORK

W/ 3,000 MEN

NO ONE “CLEARS” CAVE & CHECKS BEFORE the KING RUNS OFF

(HUGE OVERSIGHT!!)

QUESTION NOW: W/ SAUL as SITTING DUCK,, WHAT WILL DAVID DO???

LOOK W/ ME @ VS. 4

🐢🐢🐢— 28 minutes left — 🐢🐢🐢

🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢

Climax (v4-7)

4 And the men of David said to him, “Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’ ” Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. 5 And afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.

6 He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord’s anointed.” 7 So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul. And Saul rose up and left the cave and went on his way.

SAUL GOES INTO CAVE WHERE DAVID & ARMY ARE...

ABSOLUTELY PERFECT OPPORTUNITY!!

KILLING SAUL WOULD GIVE THEM RELIEF (NO MORE RUNNING)

KILLING SAUL WOULD CATAPULT DAVID INTO KINGSHIP!

DEAD SAUL = NO MORE PROBLEMS && = = KING DAVID

THIS = WHAT THEOLOGIANS CALL a “NO BRAINER.”

🐢🐢

DAVID & MEN HIDING in CAVE...

SAUL COMES & DISROBES to USE BATHROOM...

MUST BE: GOD’S DELIVERED HIM up TO THEM on SILVER PLATTER!

DAVID’S MEN QUOTE: THIS is THE DAY of DELIVERANCE… GOD BRINGING ENEMY INTO HANDS

WE DON’T KNOW:

PROPHETIC WORD THROUGH GAD??

SOMETHING in WRITING

JUST THEIR CONCLUSION??

DALE DAVIS: DON’T NEED a BIBLE COLLEGE DEGREE to KNOW THIS WAS OPPORTUNITY!

OBVIOUS THING to DO: KILL SAUL

WHAT SEEMS GOOD to DAVID??

EXTENDING GRACE…NOT VENGEANCE.

WAITING & TRUSTING in GOD’S TIMING FOR KINGSHIP.

🐢🐢

GRACE REMINDS US, “I’M NO BETTER THAN THEM.”

APART FROM the GRACE of GOD…WHERE WOULD I BE???

EASY to LOOK @ OTHERS as UNDESERVING of MERCY…DESERVING VENGEANCE/PUNISHMENT...

REMINDER: WE’RE NO DESERVING EITHER… WHY IT’S CALLED GRACE!

🐢🐢

INSTEAD of EXACTING REVENGE…DAVID CUTS CORNER of SAUL’S ROBE...

DAVID’S HEART = CONVICTED…PAINED CONSCIENCE

ROBE = REPRESENTATION of KINGLY AUTHORITY/KING’S GARMENTS??

🐢🐢

(Q) HOW COULD DAVID LET SAUL LIVE?

LOOKING @ SAUL AS GOD HAD.

SAUL = GOD’S ANOINTED KING,, SERVING GOD in THAT ROLE

UNTIL GOD’S DONE W/ SAUL,, DAVID ISN’T TRYING to CLIMB LADDER.

**LEAVING MATTER in GOD’S HANDS...

🐢🐢

GREAT IRONY:

SAUL = REJECTED BY GOD

DAVID = GOD’S ANOINTED.

NEVERTHELESS, DAVID PATIENTLY AWAITS HIS DAY & EXTENDS GRACE.

🐢🐢

GOOD REMINDER FOR US: PATIENTLY AWAIT GOD’S TIMING…NOT FORCING THINGS.

OKAY to KNOCK on DOOR & SEE IF IT’LL OPEN.

BUT BELIEVERS SHOULDN’T KNOCK DOORS IN...

FINDING BALANCE BETWEEN DYING in HALLWAY & BLOWING DOOR OFF HINGES.

**LET GOD OPEN the DOORS in YOUR LIFE, BUT YOU CAN KNOCK.

🐢🐢

DAVID DIDN’T NEED to FIGHT HIS OWN BATTLES…HE COULD WAIT FOR GOD to ESTABLISH HIM.

&& DAVID WOULDN’T LET HIS MEN KILL SAUL, EVEN THOUGH THEY WANTED TO!

DAVID SPARED SAUL PERSONALLY!

DAVID ALSO PROTECTED SAUL FROM HIS MEN!

🐢🐢

GREAT TEST FOR DAVID...

OPPORTUNITY DOESN’T ALWAYS EQUAL GOD’S WILL!

RICHARD PHILIPPS: “Yet the mere fact that God has provided an opportunity does not guarantee that he intends us to exercise it.”

