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All right, good morning, Lake Church. It is great to be here. Great worship. Great to see everyone this morning. If it's your first time here, I'm Jared Wells, the pastor here at Lake, and we are so excited to have you this morning. And we're gonna join, we're gonna begin and continue our study on the heart of the matter. Now, church, y'all help me out. The heart of the matter is always what? A matter of the heart. It's always a matter of the heart. We're always, it's all comes down to the heart. And we've been looking at uh David, a man after God's own heart, to see how we can also be men and women of God after his own heart. So let's take our Bibles, turn to 1 Samuel chapter number 18, 1 Samuel chapter 18, and we're gonna get into the word this morning. Now, we've looked the last few weeks at David and the famous story of David defeating Goliath, right? And we've seen, as we looked at David's heart, we've seen a heart of courage, we've seen a heart of bravery, but most of all, we saw a heart of faith. And what I want what it stood out to me this week, as I was looking at this, Goliath was an obvious enemy. Right? I mean, you look at Goliath, you know he's an enemy. You can see him, you see he's on the side of the Philistines, you see that he has a sword and he's ready to fight. You hear him, you hear his taunts, you hear his threats, you know that he is an obvious enemy. And what's amazing is that it was just one stone, one sling. Goliath went from taunting and threatening to dead with his head cut off. Amen. I mean, Goliath was nothing for David. He was an obvious enemy, but by the power of God, he was an easy enemy. But when we turn to chapter 18, we see David enters into a different type of battle with a different type of enemy. And it wasn't an obvious enemy, it was a surprising enemy. You see, chapter 18 is where Saul, David's king, the one who David loved, turned on him. And he, in chapter 18, Saul decided he hated David. And David became Saul's enemy. The Bible says continually from that day forward. And look, unlike Goliath, who was an obvious enemy, David beat him, you know, you know, one and done, he's out. This was the beginning of a long battle and trial in David's life. And I say that to say this. Sometimes the hardest battles are not with the enemies you are aware of, but they are with the ones that are closest to you. Can anybody relate to that? Amen. David loved Saul. That's what's so heartbreaking about this. David, the Bible, you go back and read it. David loved him greatly. It was his king. It was the one that David went and he played the harp for him and he loved him and he cared for him and he and he just served him and he trusted him. But Saul in this chapter changes and hates David. David loved Saul, but Saul hated David. Now let's read. I'm gonna, I was gonna start in verse number one, but for sake of time, let's drop down to verse number five, and we're gonna touch on what happened in the verse one through four in a few weeks as we cover Jonathan. But in chapter 18, verse number five, the Bible says, So David went out wherever Saul sent him and behaved wisely. And Saul sent him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants. Now it happened when they were coming home, when David was returning from the slaughter of the Philistines, that the women had come out of the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet King Saul. And you know Saul was loving that, right? With tambourines and with joy and with musical instruments, and the women sang as they danced, and said, Saul has slain his thousands. But look at this, and David his tens of thousands. Then what happened? Saul was very angry. And the saying displeased him, and he uh said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom? In verse number nine it says, So Saul eyed David from that day forward. This was the moment where Saul began hating David. And David loved Saul, but Saul hated David. And I want to ask you why. Why did Saul hate David? And I'll give an answer for you, all right? One word jealousy. Jealousy. Good old-fashioned jealousy. And I want to preach this morning on jealousy and this thought of when jealousy takes over the heart. When jealousy takes over the heart. Saul was jealous of David. And let's just all get real this morning. Does anybody here raise your hand if you ever struggle with jealousy or have struggled with jealousy? All right, amen. Some of you struggle with lying, not jealousy, but it's alright, we'll forgive you. That's what grace is for, all right? We've all struggled with jealousy, alright? How many in here, let's let's let's say it this way, how many in here have struggled with other people's jealousy on you? All right. So we all, we all know what is what jealousy is. And we know, we all know the damaging effect that jealousy can have, both in us and to us, right? When we're jealous of others and others are jealous of us, right? So, you know, I believe, I believe it's one of the most overlooked uh common sins that we don't even think much of, but is a serious sin in the eyes of God. And I believe that sometimes people are jealous subconsciously and they don't even know it. You ever had that person in your life that they just they just don't like you and you don't know why? Anybody ever had that? Or maybe maybe that person's in your life, you know, where you just don't like them and