Dec. 7, 2024

David and Selfish Motives

David and Selfish Motives

A discussion about David’s motives in 1 Samuel 26

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A discussion about David’s motives in 1 Samuel 26

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

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the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good morning everyone.

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It is Saturday, December the seventh, twenty twenty four. It

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is currently nine fifty five am Central Time, and I

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am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio

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located right here in Abilene, Texas. So let's begin with

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asking a very important question. And I'm asking this not

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only of you, I'm asking it of myself. What is

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your motivations? Is? That? Is that? What are your motivations?

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Maybe that's more grammatically correct, now, what is what are

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your motivations? What motivates you? Now? See that's not really

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even a good question, because that's kind of too vague, right,

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that's really too vague. Not only did I not state

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it directly, all right, it's kind of a vague question.

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So so I think we would have to kind of

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more approach it this way. For every single thing you do,

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there is a motivation driving it. See. The motivation explains

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why you do what you do. But the motivation in

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many cases is hidden. In many cases, it's I don't

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even know if it's fully understood. So maybe I should

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state it not so much as a question. Maybe I

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should state it more as a challenge the next time

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you do something. I mean, you're listening to this broadcast,

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So we could start right there, what is your motivation

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for listening to this broadcast? I could ask myself what

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is my motivation for doing this broadcast? Now? If I'm

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gonna be I'm gonna try to be fully transparent here

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right now. This is the hard part about right is

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sometimes we don't even want to acknowledge what our motivation is.

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We like to pretend in many cases that our motivations

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are always good, they're always pure, they're always right. But

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I believe philologically because if we understand human beings from

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a thiological perspective, we are all sinners with a sinful nature.

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That sinful nature is inside of us right. Our heart

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is desperately wicked, It is deceitful above all things, and

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we maintain that sinful nature even after salvation. Even though

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Christians like to try to deny that they're just they're

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lying to themselves. The reality is we have a sin nature. Now,

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just think that sin nature is inside of you. Motivations

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are inside of you. So your motivations, I believe, are

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constantly impacted by your sinful nature, meaning that a lot

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of times our motivations are very selfish, self seeking. They're

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not always God directed. God seeking God glorifying self really

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drives our motivation. So why are you listening? So let

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me let me state it this way. What is my

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motivation for doing this broadcast? Now? If I'm gonna be

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very transparent with you, if I'm gonna be very honest

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with you, my motivation for this broadcast really has nothing

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to do with a desire to teach the scriptures. I'm

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just being honest with you. Okay, don't get mad at me.

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I'm just being honest. It doesn't really have anything to

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do with whether you're gonna get something from this or

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not get something from it. I know that sounds horrible,

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but I'm just being honest with you. My motivation, the

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primary motivation that I am sitting in front of this microphone,

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comes down to this. The last two broadcasts that I

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have done, I have been very unhappy with them. Right.

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I didn't like either this. I didn't like that. I

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just I wasn't very happy. I thought what I was

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attempting to do was good, but I just don't feel

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I pulled it off right. I felt like I came

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to the plate and I struck out strike one strike

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two strike three year out right, and then another strike

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one strike two strike three year. So there's two strikeouts. Well,

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now I want to come to the plate today and

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I want to hit a home run. But am I

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going to hit a home run? No? Because you know

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what my motivation is now? Well, wait a minute, Now

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I'm going to have to do another broadcast because I

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began this broadcast saying what is your motivation? Said? What

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are your motivations? I didn't even do things grammatically correct.

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I think I was messing that up. I'd have to

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go back and listen to it. So now my mind

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is more focused on, well, how do I now make

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up for that mess up at the beginning. Some my

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motivation for doing this is I want to do a

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good broadcast because I wasn't happy with the last two broadcasts.

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That's not the right motivation to be sitting in front

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of a microphone doing a theology podcast. My motivation should

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be because I have something important to teach the people,

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and I'm excited about this, and I want them to

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be excited about this. We all need to consider this

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and I think we all need to learn this. But

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sometimes my motivation is not always pure. I know that's

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a shock, but it's the reality. Pastors stand behind pulpits

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sometimes and their motivation is just keep the people happy

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so that I can get the paycheck because I've got

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bills to pay. Right. My motivation now isn't anymore. I'm

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just going to preach the word of God, with or

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without offense to friend or foe. No, it's I've got

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to keep the people happy so they don't leave the church.

