Fellowship Baptist Church
April 27, 2025 Am Service
  • A. Rapport for the time
    Don’t we love short cuts. Anything that is can make things faster but still get us the same outcome we desire can move to the top of our list very quickly. Come on you know that it is true. Most of us at some point used cliff notes either in high School or College as the easiest way to read a book without reading a book. Or we had a good friend that loved to read and that person was our cliff notes as they told us the story without us reading the book.
    The truth is that we learn at some point there are not cliff notes in our life. We know there are no real short cuts to growing in the Lord. When it comes to an eternal relationship with the King of the universe we find that there is not short cut to a deep relationship with him. Our relationship is built slowly over time as we learn to be faithful with what God puts in front of us on a regular basis. We lean with time that we have an active faith that is to walk with our Lord. Simply, there are NO shortcuts to living a life pleasing before the Lord.
    We will see an opportunity in today’s passage and how handles himself fully in the text next Sunday.
    B. Reading of the text
    1 Samuel 24:1–7 ESV
    1 When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.” 2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Wildgoats’ Rocks. 3 And he came to the sheepfolds by the way, where there was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave. 4 And the men of David said to him, “Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’ ” Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. 5 And afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. 6 He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord’s anointed.” 7 So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul. And Saul rose up and left the cave and went on his way.
    C. Review of the text
    The people of 1 Samuel 24 are very familiar to us at his point. We have followed Saul from the very beginning. He went from the tallest guy to King of Israel and then to the man with the one track mind to fight to hold onto the power as King that he knew he could never actually do. that brought him to the point of a whiny King whose number 1 desire is to rid the earth of David so that Saul’s throne would continue on, not God’s throne. We have watched David for weeks learn from the event in his life that our sovereign God has allowed him experience to grow him into the King that God desired for him to be.
    D. Relevance of the text
    All the while we have taken these events to teach us just how much God desires that we place our faith in him and not ourselves. As we dive into the text today my desire is that we would understand that our life of faith can only be lived as we continually go before God for guidance and direction.
    T.S. As you meet me in 1 Samuel 24 are going to see a heart unchanged.

    I. The heart unchanged

    1 Samuel 24:1–2 ESV
    1 When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.” 2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Wildgoats’ Rocks.
    For our memories two weeks ago Saul was closing in on David quickly and then God interrupted his plans.
    1 Samuel 23:26–28 ESV
    26 Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. And David was hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them, 27 a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid against the land.” 28 So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape.
    As we begin this chapter Saul has finished his battles with the Philistines and must have been at least somewhat successful. As we have seen Saul has people looking at all time for the location of David an this time they tell him that he is in Engedi. Engedi was a on the western shore of the Dead Sea. The main thing we need to know is that the region is a lot of limestone with many caves that would have provided David with a lot of places to hide.
    Saul is not playing around at this point. He is a man that is desperate to rid the earth of David he is willing to take 3,000 chosen men to hunt down David. The last we heard in:
    1 Samuel 23:13 ESV
    13 Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went wherever they could go. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the expedition.
    Saul with his 3,000 trained ment and David with his 600 not good odds for David. Reading the book of 1 Samuel has made me realize just how much David has to endure to become the King long after he was actually chosen by God to be King.
    David was promised by God
    1 Samuel 16:8–10 ESV
    8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.”
    1 Samuel 16:12 ESV
    12 And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.”
    1 Samuel 20:13–16 ESV
    13 But should it please my father to do you harm, the Lord do so to Jonathan and more also if I do not disclose it to you and send you away, that you may go in safety. May the Lord be with you, as he has been with my father. 14 If I am still alive, show me the steadfast love of the Lord, that I may not die; 15 and do not cut off your steadfast love from my house forever, when the Lord cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.” 16 And Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the Lord take vengeance on David’s enemies.”
    1 Samuel 23:16–17 ESV
    16 And Jonathan, Saul’s son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God. 17 And he said to him, “Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Saul my father also knows this.”
    That young teenager waits 15 years before the promises of God would be fulfilled in his life. We need to remember that when we are looking at the rest of this passage because impatience can make us do unwise things.
    Would you agree that when you become impatient with what God is doing we sometimes make decisions based upon what we can see and how we thing God can be helped by us.
    This reminds me of Sarai and Hagar and Abraham.
    Genesis 16:1–3 ESV
    1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. 2 And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife.
    10 Years had passed since God had given Abraham the promise to make his people into a great nation that would bring Glory to God an salvation to the world. In the midst of waiting for God plan to unfold Abraham made what we all can agree is an extremely poor decision.
    T.S. verse 3 of chapter 24 is going to bring an awkward opportunity to David’s life.

