WEBVTT 00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:06.719 Welcome to the Enduring Grace Sermons Podcast. 00:00:06.879 --> 00:00:10.320 This is the home for the weekly teaching and ministry of Pastor Ben Hill. 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:15.199 Our mission is to share the timeless truth of God's Word with the world in need of hope. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:21.359 For more resources, articles, and updates, visit us online at enduringgrace.com. 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:24.559 And now, here is this week's message. 00:00:27.519 --> 00:00:35.280 This morning, I have a question for you that I would like for you to consider, because this is where David is in our text. 00:00:35.840 --> 00:00:56.000 If God placed you in a dark room with a knife in hand, with no one around to judge you other than God, and he placed the person that has hurt you most before you, what would you do? 00:00:56.719 --> 00:00:57.679 Think about that. 00:00:57.920 --> 00:01:10.239 The person who has tried to kill you, maybe has abused you, in David's case, has tried to kill him, chased him all across the region, is before him. 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:20.319 If you were in David's shoes and you were in that dark cave and you had a dagger in hand, what would you do? 00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:33.599 As we look at David's life, we're going to see three realities of David in his moment of choice in a dark cave while he's on the run this morning. 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:36.400 And I want to talk to you about the staid hand. 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:43.439 Now, in order to fully grasp what the context is, we need to go back and think about David's life to this point. 00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:45.280 He's been anointed the future king. 00:01:45.439 --> 00:01:46.799 He's defeated Goliath. 00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:50.719 He has fought the Philistines on behalf of Israel. 00:01:50.959 --> 00:01:54.239 He is a well-known man. 00:01:55.599 --> 00:01:57.840 Saul's jealousy is bold over. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:01.359 He's tried to kill David on multiple occasions. 00:02:01.599 --> 00:02:13.759 And in fact, in chapter 22, Saul's jealousy and his hatred towards David is bold to the point where he kills 85 priests of the Lord because they showed kindness to David. 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:19.520 Then David flees to a new spot. 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:30.240 He rescues a town, a people, from the Philistine threat, and he is thinked through betrayal. 00:02:31.039 --> 00:02:37.759 So David has now fled to an unlikely place in the Ngeti. 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:41.360 Now I've got a picture of the Ngeti I want to show. 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:42.879 It's right here. 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:46.319 So you can kind of see the walk path, the little rail there. 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:49.520 If you squint really closely, it's in the shadows there. 00:02:49.759 --> 00:02:53.280 But this is the area in which it's believed David hid. 00:02:53.759 --> 00:02:55.520 Very close to where he hid. 00:02:55.759 --> 00:03:03.039 Within this region, there are great crevices, great caves that go deep into the mountainside. 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:07.039 And they're dark enough to hide many men. 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:10.639 And so David has fled into this region. 00:03:10.879 --> 00:03:12.479 Now this is a hot region. 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:20.639 The sun beams and it's unbearable if exposed for prolonged periods of time. 00:03:20.879 --> 00:03:35.599 It's near the Dead Sea, and it is a place where you might say is at the last spot that you would want to be if you were supposed to be the next king. 00:03:36.319 --> 00:03:39.599 Keep in mind, David had a pretty good life. 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:42.800 He's married to Saul's daughter. 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:46.319 He was living in the palace. 00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:51.439 And yet now he is calling caves his home. 00:03:53.280 --> 00:03:58.560 And the Lord has brought Saul to his cave. 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:06.800 Saul has come into a single place, the one place David has hidden. 00:04:07.680 --> 00:04:13.039 And here David is in the cave system with Saul before him. 00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:17.120 With Saul not knowing David could see him. 00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:23.759 Talk about God's appointed meeting. 00:04:24.879 --> 00:04:36.800 That is the context in which David then goes, takes his dagger, and cuts a piece of the robe off of Saul's cloak. 00:04:39.519 --> 00:04:40.959 And holds it. 00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:48.720 In fact, in verse 5, we see that David has great conviction after doing so. 00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:54.319 It says that David's heart struck him because he had cut off a corner of Saul's robe. 00:04:55.439 --> 00:05:02.160 So David here could have easily killed Saul and instead he just wanted to threaten him. 00:05:03.839 --> 00:05:05.839 And he feels conviction. 