CALL TO CONFESSION

Luke 6:27-28, 35-36

27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Merciful and loving Father, we confess that we are unloving people. We struggle to serve those closest to us and find it impossible to love our enemies without Your help. We are quick to harbor bitterness, slow to be generous, and full of prideful expectations. Your holy law exposes our fearful, sinful hearts and crushes our pride. We cannot love or forgive those who wrong us unless Your Spirit transforms us with Your astounding, sacrificial love.

Thank You for Your perfect Son, Jesus, who loved His enemies even as He was crushed under the mountain of Your just judgment in our place. Because He bore the punishment for our sin, we can now hide safely in His strong salvation.

Father, open our eyes to this amazing love and grace until we are transformed into Your image. Help us to mercifully love our friends and enemies. Help us to never move beyond the cross or consider ourselves better than others. Continually remind us of Your great mercy so that we can extend it freely to both friend and enemy alike. Thank You for reconciling us through the sacrifice of your precious Son and welcoming us into Your family forever. Amen.

“Take a few moments to personally confess your sins to the Lord.”

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

“Hear these words of comfort and assurance.” 

Romans 5:6-10

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 

Main Point: Even though the wicked plot and scheme against the Lord’s anointed, they cannot stand against the sovereign God who protects the humble and exalts His chosen champion.

1 Samuel 18:17-30

17 Then Saul said to David, “Here is my elder daughter Merab. I will give her to you for a wife. Only be valiant for me and fight the Lord’s battles.” For Saul thought, “Let not my hand be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him.” 

18 And David said to Saul, “Who am I, and who are my relatives, my father’s clan in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?” 

19 But at the time when Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite for a wife. 

20 Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David. And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. 

21 Saul thought, “Let me give her to him, that she may be a snare for him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” Therefore Saul said to David a second time, “You shall now be my son-in-law.” 

22 And Saul commanded his servants, “Speak to David in private and say, ‘Behold, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you. Now then become the king’s son-in-law.’ ” 

23 And Saul’s servants spoke those words in the ears of David. And David said, “Does it seem to you a little thing to become the king’s son-in-law, since I am a poor man and have no reputation?” 

24 And the servants of Saul told him, “Thus and so did David speak.” 

25 Then Saul said, “Thus shall you say to David, ‘The king desires no bride-price except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, that he may be avenged of the king’s enemies.’ ” Now Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. 

26 And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king’s son-in-law. Before the time had expired, 

27 David arose and went, along with his men, and killed two hundred of the Philistines. And David brought their foreskins, which were given in full number to the king, that he might become the king’s son-in-law. And Saul gave him his daughter Michal for a wife. 

28 But when Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him, 

29 Saul was even more afraid of David. So Saul was David’s enemy continually. 

30 Then the commanders of the Philistines came out to battle, and as often as they came out David had more success than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was highly esteemed.

• In the first half of this chapter which we covered last week, we looked at David’s arrival back at the city after having defeated the giant Goliath and we were told how he was received, and the responses of those he encountered.
• Jonathan was the first one we’re told David met, and they were instant best friends. They were heart and soul together, and Jonathan not only clicked with David, but he loved him as his own soul.
• He made a covenant with David as a sign of that love and friendship. And he showed deference to him, symbolically giving him his robe and weapons and gear as a sign of laying down his own rights and privileges as the crown prince of Israel, his future claim to the throne, and giving them over to David who would be the future King, the king after the Lord’s own heart.
• And the people also received David in a positive manner. He was the Champion the Lord had provided, and the one that they needed. Saul had set David over the men of war and as he went about the kingdom business, he had success, and the people saw this and agreed that he was doing good work.
• But when King Saul and David return to the city after the battle with Goliath, and the people are cheering and singing of Saul with his defeat of thousands but David with his defeat of 10 thousands, Saul becomes angry. Not at the people, but at the glory they are giving to David, and that he, the king, must share his glory with another.
• And Saul is consumed with jealousy of David’s success. He is raving in his house, spear in hand, eyeing David with that look of jealousy, fear, and anger.
• And Saul thinks to himself how good it would be to just pin this shepherd boy to the wall with his spear and be done with him.
• And he’s raving and plotting David’s murder, and he goes for it, hurling his spear at him as he plays soothing music, but David evades him twice.
• And this is the first murder plot we see from King Saul towards David, but it's not the last. Now in the second half of this chapter we have 2 more murder plots by King Saul! He is out to get him! In chapter 19 we’ll see a fourth murder plot in fact! 
• But the sovereign Lord who anointed David to be the next King will preserve, protect, and continue to give him success as he navigates this dangerous phase of life with a king whose heart is full of murderous intent towards him.
• So far Saul has tried to kill David, he’s demoted him, he’s sent him out of his presence, but it’s not working. David is still succeeding as the Lord is with him! So Saul tries again and that’s where we now pick up in our passage today in verse 17.