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I'm not going to point to any specific pastor because

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the one thing I cannot do is I can't judge

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your motives, and I can't judge anybody else's motives. But

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I'm just saying that there's a lot of motives that

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are not pure of anyone. So I'm not I'm not

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speaking of any specific pastor. I'm just saying that there

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are many times pastors are standing behind pulpits not with

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the right motives. I'm not telling you to question their motives.

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What I'm telling you to do is you have to

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look at you your motives, and I have to look

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at mine. I'm just saying that so many times and

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I know Christians don't like to acknowledge this. Look, we're

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sinners and our motivations are all messed up. So today

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you're going to do things, What is your motivation? What

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is the motive behind what you're doing? Sometimes when we

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do the most good externally, it is being driven by

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the worst motivation. Sometimes the most right thing we do

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externally is driven by the most wrong motivation. Sometimes the

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wrong thing we do externally is actually driven by a

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right motivation. Is that not confounding and confusing motivations? And

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what motivates us? And what is the motive behind what

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we are doing? That's a very important thing because from

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a philological perspective, remember, God is concerned with far more

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than just the external. Meaning externally, you could be doing

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all these things that appear to be good and right,

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but internally you're still You're in sin. You're in sin

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and sin because your motives are completely wrong. So what

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are your motives? What is your motivation in a particular situation?

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So what is your motivation when it comes to a

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specific thing, what are your motivations? And general speaking of

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them just in a general way, all of them together,

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I'm gonna get the I'm going to state these things

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grammatically correct, so then I can say, well, at least

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I corrected it, okay. See see my motivation, my motivation

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I was to see I sounded dumb at the beginning.

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Now I have to try to repeat it fifteen times. See,

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even in the midst of talking, my motivations can change.

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My original motivation was I wanted to do this broadcast

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so I can hit a home run and I can

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be like, well, those last two or strikeouts. But I

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hit that home run on that third broadcast. Now my

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motivation is, Man, I messed up at the beginning. I

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wish I would have just stopped the broadcast and started

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it over. But see, the motivation to do that would

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not have been about God or the Bible. It would

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have been about my own selfish pride and my own ego. See,

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our motivations are constantly changing, they're constantly moving, and it's

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hard sometimes for us to even know what our motivation is. Now,

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why am I talking about motivation? Why am I talking

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about what our motives are? Because we have spent a

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lot of time and First Samuel, chapter twenty six, we

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have spent a lot of time in First Samuel twenty six.

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And I know many of you may be saying, you know,

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I think it's time to move on, but I can't.

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I can't move on, so I'm gonna put forth. I

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have apotheses here. Now again, I state that is the hypothesis.

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I love doing this. I love coming to the text

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and saying, okay, guys, here's a hypothesis. What do you think?

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And then it challenged you to consider it and test

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it and contemplate. I know what I'm about to say

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here goes against everything you've ever heard taught about King David,

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about what David does in First Samuel twenty six. I know,

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but let me just retell the story one more time.

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Remember this all started we were reviewing a sermon on

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First Samuel twenty six. We probably only reviewed about fifteen

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to twenty minutes of the audio, and this has turned

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into like five or six hours of broadcasting about it.

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But the text raises so many difficult questions. So the

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story is simple. Saul has been hunting down David, trying

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to kill him. Saul finds a place to camp out.

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He builds an encampment. That's where they're staying. David finds

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out that that's where Saul is staying. David goes, they

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sneak into the camp, him and another individual. They go

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in and they find Saul asleep with his spear right there.

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And the man with David is like, hey, take the spear,

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kill Saul and all of your problems and I'm somewhat paraphrasing,

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and all of this will be over. And David's like,

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how dare you tell me to do that. I will

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not kill the Lord's anointed. I'm not going to do

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this now. The sermon, of course, turned it basically into

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a morality tale, basically turned into about decisions we could

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make if we were faced with a decision where if

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we just if we did this one thing, even though

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it's sinful, it would stop all of our problems and

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all of our suffering. Would we do it? But in

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a rounda by way. The sermon really makes David look

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like the hero, the good guy, that his motives are

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so pure and right, and I'm going to challenge that again. Now.