you can't even put your finger on it? That person that that some of y'all know what I'm talking about, right? Yeah, you all been there. This is this is very relatable, isn't it? But you ever had that person that they can never be happy for you? Hopefully they're not in here. They can never acknowledge you, they can never be thankful for what God is doing in your, they can never acknowledge your success. And they don't even know why. Sometimes, not all the time, it might just be a jerk, right? But it could be deep-rooted, subconscious jealousy, either in them or in us. And look, jealousy doesn't always look like, oh, I hate that person and I can't wait till they die. Yeah, that's extreme. It doesn't always look like that. You know what sometimes it looks like? Simply, why them and not me? Why did they get the promotion and I didn't? Why did they get the success? Why did they get the attention and not me? Sometimes it's simply how you feel when others succeed. I told y'all we get into the heart, all right? We get into the heart. You can act right and you can do right, but that doesn't always mean your heart's right. Jealousy, let's let's define our terms here. Uh, you know, envy and jealousy are two sides of the same coin, pretty much. We sometimes we use them interchangeably, but they're a little bit different. Jealousy is when you are resentful of someone that you feel is trying to take what you have. Envy is kind of the opposite. It's when you are resentful towards someone because they have what you want. So jealousy is about what you have, envy is about what they have. And y'all with me? Y'all we all understand? Let me give you an example if we're to make sure we're all on the same page. Uh jealousy is like, we have any, we have any older siblings in here? Raise your hand if you're an older sibling. All right. Y'all maybe uh remember the day that your parents went from giving you all the attention to then they brought that little bundle of joy home and you had to give away what you had, your parents' attention. And things have never been the same since, have they? Do you remember that feeling that you had towards that little precious little baby that you just never mind. But that's jealousy, alright? And and envy is more, uh, I'll just say it this way, I'll use myself as an example. I'm getting older, and I'm getting, you know, I don't know if it's shift work or it's pastoring or it's or it's, you know, just age or genetics, but I'm getting a little thin. Try to hide it. There's only so much I can do up top back here. But uh sometimes if I'm not careful, I can have a little envy towards some of y'all that have nice, thick, full hair. Pastor Bayer, you know what I mean, right? You know what I mean? Yeah. If I'm not careful, he can cause a little envy, right? I have to check myself. I have to get on track. But but you know, we joke about it, but look, it can be small, but if unchecked, jealousy or envy can come become very serious. And it can cause a lot of harm. And let me ask y'all this question. Now we're just trying to make sure we're all on the same page. Is all jealousy bad? We're kind of divided here. Raise your hand if you think all jealousy is bad. Alright? Raise your hand if you think it's not all bad. Alright, we're close. There is a legitimate type of jealousy. There is a righteous type of jealousy. How do we know that? Because if you look in Exodus 34, I think they have it on the screen, Exodus 34, verse number 14, it says, For you shall worship no other God for the Lord, whose name is what? Jealous. And is a jealous God. So how in the world can something like jealousy be righteous? How can it be good? The difference comes from the word of or for. You see, you can be jealous for someone without being jealous of someone. God is jealous for you. He's not jealous of us, right? It's not a sinful jealousy. He's jealous for us because we rightfully belong to him. We are in a covenant relationship with him. He loves us, he created us, he made us. And when we put things above him, above our relationship with him, he is a jealous God. He's jealous for us. He wants first place in your life. And that is legitimate righteous jealousy. Uh, same applies to our spouse. If you if you start putting things before your spouse, another person, maybe I believe one of the this thing right here is probably what many spouses are jealous. You're jealous for your spouse because they are putting something before you. That is legitimate jealousy. Now, we don't always react to legitimate jealousy in legitimate ways. You know, that's another another thought, but but there is a type of legitimate jealousy. In fact, Paul said, the uh Paul the Apostle, he said in 2 Corinthians 11, 2, for I am jealous for you with a what? Godly jealousy. For I have, if he goes on, for I have betrothed you to one husband. He is he is jealous, what? For you. He wasn't jealous of them, he was jealous for them because he reached them to Christ, he led them to Christ, and there was false teachers coming in, deceiving them. Right? So it's not always wrong to be jealous, but we have to search our heart to see, okay, is this feeling of resentment, frustration, anger, maybe even hatred, what's going on? When you look at Saul in this chapter, it is not legitimate jealousy, and it has serious, harmful consequences. And this story is played out over and over every day. Jealousy. And look, I want us to look at this story, and