00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:18.000 And so he comes out, revealing that he was in the cave to Saul and declares these words in verses 12 through 15. 00:05:18.160 --> 00:05:22.800 If you found your place in 1 Samuel chapter 24, would you say word? 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:26.720 And would you stand in the honor of the reading of God's word? 00:05:28.879 --> 00:05:32.160 Says, May the Lord judge between me and you. 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:38.639 May the Lord avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you. 00:05:38.879 --> 00:05:46.959 As the proverb of the ancient says, out of the wicked comes wickedness, but my hand shall not be against you. 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:49.839 After whom has the king of Israel come after? 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:51.759 After whom do you pursue? 00:05:51.920 --> 00:05:54.879 After a dead dog, after a flea? 00:05:55.120 --> 00:06:06.240 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. 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:08.079 You may be seated. 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:21.279 This morning I want to see three ways that you can come, not just before the Lord, but before others when others come after you. 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:27.279 The first is that we should refuse to retaliate no matter the circumstance. 00:06:27.519 --> 00:06:30.240 Look at what David says in verse 12. 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:33.279 It says, May the Lord judge between me and you. 00:06:33.519 --> 00:06:41.199 May the Lord avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you. 00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:46.720 You notice he says nothing here about Saul being not in the wrong. 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:50.079 In fact, he actually implies that Saul's very much in the wrong. 00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:55.519 He tells him, Hey, listen, Saul, my father, listen. 00:06:55.759 --> 00:06:58.399 May the Lord judge between me and you. 00:06:58.560 --> 00:07:01.279 He says, Look, I have done nothing wrong. 00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:03.439 I know my standing before the Lord. 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:07.680 I know my standing before you, that you should have nothing against me. 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:11.360 But I'm going to ask that the Lord be judge. 00:07:11.680 --> 00:07:13.439 He uses courtroom language. 00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:20.399 In other words, that the Lord is going to both see and decree what is right and what is wrong. 00:07:20.639 --> 00:07:23.439 He is trusting that God has seen it all. 00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:26.959 He has faith in the Lord to rule rightly. 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:32.879 So he's saying, hey, look, God is the Lord and He is the judge between you and me. 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:38.720 But not only is He the judge, he says that the Lord is going to avenge. 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:41.839 Did you catch that? 00:07:42.079 --> 00:07:44.879 He says that the Lord is going to avenge. 00:07:45.279 --> 00:07:48.319 Now we we love the Avengers Marvel. 00:07:48.720 --> 00:08:00.560 You just watched a phenomenon that was during the lead up to the great movies that finished the first, really first full phase of all the movies with that. 00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:04.399 And we love superheroes because they are our avengers. 00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:06.800 They are there to stand in the gap. 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:09.120 Oftentimes we want to be the avenger. 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:11.120 We want to stand in the gap for others. 00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:14.240 And sometimes we want to be the avenger for ourselves. 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:16.720 We want to stand up for ourselves. 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:22.079 But David says, no, the Lord is my Avenger. 00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:29.360 In other words, the Lord is the one who's going to act out the vengeance that is decreed. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:36.399 This language, in fact, is used to talk about the exclusive property of the Almighty God. 00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:42.799 That God is the one who will decree what is right and what is wrong. 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:44.159 It is his right. 00:08:44.399 --> 00:08:49.679 Deuteronomy 32, 25 reminds us that the Lord is the avenger. 00:08:49.919 --> 00:08:56.399 He says in verse 32 or 35 of Deuteronomy 32, Vengeance is mine. 00:08:57.679 --> 00:09:03.360 The Lord says that I will be the one who decrees vengeance. 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:06.399 And so David doesn't have to fight his fight. 00:09:06.639 --> 00:09:10.080 He doesn't have to, because the Lord is going to. 00:09:20.159 --> 00:09:26.000 That David is going to follow after the Lord and trust God's decrees to be right. 