has today's text. Actually today's text is two chapters long. In fact I was coming to walking over here this morning and as I left the house I told Judy my wife. I said Judy didn't really pray for me this morning for my sermon. She said why? And I said I've got to preach two chapters today. The reason I supported the way I preach is I tend to keep a mental roll of decks of what I want to say and when it's only a few verses that mental roll decks is manageable. Two chapters it's a little bit of a challenge and so the reason I'm we need to look at two chapters is because the story that we're looking at today is two chapters long and you just can't break it up on one hand. On the other hand today is the last day that I will actually be preaching for Samuel for this year. Remember the pattern next fall I'll probably pick it up in September or so. So I wanted to sort of pull some things together as well. So with that said let me read to you the first few verses of actually starting at verse six of chapter 22 of 1 Samuel. To the Word of God. Now Saul heard that David was discovered and the men who are with him, Saul was sitting at Jibbia under the Tamarisk tree on the height with his spear in his hand and all his servants were standing about him and Saul said to his servants who stood about him. Here now people of Benjamin will the Son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds that all of you have conspired against me. No one discloses to me when my son makes a covenant with the Son of Jesse and none of you is sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me to lie and wait as at this day. Let us pray. Father I pray that you would you would come and open the eyes of the blind and the ears of the death. I pray that you would make things clear this morning. I pray that you would show Jesus. I pray that you would be in my head and in my thinking and my heart and in my understanding and in my mouth and in my speaking in Christ's name. We pray these things. Amen. Amen. Well most of you know you wouldn't if you're visiting that before I came on staff at the church. I worked with Eli Lilly. I was a neuroscience sales rep and in other words I worked with psychiatrists between Renton and Vancouver all the way out to Port Angeles and I sold basically two drugs. One was schizophrenia drug which was the third biggest drug in the world at the time. You ought to be that ought to surprise you or shock you that the third biggest drug is a schizophrenia drug. The other thing is that was a depressor and a depressant which I know you've seen the commercials that seem all the time right depression hurts. That was me. And then the benefit that I got from going from being working with neuroscience to being a pastor was pretty big because one of the things I had to do is I didn't know the symptoms of all these different mental illnesses. So one of the benefits is I've been able to really sort of help some folks and they come in and they say here I'm feeling you know ABC and D and what do you know I it clicks and I'm able to help them out and the downside to knowing those symptoms is you see them in folks. Frankly and they don't come to you for help and then you don't know what to do. I was reading through first Samuel this week I was preparing for the text and I'm always I was keep away from diagnosing Bible characters with mental illness. Yeah a lot of it just sin you know a lot of it you know demons and that kind of thing but I was reading through this and I thought as I was reading through saw I thought I've heard this before you know someone who's what are these symptoms are going through my hypervigilance or you're constantly on the lookout. Okay that's one of them hypervigilance. How about someone who views everything that happens through the eyes of conspiracy? In other words everything that's done they've viewed through a filter of malintent. Everyone's out to get them and of course they do think everyone is conspiring against them. They tend to be incredibly jealous. They tend to they tend to also manifest aggression toward those who they think are out to get them. And of course that I'm know you you guys are thinking the same thing I was that's paranoid personality disorder right. Was I read through this text I couldn't think that is what Saul has and in other words I was trying to keep away from that but as I got to this point I just had to admit to myself how many he's just crazy. He is or maybe he's not. You see all of us at some level are crazy. You know what the treatment for paranoid personality disorder is. It's a real disorder in the DSM-4 for psychiatrists. If you know what the treatment is there isn't one. You know what hope there is? Humanly speaking there isn't none. Well there is a little bit of hope because as with every disorder I know having several of them myself that they're only considered to be a disorder if they impair your function socially or if they impair your performance at work. So in other words you could be mentally ill and as long as it doesn't affect your work your family I guess you're okay. That always struck me as odd. Saul it's his manifestation of these these paranoias and things have begun to affect his work certainly and today they really sort of come to full fruition and the murder of the priests of knob that Saul has gone over the deep end but is there any hope for someone even like Saul? You see I have to cover two chapters today we're not going to go through verse by verse but what I'm going to do is pull out a few gospel principles that we see in this whole text and what's the first what's the hope for someone like Saul? Well the only hope for someone like Saul who's paranoid who thinks everyone's out to get them doesn't make sense that the only hope for someone like him would be security and knowing that someone is always protecting him. That someone is there always to cover his back there's someone who promises never to fail him or forsake him. Saul all the world can be arrayed against you but I will never fail you or forsake you and I'm the only one that matters at the end of the day. Saul had that promise he could have embraced that promise but he rejected it and having rejected that promise from God he then was left to himself so he either sort of sucks it up or he becomes paranoid but he didn't have a lot of options in some ways. We're going to look at the at least three gospel principles this