    II. Awkward Opportunity

    1 Samuel 24:3 ESV
    3 And he came to the sheepfolds by the way, where there was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave.
    Let’s go ahead and get the awkwardness out to the way and get to what the Lord wants us to learn from this passage. “To relieve himself” literal translation is “to cover his feet.” I’m gonna let that sit their just for a minute as you understand the reason why Saul went into the cave. OK. Now that’s over.
    Can you understand the awkwardness of the moment but also the opportunity that has now presented itself to David and his men. David finds himself stuck in this cave with 3,000 troops of Saul not far from this cave the position is not a good one in any way. We already said that Engedi is full of caves and why did Saul have to walk in this particular one. What horrible luck or what great fortune depending on how you view the situation at the moment.
    But you and I know different don’t we. This has zero to do with Luck. This has everything to do with God molding David into the man that he wants him to be and humbling Saul’s heart that wants nothing to do with God.
    T.S. The Awkward Opportunity will lead to a decision to be made.

    III. Decision to be made

    1 Samuel 24:4 ESV
    4 And the men of David said to him, “Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’ ” Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.
    The men to David hiding in the cave with him see this as the Lord bringing Saul to you David to take all your problems away. If we coming from a human perspective it makes perfect sense that if we kill Saul all your troubles are over David! You have waited so long and you have shown great patience and the Lord has shown you favor and brought Saul to you in a “compromising position.” IT MAKES HUMAN SENSE!
    David stealthily..can you even imagine doing this? Goes over to Saul and without him knowing he cuts off a corner of Saul’s robe. He could have done a lot more. He could have shown power in front of his men and killed Saul in the midst of his Cave visit. But what we are going to find is that David is a much different man than Saul.
    T.S. We are going to see David and his heart for God

    IV. The Heart for God

    Remember David empowered by the Holy Spirit is different than Saul.
    1 Samuel 13:14 ESV
    14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
    Saul’s heart was never right before the Lord but David is a man after God’s own heart. Meaning our David is not perfect, we all know that, but he is convicted by God to live pleasing before the Lord.
    1 Samuel 24:5 ESV
    5 And afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.
    David’s heart struck him. You and I may not be able to relate to the cave nor the circumstances that David find himself in. But we can all relate to this. We go ahead of God and under the conviction of the Holy Spirit we realize what we just did was not pleasing in the sight of God.
    This is David...He heart struck him..He should not have done what he did.
    1, 2 Samuel (8) David Spares Saul at En Gedi (24:1–22)

    This act was far from meaningless because David’s confiscation of a portion of the royal robe signified the transfer of power from the house of Saul to the house of David. Furthermore, by removing the corner of the robe, David made Saul’s robe to be in a state of noncompliance with Torah requirements (cf.

    You see:
    1 Samuel: Looking on the Heart A Test for Yahweh’s Servant (24:4–7)

    to touch, defile, and attack the anointed one was to approach the Lord himself and to seek to defile, harm, and remove the Lord from his rightful place.

    God himself established Saul as King and only God will remove him from that position in his timing. All the other events and 15 years of waiting are to prepare David to rule the people of God.
    1 Samuel 24:6–7 ESV
    6 He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord’s anointed.” 7 So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul. And Saul rose up and left the cave and went on his way.
    David was given an opportunity to take a short cut and he almost did it. This was a test in which this short cut could have provided the promises of God to him in the form of the King of Israel.
    Our Lord was offered a short cut by Satan himself very early in his ministry.
    Matthew 4:8–11 ESV
    8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ” 11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
    Hebrews 12:1–13 ESV
    1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.
    Jesus owned his all but he came to die for you and I.
    Gospel.
    Paul prays this way in Philippians
    Philippians 1:9–10 ESV
    9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
    Application...There are no shortcuts in the Kingdom of God only Faith that is grown over time as we continue to lean upon the work of God.
  • God Is So Good

      • Romans 1:16–20ESV

  • Holy, Holy, Holy!
  • Great Is Thy Faithfulness
  • How Great Thou Art

      • 1 Samuel 24:1–7ESV

      • 1 Samuel 24:1–2ESV

      • 1 Samuel 23:26–28ESV

      • 1 Samuel 23:13ESV

      • 1 Samuel 16:8–10ESV

      • 1 Samuel 16:12ESV

      • 1 Samuel 20:13–16ESV

      • 1 Samuel 23:16–17ESV

      • Genesis 16:1–3ESV

      • 1 Samuel 24:3ESV

      • 1 Samuel 24:4ESV

      • 1 Samuel 13:14ESV

      • 1 Samuel 24:5ESV

      • 1 Samuel 24:6–7ESV

      • Matthew 4:8–11ESV

      • Hebrews 12:1–13ESV

      • Philippians 1:9–10ESV

Fellowship Baptist Church
fellowshipbartlett@gmail.com
901-331-3074
https://fellowshipbartlett.org
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