I want us to put ourselves, see Saul, see ourselves as Saul or see ourselves as David. Because many times we're teetering back and forth between both of them. We're the one that is jealous, or we're the one that someone is hurting you because of their jealousy. So let's get into it this morning. Number one, the root of jealousy. Jealousy begins in the heart. The root of jealousy is jealousy, it begins in the heart. The Bible says Jeremiah 17, 9, our heart is deceitful, desperately wicked. Jesus said in Matthew 7, you know, all the sins come from within our own heart, and he makes a list of them, murder and pride and all these things, and he says, envy and covetousness. So, so jealousy is already in your heart. It is rooted in our sinful nature. It is natural because it comes with our sin nature. So it's already there. Saul's greatest enemy was not David, Saul's greatest enemy was his own heart. And the same can be said about every single one of us. Your enemy is not that person that you can't stand and you're pointing your finger at and you're you're fighting with. Your greatest enemy is within your chest, within yourself, your heart, the seat of emotions, mind, and will. So, thankfully, Jesus is the answer for our heart, right? But jealousy begins in our heart, and and here's the thing: sometimes people can just not like you, and it's not because of anything you did wrong, it's because of something that's wrong in them. And we have to understand we that's that's the reality of the world we live in. It begins in the heart, and I'm gonna say this probably throughout this sermon. I want you to remember it, I want you to write it down. Jealousy makes other person's success feel like your failure. It makes other people's success feel like your failure, and that's where it came from Saul. He saw David successful, and it felt like he was failing. Here's another thing jealousy grows where insecurity lives. Jealousy grows where insecurity lives. Now, Saul knew his time was winding down, he knew that he was a king only temporarily. God had done told him through Samuel that you're gonna lose the kingdom, and he said this, to someone better. Oh, and I bet that bruised Saul's sensitive ego. You're gonna lose the kingdom because of your sin. You're gonna lose it to someone who is better than you. And he's like, Who can be better than me? And then, whenever David killed the giant, Goliath, the one that he was afraid to stand before and fight, he realized that this man is better than me. He realized that jealousy, remember, is what you're losing. He was losing the kingdom to David, he lost the spirit of God to David, he lost the attention and recognition of the people to David, and he envied David because he saw in David what he didn't have a heart of faith. He saw integrity, he saw character, and it bruised his ego, and it and it and it was just the insecurity made the jealousy bubble up in his heart. Remember, it's already there. We have to repent of it, we have to turn from it, or we will let it take over our heart. Jealousy grows where insecurity lives, and David, you gotta think about it, with one sling and one stone, David became a national hero. Right? I mean, he took that sling. If David was in 2026, he would have an instant viral video. People make videos that go viral for nothing today, right? Right, Olivia? Silly things that don't even. But David killed Goliath, and you would, everybody would see Goliath falling face down and David standing on him with a sword cutting his head off. But it when Saul saw David's success, his his insecurity bubbled up. He went from a nobody to somebody, he went from a shepherd to a warrior, overnight instant celebrity. And everybody was just going on and on about David. Even Saul's own son that we're gonna see, he loved David as his own soul. He he recognized David as king. And here's the thing, church insecure people cannot handle the success of others. Insecure people cannot handle the success of others. And the amazing thing is that David wasn't trying to be better than Saul. He was just trying to be faithful to God. That's so isn't that so amazing? David wasn't trying to show Saul up. God was just using David the chosen one and the rejected one. And another truth about jealousy, what makes jealousy come to the surface is success always invites jealousy. How many of y'all know that for a fact? Success always invites jealousy. If you are successful, jealousy will be around the corner. If you are successful, people that you used to love and that used to love you will turn on you and not even tell you why. And we're gonna see, they will just go from one moment loving you to the next moment throwing spears at you. Because some people, when they see other people's success, they can't handle it. It bites at their insecurity and their ego. You know, David, Saul didn't think anything about David when he was a shepherd. Nobody was jealous of David when he was a shepherd. Right? Nobody was jealous of David when he smelled like sheep. But as soon as he got successful, Saul became jealous. People do not have a problem with you until you're successful. And you need to prepare for that, you need to remember that, and you also need to make sure you're not that person that's jealous of others when they're successful. Celebrate people's success. Don't diminish it, don't discredit it, don't just not acknowledge people's success, celebrate it. Also, we see