morning as we consider this text the first one is this that in the eyes of the world and in the eyes of religious people the gospel is foolishness or folly that the gospel is folly in the eyes of the world or the eyes of those who are religious. Remember the whole purpose of this book was to make the case that Israel needs a king and not just any king but a king like David and Israel said instead we want a king God but we don't want a king like David we want a king like the other nations and what is a king like the other nations a king like the other nations as a king who has all the external qualities that you think a king should have that Saul had them he was big he was a mighty warrior although he did have a cowardly streak it would seem we also know he was spiritually dull he wasn't a very good shepherd and yet when you looked at Saul you'd say that's the guy who has all the qualifications to be to be the the king who would you look at and say has none of the qualifications to be the king or at least is not qualified as Saul who would you say well maybe you go to a family that had eight sons because after seven they stopped counting in Israel seven was the perfect number and anything after eight was just extra David was number eight God chose the youngest son number eight who would have been completely outside of consideration who is a shepherd which will be an odious in the eyes of many people and he said that one is going to be my king the very last person that you would ever expect why because the way God runs things is upside down and backwards the first will be last the last will be first and that that David's qualifications are completely contained in his calling that's what makes him qualified what makes you and I qualified is it because we're the best why did God initiate with us why did he initiate with you because you're such good people because I'm so good I know I'm not the gospel's upside down a backwards because the gospel says that God seeks out the very worst of sinners if God wants to get something done you would think he would seek out all the best people right that's what we do right you want to get something done you seek out the best people when God wants to get something done he seeks out the worst people who do you think he brings to support his fugitive king David is a fugitive now Saul is trying to kill him David's on the lamb and who do you think God would send to David in order to buttress him in order to make sure he makes it to the end if I was God and I want to David to be king and David was fleeing I would send to David the very brightest and the best and certainly the people with the best attitudes I'd say David here are the ones these guys will take care of you but we see in the text that God doesn't work that way notice who who flocks around David in chapter 22 verse 2 well let me be 22 verse 2 it says in everyone who is in distress and everyone who is in debt and everyone who is bitter and soul gathered to him and he became captain over them so as David is fleeing through the wilderness the people that God sends to help him the people that that flock around the fugitive king are the outsider it's not the insiders the people who flock around the fugitive king are those who are disconsolate those who are outcast not the ones who are on the inside where do you find the people on the inside you find the people on the inside where you always find people on the inside you find people on the inside around the person who seems like they would do the best job based on outward appearance and yet remember what God said in 1st Samuel 167 don't judge an outward appearance were David gathered the disconsolate and the outcast who did Saul gather cronies that's it we know that Saul only gathered at cronies and not the people on the outside because of what he says to them in verse 7 Saul said to his servants who stood about him here now people of Benjamin will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards will he make all of your commanders thousands of hundreds and commanders of hundreds in other words when Saul addresses these people when he feels he there's a conspiracy at foot he addresses his inner court and he doesn't say men of Israel in other words he doesn't say men of Israel because there's people from all all the tribes of Israel there he just says men of Benjamin because the only people that Saul had close to him were those who were like him and those in his family and the reason that they were with Saul was not because because of his humility and not because of his calling but because of what he could do for them it was pure politics and you know every administration in the United where the Republican or Democrat it's sort of like Saul provides the most pork barrel for their districts if you will and so that basically he's saying if the son of David comes in are you going to still get all that pork you're not because Saul doesn't care about gathering those from the outside and bringing them in what Saul cares about is continuing his power the other interesting thing as we move on from the gospel being folly is on one hand God's true king looks insane but is really wise and the rejected king tries to look wise and dignified but he's really crazy he's really insane if you read earlier in the story as David is fleeing to gas first of all the people in the land say is this not the king of Israel he's endorsed by people outside of Israel he's been endorsed by Jonathan he's been endorsed by Michael has been endorsed by the priesthood and now he's going through gas and the king of gases isn't this the king of the land and David wants to avoid engaging or getting in trouble so what does David do I mean read verse 13 of chapter 21 it says so he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands he made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard and then Akish said to his servant behold you see this man is mad why have you brought him to me do I lack madman I love that line there's enough crazy people around me do I lack madman that you brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence shall this fellow come into my house so on one hand you have David who's acting acting insane but in reality he's the true king how do you see Saul acting who's in reality insane right at the beginning it said now Saul heard David was discovered in verse 6 of chapter 22 Saul was sitting and giving it