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:36.000 But you might be asking, well, why would God give the opportunity for David to take Saul's life if it wasn't God's design or God's will? 00:09:36.240 --> 00:09:47.440 Did you know God oftentimes gives you opportunity to sin in order for you to be proven to be faithful? 00:09:49.039 --> 00:09:57.440 That opportunity does not mean that God has given authorization for you to follow through the opportunity. 00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:01.600 David had opportunity to take Saul's life. 00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:05.759 And it would have been called self-defense because Saul was trying to kill him. 00:10:06.960 --> 00:10:11.679 He had the opportunity, he had the means, but it was not God's will. 00:10:12.240 --> 00:10:14.080 David understood that. 00:10:14.639 --> 00:10:20.320 Far too often we look at an opportunity as simply the God opening the door for us to run through. 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:22.960 Now, sometimes the opportunity is for that. 00:10:23.519 --> 00:10:29.120 We could do that and be completely faithful. 00:10:30.320 --> 00:10:33.600 But it might not be the best opportunity. 00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:36.799 Might not be God's best plan. 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:41.440 So when you're wrestling with in your life, is this the right thing to do? 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:45.759 You need to be asking, is this really God's plan for my life? 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:50.000 You've got to be meeting with the Lord in order for that to occur. 00:10:50.399 --> 00:11:07.120 Now, there's a story about Abraham Lincoln in his early days of law, where he was in a particular patent trial in Cincinnati, and he was alongside this really brilliant, sharp-tongued attorney. 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:10.799 This attorney's name was Edwin Stanton. 00:11:11.200 --> 00:11:12.879 Now, here's the thing with Mr. 00:11:13.039 --> 00:11:13.919 Stanton. 00:11:14.399 --> 00:11:18.480 He looked at Lincoln and judged him by the cover. 00:11:18.799 --> 00:11:21.440 He had an ill-fitted suit that day. 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:24.000 He was long and lanky. 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:28.240 He just didn't look very lawyerly, according to him. 00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:30.960 And so he froze him out of the trial. 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:33.440 He wouldn't eat with him, he wouldn't spend time with him. 00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:40.399 He really became an enemy of Lincoln because he started bad-mouthing Lincoln. 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:43.440 You fast forward a little time, and guess who became president? 00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:43.919 Not Mr. 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:44.799 Stanton, Mr. 00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:45.919 Lincoln. 00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:48.159 And as Mr. 00:11:48.240 --> 00:11:57.200 Lincoln was considering the Secretary of War, one of the most important positions in all of government at this time, he went for Mr. 00:11:57.360 --> 00:11:58.320 Stanton. 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:07.679 And do you know what he was, what Abraham Lincoln said when asked why he would choose a man that belittled him so much? 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:12.159 Was that this real the this is what he said. 00:12:12.240 --> 00:12:16.879 He said, Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends? 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:28.399 If you got a thorn in the flesh, a person who's your enemies, an opposer of you who likes to badmouth you, maybe it's time to invite them to dinner. 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:45.039 Edwin Stanton would one day lie right next to the dying Abraham Lincoln, kneeling before him as he cried, as he lost a dear friend. 00:12:46.320 --> 00:13:06.320 See, when God enables us to live in his will, when we trust him, when we understand that God will be the judge, that God will be the avenger, we're able to show love and kindness in a way that is impossible otherwise. 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:11.840 Are you someone who trusts the Lord to fight your battles for you? 00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:22.399 Or are you someone who just simply tries to get even by lying or gossiping or belittling the person that you know is doing the same for you? 00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:33.759 But the second reality is that we also need to retain our integrity, retain your integrity. 00:13:34.879 --> 00:13:36.240 Look at what he says. 00:13:36.399 --> 00:13:48.000 So not only does he say, hey, look, listen, uh, I'm going to refrain from casting judgment against you, I'm going to refrain from retaliation. 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:49.279 I'm going to refuse. 00:13:49.440 --> 00:13:54.159 He says, I'm also going to remain a man of integrity. 00:13:54.399 --> 00:13:55.519 Look at verse 13. 00:13:55.600 --> 00:13:59.759 He says, as the proverb of the ancient says, out of the wicked comes wickedness. 