comparison creates competition. Comparison creates competition. Now, what drove Saul over the edge? It's in chapter, it's in uh verse six, where I'm gonna go ahead and read it again. Now it happened as they were coming home when David was returning from the slaughter of the Philistine that the women had come out of all the cities and singing and dancing to meet King Saul with tambourines, with joy, and with musical instruments. So the women sang as they danced and said, Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousand. So what happened here? I want you to picture the scene. This is this is how I picture it. Saul walking in with his armor and his greatness, you know, just won a battle. He's walking up, and the women just come flocking to Saul, like they always do, shaking their tambourines and dancing around him and praising him, and he's just basking in the glory, and he's like, I love being king. Then all of a sudden, a little ruddy boy, 18 years old, not even old enough to be in the army at this time, walks down the dusty road and they're praising Saul. Then they see David and they leave Saul and say, David, Saul killed his thousands, but David is ten thousands, and they start praising David and dancing around David, and Saul's standing there, like, what's going on? And he looks and he sees David. And he could not handle it. Comparison. And again, David was not trying to be better, he was just trying to be faithful. Right? Jealousy will cause you to constantly live in a state of comparison and competition. And isn't that the world we live in today? My goodness. People maxing out credit cards and living in debt to buy things they can't afford to impress people they don't like. Amen. And then social media takes it to a whole new level, doesn't it? Where everybody is has a wonderful life and everybody is just smiling, and and you know, and you look at that and you're like, well, me and my husband are not doing that great, and they look like they're doing so wonderful, and they're taking the trips, and and their kids are so happy, and and and all that, their life must be perfect, and you start comparing yourself to them. But let me tell you something what you don't see is the fight they had right before they took that picture. What you don't see is their kids were. About to pull each other's eyeballs out in the back seat. And y'all are laughing because y'all know what I'm talking about. And what you don't see is the financial struggle that they're facing and being buried in debt. And you're comparing your life with their highlight reel that's not even real. And you're comparing. Can I preach this morning? Look, look, I worked last night. Y'all know I get a little delusional when I don't have much sleep. So and you're comparing your appearance to people that have so much filter and AI that it ain't really even them. And by the way, everybody knows that ain't you. All right? All right, let's move on. I'm about to get in trouble. But we compare ourselves and we compete with people. Let me tell y'all something. Get off social media, get in the Word of God and compare yourself with Jesus. Amen. He is the only one. He is our goal. He is our aim. He is our standard. He is our example. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. There's only two people you need to be comparing yourself with. Jesus and the person you were yesterday. We are not competing against each other. And churches and religious leaders are the worst at this. Comparing and competing with the church down the road, I just want to go ahead and say if Lake Church, if a church down the road is winning 50 people to Christ, Lake Church is praising God with those people. If their youth group is growing, we're praising God with those people. If God is doing a great work, we are praising God. Well, because listen, we are not competing for the kingdom. We are building the kingdom together. There is no scoreboards in heaven. Amen. God is not gonna go to heaven, you know, we're not gonna be in heaven with God, and he says, okay, Lake Church got this many, you know, and this church down here got this many. So y'all, y'all want, no, we are not in competition. We are just reaching people for Jesus. And if we would keep our eyes on that, stop worrying about all the nonsense, stop comparing ourselves with each other and competing against each other and just join hands and serve Jesus together. How much greater things could we do? Y'all, I'm not finished with the first point, but we're getting close. I'll give you one, I'll give you another thought about the root of jealousy. What makes jealousy come forth? Discontentment feeds jealousy. Discontentment feeds jealousy. Jealousy is the enemy to contentment. You know, Saul could have said, he could have said, you know, yeah, I messed up. I'm living with the consequences of my actions, but I still have a life to live. I still have opportunities, I still have a family. But Saul was so consumed with looking at what he did not have that he missed what he did have. And aren't we guilty of that at times? How many times do we say, if I only had their life? If God was only doing in my life, if I only had their money, their job. Discontentment is the enemy of jealousy. Let's move on. The ruin of jealousy. The ruin of jealousy. It says uh in verse number eight, Saul was angry. The saying displeased him, and he said they have ascribed to David ten thousands, and then it goes on