PROVIDENTIAL TIMING DOESN’T ALWAYS EQUAL GOD’S ENDORSEMENT.

🐢🐢

DAVID’S CONCLUSION: VENGEANCE BELONGS to GOD.

JUST as GOD’S SPARED DAVID,...

JUST as GOD’S GIVEN OPPORTUNITY to DAVID,...

***GOD WILL BE FAITHFUL in FUTURE & WILL BRING HIS PROMISES to PASS!

🐢🐢

JUST BECAUSE SOMETHING DROPPED in YOUR LAP DOESN’T GUARANTEE IT’S GOD’S WILL...

IS THIS THING in LINE W/ GOD’S WORD??

WILL THIS THING BRING BLESSING or PROBLEMS??

ALL OPPORTUNITIES MUST BE TESTED…IS THIS TRULY OBEDIENCE to GOD??

(T) DAVID EXERCISES INCREDIBLE MERCY...

SAUL ESCAPES DAVID’S SWORD W/ 95% of HIS ROBE....

LOOK W/ ME NOW @ VS. 8....

🐢🐢🐢— 19 minutes left — 🐢🐢🐢

🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢

Rising Action (v8-15)

8 Afterward David also arose and went out of the cave, and called after Saul, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth and paid homage. 9 And David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Behold, David seeks your harm’?

10 Behold, this day your eyes have seen how the Lord gave you today into my hand in the cave. And some told me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, ‘I will not put out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s anointed.’ 11 See, my father, see the corner of your robe in my hand. For by the fact that I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you, you may know and see that there is no wrong or treason in my hands. I have not sinned against you, though you hunt my life to take it.

12 May the Lord judge between me and you, may the Lord avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you. 13 As the proverb of the ancients says, ‘Out of the wicked comes wickedness.’ But my hand shall not be against you.

14 After whom has the king of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue? After a dead dog! After a flea! 15 May the Lord therefore be judge and give sentence between me and you, and see to it and plead my cause and deliver me from your hand.”

DAVID DOESN’T KEEP to HIMSELF & RUNS AFTER SAUL && ANNOUNCES WHAT HE’D DONE, SHOWING HIM CORNER of ROBE.

DAVID POINTS OUT: OBVIOUSLY I’M NOT A THREAT!!! I’VE DONE NOTHING WRONG...

🐢🐢

DAVID = WILLING to LET GOD BE GOD!

VENGEANCE = THE LORD’S.

GOD = THE GIVER & TAKER of LIFE.

DAVID’S PROMOTION = IN GOD’S TIMING.

🐢🐢

DAVID = HUMBLE…REFERS to HIMSELF as DEAD DOG or FLEA!!

0% A THREAT to SAUL…NO TREASON…NO CONSPIRACY…NOTHING!

🐢🐢

DAVID COULD EXTEND GRACE—

GOD WILL DELIVER HIM...

GOD WILL REVENGE IF NECESSARY, NOT OUR JOB!

DAVID HAD FAITH—LETTING GOD BE GOD.

NOT JUST a NICE GUY. BUT WALKING in FAITH!

JUDGMENT & REVENGE = GOD’S JOB && NOT OUR RESPONSIBILITY… WE CAN BE FREED FROM the RESPONSIBILITY!!

(T) CAN YOU IMAGINE SAUL’S “SHOCKED FACE”

HE WAS CLUELESS UNTIL THAT POINT...

HOW WILL SAUL RESPOND??

VS. 16 SAYS,

🐢🐢🐢— 15 minutes left — 🐢🐢🐢

🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢

Climax & Resolution (v16-22)

16 As soon as David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. 17 He said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil.

18 And you have declared this day how you have dealt well with me, in that you did not kill me when the Lord put me into your hands. 19 For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safe? So may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day.

20 And now, behold, I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. 21 Swear to me therefore by the Lord that you will not cut off my offspring after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father’s house.”

22 And David swore this to Saul. Then Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

GOD ALLOWS DAVID’S GRACIOUS ACT to SOFTEN the HEART of WICKED SAUL...

SAUL CALLS OUT to DAVID “SON”…RATHER THAN “SON of JESSE”

SAUL POINTS OUT: DAVID’S REPAID GOOD FOR EVIL.

REMEMBER: DAVID = INNOCENT...

ALL SAUL’S ACTIONS TRYING to KILL DAVID WERE the RESULT of JEALOUSY && COMPLETELY UNMERITED!

SAUL = RECIPIENT of GRACE…UNMERITED FAVOR. WHOLLY UNDESERVING…

WHILE SAUL EXTENDED UNMERITED THREATS TOWARDS DAVID…DAVID EXTENDS GRACE...