Plot with Merab (Vs 17-19)

• So let’s look at the pretend promise. In verse 17 Saul says to David, the man who he’s been trying to eliminate “David, buddy, take my elder daughter Merab. I’ll give her to you as a wife! All you need to do is to be brave for and bold for me, and fight the LORD’s battles.”
• Now, given all that has just transpired between these two, and given Saul’s fear and awe and raving against David, clearly this offer isn’t Saul genuinely wanting David for a son-in-law. 
• Now, if you’ve been paying attention in our series leading up to this, you might think back to just before David killed the giant and recall that when David asked “What is to be done for the man who kills this philistine?” part of the answer was, the king will give that man his daughter.
• But here, we note that’s not exactly the offer being presented. In fact, it's quite different. Saul isn’t saying “David, because you slew that giant I’m going to give you my daughter to marry”. He’s saying “Marry my daughter and all you have to do is be valiant, be brave, and fight the LORD’s battles.”
• Now for David, that isn’t a stretch to ask. We know he was brave, and that he trusted in the Lord. We know that he was willing to fight for the Lord, knowing that the Lord of hosts gives the victory.
• And to marry the oldest daughter of a king was to get in line for the throne, kinda a big deal. But of course there’s more going on here isn’t there?. There’s a hidden agenda. A deeper plot. Something simmering beneath the surface of this promise of Merab’s hand in marriage.
• And that is that this offer has an evil objective behind it: Saul offers this, thinking to himself “Let not my hand be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”
• David is having success, and the people love him. Sauls' household, his family, his servants, all Judah and Israel love David. So instead of going head to head against this popular champion of the Lord, Saul sneakily decides to let the Philistines do his dirty work for him. 
• This is Saul plotting yet again for David’s death, but this time instead of hurling the spear himself, he intends for David to go take on danger and conflict with the Philistines with his small band he’s been demoted over, and then let the Philistines take him out. 
• That way David is killed, the people aren’t mad at him when David dies, and the whole matter is taken care of. Win-win for Saul, right? Having David close as a son-in-law would just be a temporary thing.
• And sadly, Saul is showing us just the type of man he’s turned out to be. The man who was supposed to be for Israel, supposed to lead them into battle against the Philistines, is now rooting for the success of the Philistines! That’s what jealousy and fear lead to don’t they, just a twisted and messed up perspective on things. But in his mind, David is the problem, and David’s gotta go.
• But, as we read here, the murder plot failed once again. David, instead of jumping at the chance to become son-in-law to a king who hates him, gives a quite humble response: he says “Who am I, and who are my relatives, my father’s clan in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?”
• What a genuinely humble response! “I’m not from any family of means or importance, how can I be the king's son-in-law?”
• What a humble response from the future King. If it sounds familiar to you, it’s because we’ve heard a similar humble response of a future King before.
• 1 Samuel 9:21 Saul answered, “Am I not a Benjaminite, from the least of the tribes of Israel? And is not my clan the humblest of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then have you spoken to me in this way?”
• Saul too had similarly responded to Samuel when Samual had invited him up to the feast at the high place and told him that he would be the honored guest, and that all that was desirable in Israel would be for him. He wasn’t king yet, but he gave a humble response. I am no one important, why are you speaking to me this way? And now the future King gives the same response to him.
• But this time it’s the response of the future King, humble and lowly, chosen after the Lord’s own heart, speaking to the current king, the king the Lord has rejected, the king who is no longer humble but so proud that he cannot share glory with another as we saw last week
• Once again we’re presented here with a contrast between the king like the other nations had, and the king after the Lord’s own heart.
• One is haughty, proud, and prone to evil intent. The other is humble, righteous, and full of integrity. And this man’s future son Solomon would write of this same contrast in Proverbs 11:
• Prov 11:2-6 2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom. 3 The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them. 4 Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. 5 The righteousness of the blameless keeps his way straight, but the wicked falls by his own wickedness. 6 The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the treacherous are taken captive by their lust.
• David was humble, upright, righteous, and he was protected from the trap of the treacherous king. King Saul had become prideful in keeping glory for himself, and now his integrity was lost. And eventually the king's crooked ways will come to an end, but not yet.
• Now, David’s response to the marriage proposal wasn’t an outright rejection of the marriage, though that’s possible. At the least it was a humble objection. It’s also possible that Saul backed out of the deal, but regardless, we’re told Saul instead gives his daughter Merab to Adriel for a wife and the crisis for now is averted. 
• Many commentators believe that change of plans was of Saul’s doing, and was meant as a jab at David to try and get a reaction or to provoke him. Now David of course didn’t and so we see that regardless, David has been protected and Saul’s plot came to nothing. But he still has it out for David and his next plot will succeed, but it won’t have the intended outcome he expects.
• Church, the wicked plot and scheme. They are going to plan evil. They stand in opposition to the Lord’s anointed even now, born in rebellion against him, actively opposing him. They hate what is good and cling to what is evil, and if they hated Christ they are going to hate his people too.
• But our savior had this humility that David had and more. David’s humility foreshadowed the humility that the greater David would have, the man who was meek and lowly while being at the same time strong and mighty. He was the Champion of the Lord, successful in battle, and also humble in heart. 
• Humility isn’t the absence of strength, it's not lacking in success. It’s recognition and full reliance on the one who gives the strength, gives the victory, and concedes that it’s the Lord of hosts who reigns over all!
• James says “humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you!” Recognize that the Lord reigns, the Lord rules, that you have nothing, can do nothing without him and humble yourself before him, and at the proper time then, he will be the one to lift you up!
• We like to exalt ourselves don’t we, but that’s not the example we have here to follow. And in following the way of humility, it’s going to keep us safe from schemes and wickedness and evil plots that would seek to bring us down. 
• When pride comes, we read, then comes disgrace. But with the humble is wisdom. With the way of humility is safety. Pride and a fall are avoided altogether when you are walking with humbleness of heart.

