1 Samuel 19

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 105:1-6
• Hymn — All Praise to God Who Reigns Above
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Sin
• Assurance of Pardon — Jeremiah 31:33-34
• Scripture Reading — Acts 10:9-33
• Hymn — Jesus Paid It All
• Reception of Communicant Member
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Hymn — I Know Whom I Have Believed
• Sermon
• Hymn — A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: Divine Protection for the Lord's Anointed

Scripture: 1 Samuel 19

I. Divine Protection Through Reason — 1 Samuel 19:1-7

A. Saul reveals his murderous intent to Jonathan, not knowing Jonathan's heart is knit to David

• Jonathan had previously made a covenant with David, symbolically abdicating his right to the throne (1 Samuel 18)
• Jonathan recognized the promise of Genesis 49:10 — the scepter belonging to Judah

B. Jonathan appeals to reason, defending David's innocence before Saul

• David has done nothing wrong; his deeds have brought good to Israel
• The Lord worked a great salvation through David against the Philistines
• Saul relents and swears by the Lord that David will not be put to death

C. Application: Our gospel defense must appeal to reason

• Justin Martyr wrote reasonably to Roman emperors persecuting Christians
• John Calvin prefaced the Institutes with a letter to the King of France making the same appeal
• Two prerequisites for effective reasonable defense:
  1. We must know God and man, and understand the reasonableness of Christ given our situation as sinners
  2. We must be blameless — Jonathan's defense was credible because David was innocent
• We are citizens of a different kingdom and must present our faith distinctly from how the world presents its views

II. Divine Protection Through Escape — 1 Samuel 19:8-17

A. David again defeats the Philistines; the harmful spirit again comes upon Saul, who throws his spear at David

• Unlike the previous episode in chapter 18, David now flees — reason will no longer avail

B. Michal helps David escape through the window and deceives Saul's messengers

• She places an image in the bed with goat's hair to make it appear David is sick
• When discovered, she tells Saul that David threatened her life

C. The question of Michal's deception

• Scripture repeatedly shows God protecting his people through shrewd and crafty escape (cf. Rahab in Joshua 2)
• Matthew 10:16 — "Be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves"
• William Hendriksen: shrewd keenness involves sanctified common sense to do the right thing at the right time in the right manner

D. Application: There are times when reason must give way to flight

• Joseph fleeing Potiphar's wife — began with reason, then ran
• The Reformers sailing to the New World after the 1660 Act of Restoration
• Wisdom discerns when to speak and when to escape; we must not cast pearls before swine

III. Divine Protection Through the Spirit — 1 Samuel 19:18-24

A. David flees to Samuel at Ramah, to Naioth — the Hebrew word for tents, the apparent location of Samuel's school of prophets

• Samuel is the official installation of the prophetic office; he trains and heads this company of prophets

B. Three successive groups of Saul's messengers are overcome by the Spirit and prophesy

• Saul himself then goes and is likewise overcome — stripped naked and prostrate before God all day and all night
• The onlookers ask, "Is Saul also among the prophets?" — echoing 1 Samuel 10

C. What does this prophesying mean?

• In the Old Testament, prophecy sometimes denotes an ecstatic experience of being arrested and overcome by a higher power
• Jeremiah 29:26 equates madness with prophesying
• In 1 Samuel 18:10, an evil spirit comes upon Saul and "he prophesied" — indicating abnormal behavior under a controlling power
• Here the Spirit of the Lord arrests Saul's pursuit of David

D. Irony and theological significance

• Jonathan voluntarily stripped himself, giving his throne-rights to David; God involuntarily strips Saul naked — symbolizing the stripping of his kingdom
• Psalm 2:1-4 — "He who sits in the heavens laughs": 1 Samuel 19 is God laughing at those who seek to destroy his anointed
• Psalm 59:8-10 — David's confidence that God will let him look in triumph over his enemies

E. Application: No matter how much the enemy appears to be winning, God sovereignly protects his anointed and his people

• There will be a day when all enemies lie prostrate before the King of Kings
• We wait and rest in God's plans and providence, and in Christ who will destroy all his enemies