SAUL DESERVED to DIE FOR HIS ATROCITIES in KILLING the PRIESTS of THE LORD...

DAVID COULD’VE FREED HIMSELF FROM SAUL’S OPPRESSION

DAVID WAS ANOINTED to be KING...

DAVID SPARED SAUL & LET GOD BE GOD.

🐢🐢

(Q) CHRISTIAN, IF YOU WERE in DAVID’S SHOES,, DO YOU THINK YOU COULD HAVE DONE THIS?

FORGIVENESS/EXTENDING GRACE = INCREDIBLY HARD

WE NATURALLY WANT VENGEANCE TOWARDS THOSE WHO’VE WRONGED US...

WILL YOU LET GOD BE GOD & LEAVE VENGEANCE in HIS HANDS??

AS a RECIPIENT of GRACE…WILL YOU EXTEND GRACE?? OR WILL YOU HOLD FEET to the FIRE??

🐢🐢

SAUL CONCLUDES: DAVID WILL DEFINITELY BE KING.

1ST TIME HE ACKNOWLEDGES KINGDOM is LEAVING

***GRACE = DISARMING.

SAUL MERELY ASKS DAVID to BE MERCIFUL to HIS DESCENDANTS as JONATHAN HAD ASKED DAVID.

COMING to a SIMILAR COVENANT as DAVID HAD W/ JONATHAN

1ST TIME in LONG TIME…DAVID & SAUL DEPART in PEACE!

🐢🐢🐢— 11 minutes left — 🐢🐢🐢

🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢

(T) And so, we can learn from this passage today, the idea that,

Homiletical Idea:

Recipients of grace should be the first to extend grace, knowing that vengeance belongs to the Lord.

🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢

🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢

Gospel:

ENCOURAGE: CHURCH,...THE ONLY REASON WE CAN EXTEND GRACE = BECAUSE WE’VE BEEN RECIPIENTS of GRACE.

GRACE COMES THROUGH PERSON: JESUS CHRIST.

JESUS = SOURCE of GRACE && GREAT EXAMPLE of GRACE!

JESUS WASHED FEET of HIS BETRAYER

JESUS COULD’VE CALLED a LEGION of ANGELS to EXECUTE VENGEANCE && RESCUE HIM FROM CROSS...

JESUS PRAYED FOR HIS EXECUTORS “FATHER FORGIVE THEM”

*****JESUS WASN’T JUST DYING BECAUSE OF THE WICKED MEN…BUT JESUS WAS DYING FOR THEM.

SO THEY COULD BE FORGIVEN of EVERY WRONG…INCLUDING CRUCIFYING the KING of GLORY...

THAT’S CALLED GRACE.

🐢🐢

INSTEAD of EXACTING VENGEANCE & CALLING ANGELS HE SUBMITTED HIMSELF to DEATH to SAVE the SINNER...

(Q) CAN YOU IMAGINE a GRACE GREATER???

IF YOU’RE OUTSIDE of CHRIST…YOU’RE FAR FROM GOD & AN ENEMY of GOD & CHRIST...

YET in YOUR PRESENT STATE, JESUS DIED FOR YOU.

Romans 5:8 (ESV)

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

JESUS DIDN’T DIE FOR CLEANED UP PEOPLE…HE DIED FOR ALL WHEN ALL WERE WHOLLY UNDESERVING.

GRACE COMES BECAUSE:

ALL of US UNDESERVING of GOD’S BLESSING & FELLOWSHIP W/ GOD BECAUSE of OUR SIN.

ALL of US DESERVED PUNISHMENT FOR OUR SIN.

JESUS TOOK PUNISHMENT WE DESERVED...

WE CAN RECEIVE the CREDIT for HIS PERFECT LIFE BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH!

JESUS SUFFERED in OUR PLACE…SO WE CAN BE RANSOMED to GOD…CONSIDERED RIGHTEOUS…BY GRACE.

🐢🐢

NO WORKS CAN BRING YOU INTO RIGHT RELATIONSHIP W/ GOD.

WE’RE TOO FAR SHORT.

HAS to BE of GRACE.

JESUS TAUGHT PARABLE on FORGIVENESS:

DEBT OWED to GOD = INSURMOUNTABLE…COULDN’T BE PAID OFF in MANY LIFETIMES!

DEBT IS FORGIVEN!

SALVATION ISN’T a PAYMENT FOR a GOOD LIFE LIVED...

IT’S an ACT of GRACE to UNDESERVING SINNERS OFFERED to US in CHRIST JESUS...