00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:03.519 He goes, Hey, Saul, I want to remind you of something. 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:14.000 You know, your actions speak louder than words, and your actions say that you're a wicked man on the inside because you're doing wicked things. 00:14:15.679 --> 00:14:17.679 What's your life saying? 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:25.039 Is it saying that you're a wicked person, a person who is more focused on the flesh or more focused on Christ? 00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:27.919 How does your words land? 00:14:30.240 --> 00:14:33.679 Are you a loving person or are you a vengeful person? 00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:39.759 Are you a person with patience or are you a person who is quick to being angry? 00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:47.600 David says, the wickedness comes out of the heart. 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:50.000 But my hand shall not be against you. 00:14:50.159 --> 00:14:58.639 David then says, Hey, look, a wicked person does wicked things, but I will not stoop to wickedness. 00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:02.480 I will not do what you're doing to me. 00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:05.919 He says, I will not stoop down. 00:15:06.159 --> 00:15:08.240 I am a man of character. 00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:12.159 And he says, After whom has the king of Israel come at? 00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:19.919 Now I love this because he compares himself to two absolutely low of low creatures in this society. 00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:22.799 He says, After whom has the king of Israel come out? 00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:24.320 After whom do you pursue? 00:15:24.480 --> 00:15:33.840 After a dead dog, which is good for nothing, or after a flea, which is even worse. 00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:36.639 A speck of a creature. 00:15:37.440 --> 00:15:41.120 David's saying, King, you're higher than me. 00:15:41.360 --> 00:15:44.720 You are positioned in authority by God Himself. 00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:47.039 You were anointed king by the Lord. 00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:48.320 He allowed you to be king. 00:15:48.399 --> 00:15:52.799 He removed that, yes, but you are still in the position of being king. 00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:57.039 God has not removed you from position, and I'm not coming after you. 00:15:57.600 --> 00:16:00.080 I'm not fighting this battle. 00:16:00.399 --> 00:16:01.440 I'm on the run. 00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:06.559 I'm fleeing because I'm nothing more than a dead dog or a flea. 00:16:07.200 --> 00:16:13.840 He says, I am a low, unimportant person before you saw. 00:16:14.159 --> 00:16:16.240 Why do you come after me? 00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:22.960 In order for us to remain people of integrity, we have to remember our position. 00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:36.559 And we have to remain people of character because here's the thing your enemy's victory is not miss this, is not when they tarnish you. 00:16:38.159 --> 00:16:42.720 It's when you stoop to their own sinful practices. 00:16:53.440 --> 00:16:58.240 Victory is dependent on trusting the Lord. 00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:01.519 Are you trusting the Lord to fight your battles? 00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:23.279 Or are you simply being used and you're allowing yourself to be used to basically ruin your reputation and any opportunity to share the gospel because you are no different with your gossip, with your belittling, and your attacks against other people. 00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:37.920 We have been called to be different, to be set apart, to forgive and to love and to be people who are high in character. 00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:52.799 There was maybe you know this name, you should know this name, Jackie Robinson, who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, many years ago, before he started playing for the Major League Baseball, had a meeting with the owner. 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:01.279 Now, Mr. 00:18:01.359 --> 00:18:07.759 Ricky, he started walking through all the abuses saying, hey, you're gonna get cussed at. 00:18:08.079 --> 00:18:13.759 You're gonna be cleated on purpose, you're gonna be hit with the baseball repeatedly. 00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:25.440 This is gonna be the most miserable time of your life as a baseball player if you play with the white people in the Major League Baseball. 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:32.079 Jackie Robinson, after listening for quite a while, goes, Mr. 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:40.000 Ricky, are you looking for a black man who's scared of conflict? 00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:45.680 Are you looking for a black man who's afraid to fight back? 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:47.279 Mr. 00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:48.960 Ricky said, No. 00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:54.720 I'm looking for a player that has the guts to not retaliate. 