CALL TO CONFESSION

Matthew 9:10-13

And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Compassionate Father, we confess that we often resist needing your mercy. In our self-righteousness, religious performance replaces genuine love, and we become blind to the suffering of those around us. Sometimes caring for others becomes the very duty we use to justify ourselves. Forgive us and have mercy on us. Father, you have shown us great mercy through the sacrifice of your Son. Melt our indifferent hearts with the astonishing truth of your love for us in Christ, who bore the weight of our sin so we could inherit every spiritual blessing.

Jesus, thank you for walking through this broken world with eyes of compassion, serving others even when it disrupted your life. Though we are often callous, we praise you that your perfect obedience and love are credited to us.

Holy Spirit, keep us mindful of our weakness so we may cherish Christ's righteousness. Soften our stony hearts with gratitude for the mercy we have received until compassion and love flows out of us like a river. Help us surrender our agendas, open our eyes to those in need, and walk with joyful confidence in the good works you have prepared for us. Cover our shameful lack of mercy and love for others with the glorious obedience of Jesus. May our growing love for him compel us to face a needy world with peace and real power to help. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen. 

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

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

“Hear these words of comfort and assurance.” 

Psalm 103:8, 10-12

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

  so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

12 as far as the east is from the west,

  so far does he remove our transgressions from us. 

• We’ve all felt the urge to take a shortcut, to grab what we think is ours or take matters into our own hands to settle a score.
• In 1 Samuel 24, David faces that exact test: the temptation to take the shortcut. 
• He is being hunted by Saul, on the run, and hiding in the barren limestone caves of Engedi.
• Suddenly, he is handed what looks like an open door from the Lord.
• Saul enters the very cave where David and his men are hiding, alone and unguarded. 
• Could this be the Lord giving David’s enemy into his hand? His men certainly think so. 
• They urge David to strike, framing it as a God-given opportunity. 
• But David refuses to grasp for power through a sinful shortcut to the throne. 
• Instead, he chooses to trust God’s timing over human convenience. 
• There is a vital truth for us here today: We too must wait on God’s promises without resorting to sinful shortcuts or self-preservation. 

1 Samuel 24:1-7

• Chapter 23 closed with David’s deliverance from what looked like certain capture. 
• A timely messenger with news of a Philistine raid forced Saul to immediately abandon his pursuit. 
• Chapter 24 picks up with Saul returning from that Philistine threat. He gets an update on David’s newest hiding place, the wilderness of Engedi, and wastes no time in resuming the pursuit.
• He takes a sizable force, three thousand elite warfighters, to hunt for David among the Wildgoats’ Rocks. 
• Engedi means “spring of the young goat.” It’s on the western shore of the Dead Sea. And it’s full of caves. 
• Saul comes to the sheepfolds, where there is a cave, to relieve himself.
• Unbeknownst to Saul, David and his men are sitting in the deepest part of the cave. 
• Of all the caves in that entire wilderness, Saul picks the exact one where David is hiding. 
• You have to picture the scene. Saul is alone. He is completely vulnerable. He has to take off his robe and some of his garments.
• And back in the darkness of the cave, David and his men are holding their breath. They can’t believe what they’re seeing. 
• The man who has been hunting them is just mere yards away, unguarded and exposed.

• The men begin to whisper to David, “This 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.’” 
• Where in 1 Samuel did God promise that to David? There is nothing recorded that says anything like that.
• God promised David the kingdom, but he never promised him the green light to murder Saul. 
• The reaction of David’s men is understandable. Saul is their enemy, and all’s fair in love and war. 
• Do you see how subtle this temptation is? 
• The men frame it as fulfilled prophecy, this was God’s promise to David. 
• They claim God arranged these unique circumstances as a command from God to strike down Saul. 
• They call it an open door, and if it’s an open door, God must have opened it, so David should walk through it. 

• Now, I think they genuinely believed that this was providence.
• They were exhausted, hungry and living in constant fear for their lives. 
• They loved David and believed in God’s promise about David, and here is the man in front of them who wants him dead. If that’s not God, what is? All of this could be over in a moment.
• Saul was at the mercy of David. This has to be God! 

• This is a dynamic that plays out all the time in the Christian life. 
• We interpret our circumstances as if they were revelation from God. 
• When circumstances line up nicely, it becomes easy and natural to justify a sinful shortcut. 
• An opportunity presents itself to cheat on an exam. 
• A ‘clever’ accounting loophole lets you evade taxes you legitimately owe.  
• An opportunity arises to slander a co-worker who has treated you unfairly. 
• We can deceive ourselves into thinking, “It’s an open door. God must be allowing this.”