🐢🐢

(Q) ARE YOU a PARTAKER of THIS GRACE TODAY? or WILL YOU RECEIVE THIS GRACE TODAY?

IF YOU BELIEVE CHRIST DIED FOR YOU & WAS RAISED

YOU RELY SOLELY on HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS FOR YOUR SALVATION

PROFESS HIM to BE LORD

== HE’S YOUR NEW RULER/BOSS

YOU CAN BE SAVED, BY GRACE, THROUGH A PROFESSION of FAITH TODAY

QUESTIONS? TALK to US AFTER SERVICE.

🐢🐢🐢— 6 minutes left — 🐢🐢🐢

🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢

Takeaways:

LEARN ABOUT GOD?

VENGEANCE BELONGS to GOD.

FINAL JUDGMENT = GOD’S JOB

WE’RE FREE FROM the OBLIGATION & RESPONSIBILITY

GOD = JUST GOD...

WE CAN TRUST HE’LL DO a BETTER JOB THAN ALL OF US.

LEARN FOR US?

NOT EVERY OPPORTUNITY = “FROM GOD”

THINGS FALLING INTO LAP MUST STILL BE FILTERED THROUGH GOD’S WORD.

GOD DOES BRING THINGS TO US in HIS PROVIDENCE…BUT NOT EVERYTHING IS FROM HIM.

🐢🐢🐢— 4 minutes left — 🐢🐢🐢

🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢

App:

FORGIVENESS IS ISSUED FROM a FORGIVEN HEART.

GRACE = EXTENDED in LIGHT of GRACE RECEIVED...

**IF YOU’VE NOT RECEIVED GRACE FROM the SAVIOR, I’M NOT EXPECTING YOU to EXTEND GRACE to ANYONE TODAY.

🐢🐢

FOR THOSE WHO’VE BEEN SAVED...

KNOWING THAT GOD is JUST.... && IN LIGHT of GOD’S GRACE to YOU…DOESN’T IT SEEM FOOLISH to HOLD SOMEONE’S FEET to the FIRE?

“BUT PASTOR YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY’VE DONE!”

TRUE…I DON’T KNOW.

** BUT I CAN TELL YOU WHAT JESUS HAS DONE

** & I CAN TELL YOU WHAT OUR SIN DID to HIM.

THEY’RE UNDESERVING, SURE. SO WERE WE.

🐢🐢

***GRACE & FORGIVENESS DON’T GUARANTEE RECONCILIATION.

WERE SAUL & DAVID SITTING DOWN @ FAMILY DINNER AGAIN,, PROBABLY NOT.

REGARDLESS,, BELIEVERS ARE to EXTEND GRACE to OTHERS… && LEAVE VENGEANCE WHERE IT BELONGS: IN GOD’S HANDS.

🐢🐢

DAVID WAS WILLING to EXTEND GRACE to the KING WHO TRIED REPEATEDLY to KILL HIM...

JESUS PRAYED FOR THOSE WHO ACTUALLY KILLED HIM...

(Q) ARE WE JUSTIFIED to WITHHOLD GRACE?

EVERYONE (MYSELF INCLUDED) @ SOME POINT WILL NEED GRACE FROM YOU…FOR WE’RE ALL STILL IMPERFECT UNTIL GLORY...

🐢🐢

CHRISTIANS = CALLED to BE MOST GRACIOUS PEOPLE on the PLANET. IN LIGHT of GRACE RECEIVED...

PETER ASKS JESUS: HOW OFTEN DO I FORGIVE?? 7 TIMES??

JESUS REPLIES: 70 X 7.....IF YOU’RE KEEPING TRACK, YOU’VE MISSED the POINT.

🐢🐢

IF SOMEONE in YOUR LIFE is in NEED of GRACE TODAY…EXTEND IT. WHATEVER THAT LOOKS LIKE in YOUR SITUATION.

LET GOD BE GOD W/ JUSTICE.

IF THEY DESERVE VENGEANCE, LEAVE THAT UP to GOD.

GOD IS MORE JUST & A BETTER JUDGE THAN US...

AND GOD WON’T SLEEP. HE’LL BRING IT ALL TO PASS...

🐢🐢

IN THE MEANTIME, WE WALK BY FAITH & TRUST,, LEAVING GOD’S WORK in GOD’S HANDS…

AND IF OUR GOD is a GRACIOUS GOD,, && WE ARE HIS PEOPLE,, THEN WE SHOULD BE GRACIOUS to OTHERS,, AMEN??

CLOSE in PRAYER