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First Samuel twenty six, I'll just read the basic part here. First,

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Samuel chapter twenty six, Verse five. David arose and came

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to the place where Saul had encamped, David saw the

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place where Saul lay, and Abner, the son of Ner,

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the commander of the army. So you have Saul there,

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you have the commander of his army. There. You have

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about three thousand men there. So they're all encamped all

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around him. David answered and said to him Alek the

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hit tight, and to Abishai, the son of Zarui, brother

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of Joe, ab saying, who shall go down with me

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to Saul in the camp? And Abashai said, I will

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go down with you. So David and Abishai came to

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the people by night, and their Saul lay sleeping. Now,

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now I hadn't even thought about this in all of

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our discussion. Does something else just hit you right there?

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It had not hit me until I just read this. Now,

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wait a minute, so just think about this. Wait. So

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David knows Saul is camping there with three thousand men.

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Around three thousand men. I don't know if David has

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the exact number, but he knows that that Saul has

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a lot of men. So it's like, Okay, who's gonna

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go down with me to the camp. Who's gonna go

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down with me to Saul in the camp? Now? Why

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is David going to Saul. Is David going to have

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a meeting? Now, if David is just going to have

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a meeting, that wouldn't he show up and just say, hey, Saul,

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please come out here. You know, I've got the white flag,

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come talk. But he doesn't. They sneak into the camp.

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Look at verse seven. So David and Abishai came to

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the people by night, and their Saul lay sleeping with

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the within the camp with the spears stuck in the

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ground by his head. Now when they start sneaking in,

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what is David's motivation here? If David is not going

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to kill Saul, then why did he bother to come

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all the way down and sneak into the camp at night?

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They see we assigned. We speak to David as if

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his motives are so pure. But what was his reason

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for coming to do this in the first place. Did

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he just want to come in and see I'm just

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gonna go Look, I'm gonna sneak into this camp, risk

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my life. I'm gonna risk my life, and I'm just

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gonna walk around the camp with all these sleeping people,

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and I'm not gonna kill anybody. Did he come to

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count couldn't there have been a different way, Like, there's

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a lot of questions about what's the motivation here in

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the first place. But they find Saul sleeping within the

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camp with his spear stuck in the ground by his head,

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and Abner and the people lay all around him. Now,

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so you've got the people, you've got his commander of

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his army, you've got Saul. They're all laying there, okay.

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And then Abishi said to David, God has delivered your

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enemies into your hand this day. Now, therefore, please let

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me strike him at once with the spear right to

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the earth, and I will and I will not have

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to strike him a second time. Now you can understand

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why Abishai is like, let me do this, because, I mean,

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Abishi has to be thinking, well, why else are we here?

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Why did we even bother to come down to the camp.

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But then David's response is but David said to Abishai,

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do not destroy him, for who can stretch out his

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hand It gets against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless.

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That there's the story. Now pastors come along, and of

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course they basically present this story as of course David

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is the good guy, right David is the hero in

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the story, and basically they turn it into a morality teale,

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which I talked about in my last live broadcast about

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people taking Old Testament narratives and turning them into morality tales,

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which I think does great damage to the text and

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to the Gospel and to all kinds of other things.

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We talked about all of that. But I think that

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there's maybe a different way to understand this, right, I know. Look,

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so here's kind of my question, kind of my hypotheses,

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kind of my thesis. Here is it possible? And I stress,

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is it possible that many pastors assigned assign the most

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righteous and pure motives to David for not killing Saul?

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I think most pastors when they preach this is what

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would you do? Wouldn't you kill your enemy? We need

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to be like David. We need to have these pure

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motives and be righteous in our actions. David's motives were pure,

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his actions were pure. Be like David, because you know,

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church is just a morality tale. It's just moralism. Right.