00:18:57.440 --> 00:18:59.200 I need a man of character. 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:11.359 And history tells us that Jackie Robertson became one of the greats of the baseball legends because he was a man of character. 00:19:11.839 --> 00:19:14.400 He was willing to be a man of character. 00:19:16.079 --> 00:19:26.559 We will have greater impact on the world around us when we commit to being men and women of character who are not going to fight our battles. 00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:38.079 But we trust the Lord to fight our battles, and we stand firm on what God tells us to do, which is to love and to share the gospel. 00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:45.279 To stand on the biblical truth in love without compromising. 00:19:46.400 --> 00:20:00.400 And when people call us bigots or when they run our names through the mud, we stand held head high because Christ suffered the greatest cost on our behalf. 00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:01.599 He died. 00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:07.759 The least we can do is have our names run through the mud for his name's sake. 00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:14.480 Then there's also the need to rest in the Lord. 00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:16.880 To rest in the Lord. 00:20:17.119 --> 00:20:18.319 Look at verse 15. 00:20:18.400 --> 00:20:27.279 He says, 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. 00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:30.400 He goes, I'm going to rest in the Lord. 00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:34.640 The Lord is therefore going to be judge. 00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:39.279 He's going to give the sentence between me and you and see to it. 00:20:40.880 --> 00:20:42.160 God's not going to delay. 00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:46.559 He's going to see to it and plead my cause and deliver me from your hand. 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:48.720 In other words, God's going to protect me. 00:20:48.960 --> 00:20:52.640 I can trust the Lord to protect me from you. 00:20:53.279 --> 00:21:00.079 He reflects back on that courtroom language of being God being judged, that he's going to give a sentence. 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:01.680 He's going to plead his cause. 00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:04.640 That he's got a defender in the Lord. 00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:08.400 He's got a defense attorney that's unbeatable. 00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:11.359 Just as we do. 00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:16.640 He is standing firm on the Lord. 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:20.480 And so why did David have this kind of strength? 00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:22.720 Well, the Psalms help us understand. 00:21:23.119 --> 00:21:29.119 In fact, there are two Psalms that are given credit to while David is in the caves. 00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:32.240 Psalm 57 and Psalm 142. 00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:38.640 So we know that David, while he's in the caves, is writing worship songs to the Lord. 00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:39.920 Think about that. 00:21:40.079 --> 00:21:46.319 In the darkest season of life, when he's on the run, he's writing worship to the Lord. 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:55.680 Psalm 57 2 tells us, I cry out to God most high, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. 00:21:56.640 --> 00:22:04.960 He's on the run, his life is being threatened, and so Paul is breathing down his neck and he says, I'm praising the Lord. 00:22:05.920 --> 00:22:08.000 I'm praising the Lord. 00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:15.920 It is hard to praise the Lord when you're in the darkness of trials. 00:22:17.279 --> 00:22:24.319 But there is no greater place than to praise his name when you don't feel like it. 00:22:25.599 --> 00:22:31.920 You worship and you pray until the Lord changes that spirit. 00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:44.000 If David had not been meeting with God, if he had not been praying, if he had not been worshiping the Lord, there is no way his flesh would have been defeated in this moment. 00:22:44.960 --> 00:22:46.799 He was resting in the Lord. 00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:48.880 He was finding peace in the Lord. 00:22:49.039 --> 00:22:52.319 He was finding his security in the Lord. 00:22:54.079 --> 00:22:59.440 Because the Lord is the one who gives strength. 00:23:00.480 --> 00:23:03.680 We know the story of Corey Tin Boom very well. 00:23:04.079 --> 00:23:08.559 She was a Jew who had helped Jewish neighbors. 00:23:09.440 --> 00:23:18.319 And she ended up getting put in a concentration camp and her sister died, but Corey survived. 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:37.839 A guard from Ravensbrook, where she had been held captive. 