Double-Dipped Faith

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 150
• Hymn — Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Sin
• Assurance of Pardon — Romans 8:32-34
• Scripture Reading — Acts 12:20–13:12
• Hymn — Immortal, Invisible
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Prayer
• Hymn — Like a River Glorious
• Sermon
• Hymn — Beneath the Cross of Jesus
• Benediction — Hebrews 13:20-21

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Sermon Title: Double-Dipped Faith

Scripture: 1 Samuel 26

I. Fortified Faith Trusts the Providence of God

A. The scene: Saul pursues David again into the wilderness with three thousand men (1 Samuel 26:1-5)

B. David and Abishai enter Saul's camp by night (1 Samuel 26:6-12)

1. A deep sleep from the Lord falls on Saul and his army — verse 12 is the hinge of the passage
2. God's providence is at work on David's behalf; David is protected and given access to Saul

C. Abishai urges David to seize the moment — "God has given your enemy into your hand this day"

1. David recognizes the temptation to take matters into his own hands
2. David refuses: "As the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him" (1 Samuel 26:10)
3. David trusts that God will fulfill his promise in God's own time and way

D. Parallel to Christ's temptation in the wilderness

1. Satan offered Jesus the kingdoms of the world, bypassing the cross
2. Jesus steadied himself on God's word, quoting Scripture three times
3. Because Christ fully trusted the Father's providence, salvation is secured for all who believe

E. For believers today, trials are meant to deepen trust in God's providence and strip away self-reliance and pride

II. Fortified Faith Desires the Presence of God

A. David exposes Abner's failure and calls out to Saul from a distance (1 Samuel 26:13-20)

B. David's lament in verses 19–20: driven from the land, he feels cut off from the Lord's heritage and from public worship with God's people

1. David knew that to be cut off from Israel was to be cut off from the face of the Lord
2. His plea: let me return to worship with the gathered people before I die

C. David's longing for God expressed in Psalm 63:1: "O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you"

D. Illustration: phototropism — plants move instinctively toward the light; how much more should believers desire to be in the presence of the one who gives life

E. Application: Do we take for granted the privilege of gathering for worship?

1. The pandemic season reminded many how much corporate worship matters
2. Psalm 122:1: "I was glad when they said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the Lord'"
3. Fortified faith stirs a longing to be with God's people in the presence of God

III. Fortified Faith Enjoys the Pleasure of God

A. Saul asks forgiveness and invites David to return; David responds with his final words to Saul (1 Samuel 26:21-25)

B. David's declaration: he has spared Saul not because of who Saul is, but because of whose Saul is — the Lord's anointed

1. David has hitched his wagon to the God who rewards righteousness and faithfulness
2. David takes pleasure in obeying the God who takes pleasure in obedience

C. Contrast with Saul (1 Samuel 15)

1. Samuel's words: "Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord?"
2. Saul trusted and took pleasure in his own word above the Lord's; he was rejected as king
3. David took pleasure in the word and promise of the Lord

D. David and Saul go their separate ways — each has been pursuing his own end throughout; David pursues the Lord's end

E. Christ as the fulfillment: "My food is to do the will of him who sent me" (John 4:34)

1. No one has ever taken greater pleasure in obeying the word than the Word made flesh
2. Christ obeyed to the point of death, even death on the cross (Philippians 2:8)
3. He who was righteousness became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21)

F. Application: Is your pleasure found in trusting Christ — your dreams, labors, status, and salvation — or in your own wisdom and works?

1. To trust in oneself is a fool's errand — like a hamster on a wheel
2. David's double-dipped faith (tested in the cave, with Nabal, and now again) shows the better way
3. Persistent trials are meant to fortify trust in God's providence, deepen desire for his presence, and cultivate delight in his pleasure