to verse number nine. So Saul eyed David from that day forward. Listen, jealousy does not just stay jealousy. There is a regression of jealousy that if going unchecked, you will spiral out of control just like Saul did. Maybe not to that extreme. But what's on the inside never just stays on the inside. It always reveals itself on the outside. So what do we see here? Jealousy turned into anger. Hatred. Fear. Paranoia, deception, and eventually attempted murder. The Bible says he was very angry. It was intense anger. That word means he was burning with anger. He was hot with anger. It was hatred. And he couldn't stand David from that day forward. And David did nothing wrong. Isn't that amazing? The ruin of jealousy. It will take you farther than you thought you would go. Jealousy consumes your thought. It says he eyed him from that day forward. Eyed David for the rest of his life. David, look, when Saul woke up, David was on Saul's mind. When Saul went to sleep, David was on Saul's mind. And all day long, David was on Saul's mind. He was living rent-free in Saul's head. Jealousy consumes your thought. Jealousy turns allies into enemies. David simply served, loved, and trusted his king. And because of jealousy, it broke the relationship between Saul the king and David, his armor bearer, which was the closest relationship between the two. And the sad thing is, is jealousy turns enemies, turns allies into enemies, friends into foes, and David was his comforter, right? He would play the harp for him. It turns comforters into competitors. And what's what we see here is that David was literally on the same team as Saul. He was fighting Saul's battles. He was, he was, he was uh, you know, fighting the same enemy, he served the same God. David's success was also Saul's success. But while David was fighting for Saul, Saul was fighting against David. It turns allies into enemies. And we need to remember, y'all, we are all on the same team. What an example for the church. We serve the same God, we love the same Jesus, we have the same Bible, we have the Holy Spirit, we are fighting the same enemy. It turns allies into enemies. We need to join hands together and fight with each other, not against each other. Jealousy destroys relationships. Jealousy destroys relationships. Here's one of the most tragic things that broke my heart as I was studying this. Think about how much David loved Saul and how close of a relationship they had and they could have had. But jealousy destroyed what could have been a beautiful, beneficial relationship. And it always happens between those that are closest. You go all the way back to the very beginning in creation, the first family, the first brothers. What happened? Cain killed Abel. Why? Jealousy. You fast forward to Jacob and Esau. Esau wanted to kill Jacob. Why? Jealousy. You look at Joseph and his brothers. His brothers threw him in a pit and wanted to kill him. Only one said, Well, let's just sell him into slavery. You know, we don't want to be mean to him. So they sold him into slavery. Why? Jealousy. I mean, you go to the New Testament, the prodigal son, when he returned, what did his brother do? He was jealous through a fit. On and on. You see close relationships, suffering because of jealousy, destroying relationships because of jealousy. And the sad truth is that the greatest battles usually come from the closest relationships. Am I hitting home anywhere this morning? That's a sad look. I just want to pause right there. It shouldn't be that way. It shouldn't be that way. But that's what sin does. That's what the enemy does. He always divides. Jealousy destroys relationships. Here we go. Also, jealousy makes you throw spears. Now let's read it. Alright. Chapter verse number 10. And it happened on the next day that the distressing spirit from God came upon Saul and he prophesied inside the house. So David played music with his hand, as at other times, but there was a spear in Saul's hand. And Saul cast the spear, for he said, I will pin David to the wall. But David escaped his presence. What's that last word? Twice. Now, how many of y'all, if a crazy, insane king threw a spear at you once, there wouldn't be a second time. Right? But Saul threw a spear at David twice. It wouldn't have happened twice if I was David. Right? But jealousy makes you throw spears. Makes you want to hurt people. And sometimes we don't throw spears with our hands, we throw them with our mouth. We damage reputations with our gossip and slander. We want to hurt people any way we can. We want to scheme against them. We want to plan, plot against them, slander them. And fast, you know, I'm going to just run through this real quick. But Saul realized that probably killing David, the beloved national hero with a spear, would not look good for him. If he pinned David to a wall with a spear, it probably wouldn't have been good for his popularity. So he decided to do something else. And you can read it on your own time. But basically, Saul's like, okay, I'm going to give him my daughter for marriage. I'm going to put him as part of a royal family if he goes into battle. And basically he's scheming, he's plotting, he's planning premeditated murder to put David in the heat of the battle of the Philistines so that the Philistines would kill him instead of David. And that, you know, David went, and the more Saul tried to destroy David, the more successful David was. You read through