Plot with Michal (Vs 20-27)

• Next let’s move on to the Perilous Proposal. Twice now Saul has plotted against David and his plots have failed. But this next plot actually succeeds. We’re told in verse 20 “Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David." And this is both the problem and the plot for King Saul. 
• His biggest problem with David is that everyone loves him! The people love him because he’s the Champion of the Lord! Jonathan loved him as the anointed one and future King after the Lord’s own heart. Saul’s servants loved him, all Judah and Israel did too. That’s a problem for him!
• So David and Michal tell Saul of this and you’d expect him to be furious, right? All the people love this man whom he just wants to die, and now his own daughter loves him too! 
• But that’s not how he responds at all. In fact, this could be an opportunity. This might work to Saul’s advantage if he plays his cards right.
• As a side note, this excerpt of Michals' love for David is the only instance or reference in the Old Testament of a woman loving a man. Jacob loved Leah, Ruth loved Naomi, and so on, but this instance is singular in that the writer points out that Michal loves David as a woman loving a man.
• Twice in fact, in verses 20 and 28, we’re told Michal loved David. This brave and bold champion of the Lord that was ruddy and handsome and had beautiful eyes was the one for her.
• And so Saul wants to twist that love for his own purposes but as we’ll see, the Lord will use it providentially for his good and perfect purposes instead.
• And it says “And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him.” This is right in his eyes, he’s actually happy about this. Why? The plot. Verse 21 “Saul thought, “Let me give her to him, that she may be a snare for him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.”
• Now, you might be having a little deja Vu here because Saul apparently isn’t very creative. His last plot to murder David was pretty much the same, right? Incentivize David with his daughter to go into danger, to head into battle against the Philistines, that he might be killed.
• But Saul does recognize that the first time around this didn’t work, so he’s going to have his servants give David a little encouragement to accept the offer. A little coaxing to get there.
• Verse 22 And Saul commanded his servants, “Speak to David in private and say, ‘Behold, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you. Now then become the king’s son-in-law.’ ”
• And say they say to him “David, you know the king likes you now. We all love you! Don’t worry that he tried to kill you. Go ahead and marry his daughter, this is a good deal for you!”
• Now, there is great political value to marrying Michal. But David is still the same humble man as before, he’s not changing on a whim. And apparently the promise Saul had made in chapter 17 to give riches to the one who killed Goliath had not come to fruition, proving to be an empty promise.
• And in this society, a dowry would have been required for the bride, a sum or a service which neither David nor his family had the means to give.
• So the report comes back to Saul via his servants and now Saul can proceed with his plan to put David in danger and hopefully death. Everything is going according to the plan!
• The servants give David’s response back to Saul and he says “Say to him, “The king desires no bride-price, except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, that he may be avenged of the king’s enemies.”
• And just to be clear that Saul’s intentions were not to avenge his enemies but rather to put David in harm’s way, we’re told in verse 25 that “Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.” 
• Verse 26: “26 And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king’s son-in-law.”
• There is the irony here that it pleased Saul to set this trap and now it pleases David to enter the trap. He is entering with eyes wide open, but he’s got his own plans. And the end result of the plot is that David becomes the king's son-in-law with King Saul giving his daughter Michal to David as his wife.
• So this time Saul’s plot succeeded, but the outcome was not at all the one he expected. It was almost as if he never expected David to survive in battle against 100 Philistines, let alone 200. It was almost as if he thought that maybe the sling and the stone that took out the giant was a fluke, was pure luck, was just a bit of skill flinging a rock and it just happened to find that spot on Goliaths’ forehead. But 100 Philistine warriors? 
• There was no consideration that just maybe the success that David had everywhere he went would continue with him in this endeavor as well. And the result is that David is officially now, family. Last week we saw he essentially became brothers with Jonathan, but now he is officially and publicly and legally Saul’s son-in-law. What Saul meant for evil, in the Lord’s sovereign provision, turned out for David’s good in strengthening and lifting his position.
• And as David didn’t take lightly the fact of becoming King Saul’s son in law, a flawed and earthly king, how much more honor is it for us, knowing that we are sons and daughters of a good and heavenly and eternal king, king Jesus! David didn’t take that honor for granted, and even more then should we treasure the status we have in the family of God.
• But now David is added to the family of King Saul, and we see that David’s continued rise in Israel was given by the favor of the Lord as he continued to humbly walk before him and bravely champion the Lord’s people against their enemies.

APPLICATION AND REFLECTION

In light of today's message....

• What did I learn about the gospel?
• How can I apply what I learned about the gospel to my life?
• With whom can I share the gospel this week?