• But we know this: circumstances are not your Bible. 
• Providence tells you what is; Scripture tells you what you ought to do. 
• Providence must always be interpreted by the revealed Word of God, because providence is not permission.
• God chose David to be king. But God never once commanded David to murder Saul to get to the throne. 

• Some of the most dangerous advice you can receive will come from well-intentioned people in your life, who love you. They will use God’s name, and they will tell you that an open door must be a door God wants you to walk through.
• When a friend tells you that God is obviously behind a circumstance, don’t ask, “Is this door open?” Ask, “What has God actually said?”

• David gets up, creeping forward, but instead of striking Saul, he stealthily cuts off a corner of Saul’s robe. 
• That’s it. He just takes a piece of cloth. 
• But this small act weighs heavily on David. “David’s heart struck him…”
• Why would this have troubled his conscience?
• Throughout 1 Samuel, robes carry deep symbolic weight.  The royal robe was a symbol of kingly authority. 
• When Samuel turned to leave and Saul tore his robe, Samuel said God was tearing the kingdom from Saul. 
• When Jonathan took off his own robe and gave it to David, it was a symbolic gesture of laying down his own claim to the throne. 
• Cutting off a piece of Saul’s robe was a symbolic way of stripping Saul of his honor. 
• David realized he let his emotions drive his action and he was grieved. 

• A tender conscience is evidence that God has done a deep and gracious work in a person’s heart. 
• Saul had a seared conscience. He didn’t lose a night of sleep after slaughtering an entire city of priests, along with their wives and children. 
• And David cuts a tiny piece of Saul’s robe, and his heart smites him. 

• I pray we would all cultivate tender consciences, that feel the sting over small sins that nobody else even notices. 
• That sting is the Spirit of God working on your heart. Don’t ignore it. We don’t ever want to lose that feeling. 
• If you don’t feel that sting anymore, if things that once bothered you now slide right past, that is not maturity.
• Paul warned Timothy to hold onto faith and a good conscience, stating, “By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith.” (1Tim. 1:19)

• David turns to his men and says to them, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord. He is the Lord’s anointed.” 
• David restrains his men. The language in the Hebrew is much more forceful. David tore into them, forbidding them from moving against Saul.

• David understood that God had promised him the kingdom, but it was not his to take by force.
• The kingdom had been given to Saul by God, and only God had the right to remove him, in his own timing and in his own way. 
• For David to make a move against Saul would be to rebel against God’s authority. 
• David feared God more than he feared man, so he refused the shortcut.

• That is certainly not the way of the world. We are used to leaders taking shortcuts, taking advantage of others’ weaknesses and exploiting them for personal gain. 
• David was a man under authority and he refused to grab power for himself. 
• The kingdom would only come to him as a gift from God, in God’s timing. 

• Think of Jesus as he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
• Matthew 4, Satan brought Jesus to a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and he offered him a shortcut, a way for Jesus to have it all, right now, all the power and glory, with no suffering and no cross. All he had to do was bow down to Satan and worship him. 
• Jesus rejected the shortcut. He quoted the Word of God and chose the path of obedience. 
• Jesus knew that receiving the kingdom required total submission to the Father’s will and the Father’s timing. 
• There in the darkness of the cave in Engedi, David showed a shadow of that same Christlike obedience. 
• When you’re tempted to take a shortcut, when you want to break a commandment to avoid suffering or secure success, remember Jesus. 
• He trusted the Father through the cross, and God raised him up in glory. 

1 Samuel 24:8-15

• Saul finishes, gathers his robe, and walks out of the cave into the sunlight. 
• David could have stayed safely hidden in the cave, but he chooses to step out of the shadows and into the light.
• He calls out after Saul, “My Lord the king!” He bows with his face to the ground showing honor and respect. 
• And then he delivers what amounts to something like a courtroom defense. 
• First, he exposes the lies that have been whispered in Saul’s ears. 
• Everyone who told Saul that David had treasonous motives, was lying.
• Second, he presents indisputable evidence of his integrity. 
• He had the power to harm Saul but he chose to be merciful. 
• He presents the piece of the cut cloth from Saul’s robe. That’s the whole argument. 
• If David wanted Saul dead, he would be dead. The proof of David’s innocence is that cut cloth in David’s open hand. 
• Third, he points to the divine Judge who will render the verdict. 
• David places his case entirely in the hands of the Divine Judge. 
• “May the Lord judge between me and you, may the Lord avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you.”
• He’s not declaring Saul to be innocent. He’s simply refusing to be the one who settles the score. 
• The Lord will judge and render divine justice. 
• David quotes an old proverb, “From the wicked comes forth wickedness.” In other words, if David had wicked intentions, he would have committed a wicked act in that cave. His restraint proved he is not wicked but acted righteously. 
• Fourth, he makes a final appeal. 
• David humbles himself completely. David doesn’t defend his own dignity or his own claim to the throne. 
• He defends God’s justice. God will decide the matter. 
• “May the Lord therefore judge and render his sentence, may he see it, plead my cause, and deliver me from your hand.” 