00:23:38.319 --> 00:24:03.279 As he approached her, he told her that he had become a Christian, that he had given his life to the Lord, and that he knew she needed, or that he needed to ask for forgiveness for the way they treated her and so many others in the concentration camp and asked if she could forgive him. 00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:10.160 Corey's own words is that she did not want to at all. 00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:13.440 Everything froze in her. 00:24:17.599 --> 00:24:20.720 She told them that she prayed a quick little prayer. 00:24:27.119 --> 00:24:35.519 And as she took his hand, she felt the love of God overflow and the forgiveness flow out. 00:24:38.559 --> 00:24:46.319 It is impossible to forgive great hurt apart from understanding the Savior who's forgiven you. 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:58.319 The Lord gives rest and the heart of forgiveness for the most difficult of wrongs ever experienced when you rely on him. 00:24:59.839 --> 00:25:01.839 Are you resting in him? 00:25:03.359 --> 00:25:09.519 Are you allowing him to extend forgiveness through you to those who have hurt you? 00:25:11.920 --> 00:25:24.960 Because there is no greater freedom for the believer than to say, Lord, give me the strength to forgive so that I can live right before you. 00:25:25.519 --> 00:25:29.279 Are you resting in the Lord this morning? 00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:33.519 David was resting in the Lord. 00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:48.240 He said, Hey, look, I am trusting in God because I know that God ultimately is the one who is judge, jury, and he will decree what is right. 00:25:49.519 --> 00:25:55.200 Look, when you rest in that, you will find sleeping at nights a whole lot easier. 00:25:56.480 --> 00:26:02.480 Because the judge has already decreed what is to be. 00:26:05.359 --> 00:26:07.920 Which brings us back to the cross. 00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:22.480 Because none of this amounts to anything if God had not set into motion from the moment that men failed. 00:26:23.200 --> 00:26:32.240 The moment Adam sinned, the moment Eve sinned, God set into motion Jesus, the payment for our sins. 00:26:33.359 --> 00:26:42.079 David is merely a single person in the course of history that leads us to the cross. 00:26:43.680 --> 00:26:52.319 David is demonstrating a forgiveness and a trust that only could be possible if he was trusting in the God who was coming to save. 00:26:53.680 --> 00:26:56.960 The Lord, God Almighty. 00:26:59.839 --> 00:27:08.400 When David says, look, the Lord is judge, he understands that God is the one who decrees. 00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:14.400 And here's the reality that every person in this room will face the judge one day. 00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:26.559 You either face him at the foot of the cross with Jesus paying your price, or you face him on judgment day and he decrees, I never knew you, be gone from me. 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:33.920 God is the judge who will decree that all evildoers be eternally condemned. 00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:40.160 But those who have trusted in Christ are eternally righteous because of the Son. 00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:45.759 Have you experienced that saving power of God? 00:27:48.400 --> 00:27:56.000 Then there's also the that we need to remember that there is the reality of that, the anointing of God. 00:27:56.400 --> 00:28:01.279 God anointed Saul, and David says, Hey, I'm not going to touch Saul. 00:28:01.519 --> 00:28:06.960 But here is the reality that when Jesus came, he's the anointed Son of God. 00:28:09.119 --> 00:28:12.319 And yet Israel kills him. 00:28:15.039 --> 00:28:20.480 They destroy the body that raised three days later. 00:28:21.200 --> 00:28:33.759 David understood that they are to come against the anointed, but God did not spare even his son, who was the anointed sacrifice for us. 00:28:35.599 --> 00:28:39.599 Are you trusting in the Lord who died for you? 00:28:40.400 --> 00:28:47.359 And then there's the reality that God is our advocate, that we have an advocate in Jesus. 00:28:55.759 --> 00:29:12.720 That you can rest assured, believer, that you have an advocate with God who is fighting your battles for you, that will defend you and will keep your name pure and holy before him through the blood of Jesus. 00:29:13.279 --> 00:29:15.519 Are you walking with him? 00:29:17.039 --> 00:29:20.160 For many of us in this room, you're walking with Jesus. 00:29:20.400 --> 00:29:21.920 You've experienced him. 00:29:22.319 --> 00:29:29.279 But this morning, maybe you need to say, Lord, forgive me for trying to take vengeance into my own hands. 00:29:30.079 --> 00:29:31.359 Forgive me, Lord. 00:29:31.440 --> 00:29:41.359 And you need to call someone on your way to lunch saying, Lord, or my friend, I need to ask your forgiveness because I haven't been a good friend. 00:29:42.640 --> 00:30:02.720 For others, it's that you are in the froze of a trial and you need to simply trust that God has your back, that you can rest assured, knowing that God sees you where you are, and He is not leaving you or forsaking you. 00:30:04.079 --> 00:30:15.839 But there might be a few in this room this morning that you've never experienced that true forgiveness and the love and mercy of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 00:30:16.079 --> 00:30:21.279 And you need to say yes to following Jesus this morning. 00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:24.240 With every head bowed and eye closed.