under the temperous tree on the height with his spear in his hand and all his servants were standing about him in other words Saul has all the outward appearance of being completely sane and completely in charge he's sitting under this tree where they would sit the judge and he's got his spear in his hand and he looks good but at the end of the day who do you want to be with if the gospel's true if you don't believe the gospel I'd say go with the person with the most money and the most girls and have as much fun as you can now but if the gospel is true do you want to go with the king who seems to be sane but in reality he doesn't know what's going on or the king who would who had feigned insanity who do something crazy in order to actually win people over isn't that what Jesus did Jesus this fugitive king what is Jesus the fugitive king who does he seek and draw after himself he seeks the worst sinners remember what God said about the gospel in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 let me read that to you Paul says but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong God chose what is low and despised in the world even the things that are not to bring to nothing the things that are so that no human being might boast in the presence of God he is the source of your life and Christ Jesus who got made our wisdom our righteousness and sanctification and redemption so the first gospel principle is just this the gospel is foolish you see that throughout the whole Old Testament you see it in the New Testament what's the second gospel principle we see in here it's just this that God is sovereign overall things another way to put that is that even though the drama around you looks evil and bad that God is still the author he's the one who wrote the play he is the one who directs the play another way to put that is this God is just as active in providence as he is in miracle what do I mean by that most of us think when we think is God active in my life most of us would probably think maybe maybe not when you get a windfall check you know maybe maybe an aunt that you never heard of send you a check for a lot of money and you think praise the Lord God has blessed me now he has not done anything for the past 30 years but in miracle in this one event he has blessed me and shown up that's the only time he is active we tend to believe that but in reality what we learned through the whole Bible is that God is just as active in providence as he is in miracles in other words he's active behind every molecule of air behind every single thing that happens and that ought to give you encouragement because what's going on around you doesn't catch him by surprise no if you look at this story it's pretty horrifying because basically David goes and he's fleeing from Saul because Saul is trying to kill him David goes to him elect the priest and said can you give me some food can you give me can you give me a weapon a Himalch says sure he gives him the stuff David please Saul finds out that he has been to knob where a Himalch lives Saul goes there and he calls a Himalch and says did you help David a himalch is completely innocent he says did you help David and he says sure I did I always help him why why wouldn't I help him this time it's all turns to his men and says to his men kill them them and all the all the priests here there's 85 of them I believe and the men wouldn't kill kill the Himalch and the rest of the priest Saul's guards wouldn't but now it gets interesting because if you remember in chapter 21 there was this odd verse that popped out David was asking for food and for a weapon and then the middle of the verse pops up this this thing that says in 21 7 now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day detained before the Lord his name was dog the edamite the chief of Saul's herdsman so it just so happens that David is he sneaking away happens by a Himalch you know the priests at knob and dog just happens to be there and dog tell Saul he did help David and what's also tells his men to kill the priests the priests say the men say no and he tells dog the edamite to do it and dog does and not only does dog kill the priests but he also kills every man woman and child in the whole city which should strike you as odd because the reasons Saul got rejected before is because he failed to do that with Israel's enemy and now the question is where is God in all of this who is responsible for this you see this story is horrifying the story is shocking and yet it shouldn't surprise you and why shouldn't it surprise you because God told us it was gonna happen I know you guys it is probably three years ago now and I'm sure you remember every word of the sermon I preached from 1 Samuel chapter 2 remember let me read to you what what happened there if you remember Eli was the priest and he had sons who are very wicked and so God rejects Eli's house and he tells Eli I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father's house so that there will not be an old man in your house then in distress you will look with envious eye on all the prosperity that I shall bestow on Israel and there shall not be an old man in your house forever the only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his eyes out to grieve his heart and all the descendants of your house shall die by the sword of men so God told them it was gonna happen all but one is going to survive of your household this is the event and we know that one a by-either gets away so the question is who is responsible for this act is it Saul and Doeg or is it God an uncomfortable question isn't it and here's the right answer you can get it here's the right answer to that question the answer is yes in other words as you look through the scriptures what you see is that what man intends for evil God intends for good that what dog and Saul intended for evil they're completely and utterly responsible for it on one hand on the other hand God intended it to fulfill his promise and that should give you hope as well because as you look around you in the world you have if you're like me and you read the paper all the time you have you feel like the world is just going crazy around you whether it's your own country or whether it's the Middle East or whether it's Europe whether no matter what's going on you wonder where is God in all of this and the answer to that question is he is in all of it and