• David’s posture is exactly what Peter describes in his letter when he reflects on the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ.
• 1 Peter 2:21-23 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.
• Jesus took every injustice done to him and trusted himself to the just Judge who would vindicate him.
• This truth goes against our natural inclinations. 
• But look at our Lord’s example. 
• True power is not shown in your ability to crush your enemies when you have the upper hand. 
• True power is shown in our willingness to surrender our cause to the God of righteousness and justice. 
• Paul states in Romans 12, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’” (Rom. 12:19)

• Many hold on to grievances because they fear that if they let go, nobody will ever set the record straight. The person who wronged them will get away with it and what they did will be forgotten. 
• But Scripture says it will not be forgotten. There is a Judge. He sees it all. Nobody is getting away with anything. And furthermore, he does not need your help or your timeline to execute justice. 
• You don’t need to win every argument. 
• You don’t always have to set the record straight. 
• You don’t have to keep records of all of the wrongs done to you. 
• Hand it all over to the Righteous Judge. You can speak the truth in love, lay down your weapons, and trust that God sees everything clearly and he will make all things right in his time. He will have the final word. 

1 Samuel 24:16-22

• Saul is clearly overwhelmed. He acknowledges David is more righteous than he is, confessing that David repaid him with good and spared his life when the Lord had placed him in his hands.
• Then Saul makes a startling confession. “I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand.” 
• He’s known it for a while and now he says it. God promise to David was undeniable, even David’s worst enemy must bow to that reality.
• Saul speaks the truth because he was confronted with David’s righteousness and mercy. 
• So he pleads mercy for his offspring. He asks David to swear an oath that he would not wipe out his descendants after he is gone. 
• David swears it, and years later when he is king, he keeps that promise by showing kindness to Jonathan’s son. 

• But was Saul’s response genuine repentance?
• Notice how the chapter ends. Saul went home. And David and his men went back up to the stronghold. 
• David heard Saul’s tearful and emotional confession, but he was wise. 
• He didn’t mistake a moment of emotional remorse for a fully transformed heart. 
• Notice what Saul didn’t do: he didn’t invite David to return home with him. He didn’t offer to restore David to his position as commander. He didn’t give David back his wife. 
• Saul has an emotional moment on the hillside and heads back to his palace with his heart unchanged. 
• Two chapters later, he is out hunting David again. 

• This is one of the clearest pictures in Scripture of the difference between remorse and repentance. 
• Remorse is feeling sorry for the consequences of sin or being overwhelmed by emotional regret. 
• Repentance is a work of the Holy Spirit that turns us away from sin and toward God in lasting obedience. 
• “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” (2 Cor. 7:10)
• Both remorse and repentance can produce tears, but they walk in opposite directions afterwards. 
• Tears are not the test. The direction you take after the tears is the test. 
• What Saul had was remorse. He was shamed by David’s righteousness and mercy. But his heart remained unchanged. 
• David had a heart that feared the Lord. His security was not in Saul’s promises or his emotional apology. His security rested in the Lord. 

CONCLUSION

• As we come to a close, we see a story that lifts our eyes to Christ. 
• Faced with the ultimate shortcut in the wilderness—all the kingdoms of the world with none of the agony of the cross—Jesus chose total obedience. 
• In the Garden, he had the power to call down legions of angels to destroy his enemies. 
• He had the power to step off the cross and execute judgment on all of his accusers. 
• Instead, he remained on the cross. He entrusted himself to the righteous Judge while his enemies mocked him. 
• He suffered the penalty for our self-centeredness, our desire for vengeance, our impatience, and our lack of trust in God. He refused the shortcut. 

• Because Christ died for us while we were still his enemies, we are freed from the burden of taking our own revenge. 
• We are free from the lie that we must control every outcome in our lives. 
• Where in your life are you tempted to take matters into your own hands? 
• Are you trying to force your own timing?
• Are you harboring bitterness toward someone who wronged you years ago?
• Are you tempted to cut ethical corners to get ahead? 
• Are you trying to manipulate an outcome because you’re tired of waiting on God? 

• Hear the word of the Lord today. 
• You never have to sin to secure what God has promised to give. 
• You don’t need to avenge yourself when you belong to the Judge of all the earth. 
• Cast your cares upon the Lord. Trust his timing, even when the wait is long and the cave is dark. 
• Look to King Jesus, who refused the shortcut to the crown, bore your sin, and will keep you secure until his eternal kingdom comes. 

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?