this chapter, it constantly says he was successful, he behaved himself wisely. The more successful David was, he could not destroy David's reputation, and he could not destroy David's life. Then I want you to read in verse number 20. Uh look in verse number 20. I don't think I have it on the screen, but it says, Now Michael, Saul's daughter, loved David, and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. So Saul said, I will give her to him that she may be a snare to him or a trap to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. So Saul, not because he loved David, but because he hated David, he was gonna give her his daughter. Now, fellas, let me give y'all some tips. So those of you that's not married. If you have a man that's trying to throw his daughter on you and get rid of her, that might not, that might be a red flag. You might want to really pray before you bend that knee, all right? But he's like, I'm gonna give her him Michael as a wife because she's gonna drive him crazy and distract him. And he says, okay, you can have Michael if you go kill a hundred Philistines. What did David do? He went and killed 200 Philistines. Saul thought he would kill David. Uh David would get killed in battle, but the more he tried to destroy David, the more popular and successful David was. One more thought before we move on to our last point this morning. Jealousy damages your witness. Church, listen. A jealous Christian is a bad advertisement for the gospel. God cannot use you and flow through you if there's jealousy and anger and rage and hatred and bitterness and resentment built up in your heart. That's why we're doing this study. So that we can be more like Jesus and reach people for Jesus. We can't be effective witnesses when we're throwing spears. When we're plotting and scheming and trying to hurt people. And it really just frustrates me when people are, you know, serving Jesus in one breath or one action and then they're throwing spears in the next. You're doing more harm for the kingdom of Christ than you are good. You cannot reveal Jesus through jealousy and anger. And one of the ways that Satan would want to divide this church is have us throwing spears at each other. And look, I'll just be real with you. One way me, uh one way Satan would really want to divide this church is to have me and this man throw spears at us at each other. And we done talked about it. And we're here to serve Jesus. Ain't gonna be no spear throwing between Pastor Byron and Pastor Jared. Because that is what the enemy wants to hurt the fatherants of the gospel. Because God cannot move through a church divided, fighting with each other. And I want to give you one more thought and we'll close. The remedy for jealousy. The remedy for jealousy. The antidote for jealousy is humility. Pride fuels jealousy, but humility extinguishes jealousy. And since we know jealousy is a heart condition, what do we see when we look at David, a man after God's own heart? We see humility. We see three things I want to share with you real quick, and we're gonna close. First off, David, he stayed humble when he was praised. He stayed humble when he was praised. And verse number 18, you see his humility. David said to Saul, Who am I? That I would be the king's son. The king's trying to kill him. The king's setting him up to die. But it's David in his humility, maybe even in his naiveness, I think that's a word. Naivity, maybe? He he he he said, Who am I? And then you go on to verse number 23. It says, So Saul's servant spoke these words in the hearing of David, and David said, Does it seem to you a light thing to be the king's son-in-law, seeing I am poor and lightly esteemed? You see, all the praise and all the glory and all the attention did not get to David's head. That's why God knew he could trust him as king. Because when you humble yourself, God will exalt you. When you exalt yourself, God will humble you. Right? So David stayed humble when praised. Number two, he kept serving when mistreated. This is so significant. Y'all don't lose me here. Listen. If somebody threw a spear at you, what would you likely do? Come on, Lake Church, be real. Throw it back. Thank you. Thank you. When Saul threw a spear at David, what did he do? He left it on the ground and did not throw it back. In fact, I'll take it a step farther. When Saul threw a spear at David, David came back with a heart to serve his king. What is that? That's grace. He was not overcome with evil, but he overcame evil with good. He didn't return evil for evil. He didn't get into a spear throwing competition with the king. He showed grace and mercy and kindness and love. What a man. Sometimes we get all prideful and egotistically going to say, well, they do this to me, I'm going to do this to them. That's not that's not a picture of a real man. A real Christian. A Christian shows grace. And I'll give you one more thought here. David chose love instead of hate. We have a song of imitation. I'm finished, but y'all don't lose me. Listen. Don't lose me here. This might be one of the most important things that you hear today. David. When an evil, insane king tried to kill him and hated him, listen, David did not let the hatred of Saul affect his heart. And that's so hard to do. He did not let Saul's hatred cause his heart to hate. He did not let the sins of others cause him to sin. He didn't let hatred rule in his heart. Listen, he chose to love even