that should give you great hope but it should also give you a great sense of peace you know I preached last week that we need to be driven by Jesus and not by what political party we are you know that that stuff is important it's important to vote it's important to be engaged in the political process but at the end of the day no matter who the president is or no matter who the president of the European Union is or anything at the end of the day you have to ask yourself this question do I believe that God is really the author of this play do I believe that God is the author author of this play and that it's not a tragedy but in fact it's a comedy in the end the good guy wins do I believe that I'll be honest with you as a pastor if I had to if someone asked me do you think most of your people believe that I would say absolutely not partly because I don't always but the question is will you believe that do you believe that you believe that all of the things going on in your life that somehow God is working together for your good if you don't believe that it makes life pretty hard you know there's a phrase that you my kids here in my house all the time if you if you or maybe even if you're one of my children's friends you've heard me say it when I'm constantly saying is nothing is easy and I'm not saying it to them I just say it to myself all the time honey can you hang up a picture for me sure how long did that take one minute easy you know the first nail you hit into the wall the whole thing comes down four days later you're outside slap Jack in the foundation of the house because you try to hang up a picture nothing is easy that leads to the next point the third gospel principal that that wanted to point out to you this morning is if you're not home it's just this if you're not home you're in the wilderness in other words you you you exist either there's only one of three places you can exist as a human being according to the Bible you either exist in slavery and bondage to your sin or you exist in heaven with Jesus and if you are not in one of those two places you are right here in the middle the wilderness and when you look at the pattern of David's life on one hand if you if you read the Bible out of context you meant you'd say men as rough God called this kid who is sitting out being a shepherd minding his own business and God says here's what I'm going to do for you I'm going to make you king and what that means everyone's going to want to have to kill you and you're going to have to to flee into the wilderness eventually I'm going to make you not only the king but your house is going to endure forever eventually everything's going to be golden but between between the first event and the last event you're going to have this time in the wilderness and if you read the Bible every one of God's people follows that pattern in their lives what does it mean to be an Israelite it means you're you you are delivered from Egypt into the promised land but where do you exist for 40 years in the meantime in the wilderness if you're David you flee from solid and you're going to eventually become king you know that but where do you live in the meantime in the wilderness if you're Christian now and you've trusted Jesus to deliver you from your sins and you're not yet in heaven what does that mean you live now you live in the wilderness and the sooner that we come to grips with that the the easier life is because how much of our time and how much of our misery revolves around the fact that we really don't believe we live in the wilderness what we really believe is we need to be as comfortable as we can now we need to be as comfortable financially physically we need to be as comfortable politically whether you're Republican or Democrat you need to everything needs to be comfortable and satisfying now in anything that breaks the mold of your comfort or my comfort that's what makes us feel a little bit like we're in the wilderness and yet when you look around you I mean that's why so many people struggle with with changes that happen in church right because you look around the world and you say okay the world is a wilderness it's crazy out there but this little place right in here this is my safe spot this is where I get to come and be sane this is where I get to come and escape all the craziness it's out in the world around me and yet what is the gospel call you to do the gospel says if the world around you is changing if the world around you is crazy you must change your church to figure out how to embrace them because you and I are in the wilderness and what our job is to bring as many people home with us as we can it's not to have a safe spot in the middle of the wilderness it's not to have a place where we can drink coffee in the middle of the wilderness until all the storms blow over the purpose of our existence is to glorify God and to enjoy him the purpose of the church is the gathering and the perfecting of the saints we must gather people to ourselves if that makes you uncomfortable think about the gospel where were you God at some point gathered you and he calls us to walk through the wilderness the last person here I love the last verse chapter 22 because Abiyathar the priest has escaped he's escaped and he's gone and told David that everyone that saw has killed everyone what is David say the last thing he says to him verse 23 he says to him stay with me do not be afraid for he seeks my life seeks your life with me you should be in safe keeping you see it's not just Israel it's not just David it's not just the church that lives in the wilderness Jesus himself went to the wilderness remember after his baptism what did he do he went to the wilderness for 40 days and the beauty of the gospel is this is that when Jesus went to the wilderness he was completely an utterly obedient in the wilderness where you and I are not obedient in the wilderness Israel wasn't David wasn't Jesus was and if we are willing to trust him he says I've already accomplished the wilderness for you trust me and I promise you I will keep you safe trust me and I promise you I will get you through it think about that let's pray father I pray that as we travel through the wilderness together as a church and as individuals that you would comfort us with this thing called the gospel your promises that you'll never fail us or for sake us in Christ name we pray these things amen and amen