when he was hated. Isn't that what Jesus said? He didn't pick up the spear and throw it back. He chose to love when people did him wrong. He chose to love when people hated him without cause. He chose to love when somebody wanted to destroy his life. He chose love. You want another answer? The remedy to jealousy? Love. Humility. Basically, looking to Jesus. You can't actively love someone that you're jealous of, and you can't be jealous of someone you're actively loving. And as we look at David, listen, I told y'all from the beginning, we're not studying this to know all about David. We're studying this to see the heart of God. We're studying this to see Jesus. And listen. Oh, I love this. Listen. David didn't pick up the spear and throw it back. He loved instead of hated. That's what shows you he was a man after God's own heart. But you know what Jesus did? He took it an infinite step higher. Jesus didn't just not retaliate. Jesus went to the cross and died for the ones that hated him and wanted to kill him. Jesus took the beating from the ones, he set his face to the cross and the ones that rejected him, the ones that despised him, the ones that wanted to kill him, he went to the cross and died for them. When you rejected Jesus and you were living in your own sin and didn't want nothing to do with Jesus, Jesus still came for you. While they were nailing his hands to the cross, hatred in their hearts, wagging their heads at Jesus in disgust. When he could have called a legion of angels to destroy the world, Jesus chose love. What an example for us. What a picture of grace. And I'll just be honest with you this morning. I've been there where people hated me without cause. Maybe you've been there where people hate you without cause and they throw spears at you. It's hard. You know what we have to do? Choose to love. Choose to love. And I'll give it to you this way. Look, I've also been on the other side of this. Where my insecurity and my jealousy and the sin in my heart has probably hurt others as well. Maybe you're here this day, today, and look. You relate with David, but you also relate with Saul. You relate with a heart problem, but you can also relate with the hurt in your heart from other people's heart problems. Anybody know what I'm talking about this morning? Listen, you know what's the good news? I'm gonna leave with you with some good news. You can bring your heart and your hurt to Jesus. You can bring him your heart that's full of jealousy, anger, rage, sin, suffering, hurt, bitterness, resentment, whatever's going on within, you can bring it to him. And you can also bring him that broken heart. And you can lay it before him and surrender it to him. And he will heal you of evil. You can bring him your heart, and you can bring him your heart. And what I want to do this morning is I want to pray. And I want us to spend some time letting God search our heart. Remember our verse, Psalms 139 search my heart, O God. Try me, know my thoughts, see if there's any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Let's allow God to do a work in our heart this morning. Father, we come before you in Jesus' name. Lord, each person here has come in here with something going on in their heart. With some hurt, with some anger, with some unforgiveness, with some bitterness, with some brokenness. God, you see the heart. God, I pray you would do a work in their heart today. As you continue to pray this morning, I want you to be honest before God. If you're here today and you said, maybe you can say, I've been hurt by someone and I don't even know why. They're throwing spears at me, they're hating me without cause, and my heart is hurting, my heart is broken. If that's you this morning, would you raise your hand up before God and be honest this morning? Amen. Amen. Amen. All over, amen. Here's the other question. You say, Well, I'm here and I'm dealing with some things in my heart. Some anger, some resentment, some bitterness, maybe some unforgiveness, and I'm trying to heal from it, but it's hard. Can you pray for me? Would you raise your hand this morning? Amen. Amen. Listen, one more thing. You say, Pastor Jared, I'm here and I've never surrendered my heart to Jesus. I don't know if I'm a true believer in Christ. And I've been hurt and I've been done wrong and I'm struggling. I can't handle it anymore. I can't take it anymore. I need to surrender my heart to Jesus. I need to make him the Lord and Savior of my life. That's you this morning. Would you be honest? Nobody's looking. Just raise your hand so I can pray for you. Anybody here? Amen. Anybody else? Raise it up high.

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Amen.

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We're gonna sing and we're gonna worship. Are we out of here? You do not have to leave this church without bringing your hearts, bringing your hurts, bringing your needs to Christ, your brokenness to him. And we have some people that would love to pray with you. If you would just humble yourself and allow God to do that work within. I've done what God has called me to do this morning. Now it's time for you to do what he's calling you to do. Will you allow him to do a work in your heart? Let's stand this morning. And we'll sing, Father, move in our hearts. We need you, Jesus. Point us to our healer, to the cross. In your holy name we pray. Amen. Will you come this morning? Let someone pray with you.