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But I said, is it not possible? This is kind

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of my theory, this kind of my question, or I'm

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asking this question, is it not possible? That his motivation

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was more selfish and more about his own security. If

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we look at this story within the Old Testament context. Next,

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is it possible that the idea of killing God's anointed

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was basically seen as suicide? Hey, if we kill the

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Lord's anointed, we're basically killing ourselves. So maybe the motivation

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wasn't so pure and so righteous. Maybe it was very

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self serving. And we know something about David's motivation when

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it comes to killing because look what happened first Samuel

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twenty six. Hey, look what he says. David said to Abishai,

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do not destroy him? For who can stretch out his

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hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? So David says, hey,

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you can't kill him. It's the Lord's anointed, and if

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we do this, who will be guiltless? So is David's

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motive so pure because he's like, I don't want to

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kill anyone. I'm is it? Because when we go to

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the very next chapter first sample to twenty seven, the

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very next chapter, the events that follow David not killing Saul.

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Then look at first Samuel twenty seven to eight. David

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has now joined up with the Philistines. Okay, and then

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first Samuel twenty seven eight, David and his men went

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up and raided the gesher Rights and the Gezerites and

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the Amalekites, for those nations were the inhabitants of the

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land from of old as you go to sure even

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as far as the land of Egypt. Whenever David attacked

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the land, he left neither man nor woman alive. But

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he took away the sheep, the oxen, the donkey, the camels,

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and the apparel, and returned and came to Akish. He's

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joining the Philistines, and he's killing and slaughtering people. So

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David doesn't have a problem of killing people. So maybe

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his motive for not killing Saul isn't the way it's

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always been taught in church. Oh, David is so pure,

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David is so righteous. David is a man after God's

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own heart. He only now he may be a man

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after God's own heart, but he's not pure and righteous

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because he's a sinner like everyone else. But see in

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church talk, we reduce Bible characters to being one dimensional

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good guy, bad guy, save lost. We never can see

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the complexity of human beings. We got to make everything

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black and white and human beings are a mess, and

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human beings are sinful. Even the people in the Bible,

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I know, we like to say, well, they were the

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righteous ones, and we got to be like them. They're

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just like us, sinners. And because David is a sinner,

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you know what, I know that his motives are not pure,

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just like your motives are not pure, and just like

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my motives are not pure. When we consider our motives,

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they're not pure. They're always corrupted to some level. So

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let's consider the possibility, based off the context the history,

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that maybe David's motives weren't as pure as we want

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to make them. All right, It's possible that maybe David's

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decision not to kill Saul was motivated by a combination

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of personal and pragmatic reasons rather than purely righteous motives.

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See this tendency to assign holy, pure motives to David

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may reflect an oversimplification of the text or an idealization

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of his character. So I think what we need to

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do is explore maybe the complexity of David's motives, especially

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in the Old Testament context. All right, so let's consider this.

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Are you ready, Let's go through these and let's see

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if you now I know this is going to go

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against everything you've ever been taught. I know, I know,

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I know, I know, I know. I'm creating a hypothesis

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that challenges sermon after sermon after sermon after sermon after sermon.

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But sermon so many times again takes Bible narratives. Many cases,

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they take biblical narratives that are descriptive, they make them prescriptive,

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which is a major problem. And secondly, so many times

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they take these historical narratives and reduce them to a

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morality tell which is not the intended purpose. And they

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sometimes overlook things in the text that should just bother them,

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Like wait a minute, why is David even going down

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to the camp if he's not going to kill Saul?

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What was he going down there to do? I mean,

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everybody's sleeping here, sneaking into the camp, what's your motivation?

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Was his motivation immediately thinking Oh, I'm going to kill him?

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And then he's like, well, maybe I better not. Maybe

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that shows a conflict in his motivation. Oh, there's so

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many questions this text brings up, But let's look at

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the possible selfish are pragmatic motive that may have been

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driving David's actions. Here, all right, I say possible, I'm

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saying because I cannot judge a motive, I'm just challenging

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our I'm Here's what I'm doing. I'm challenging the fact

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that so many pastors assign pure and righteous motives, and

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I'm just challenging that to offer up the possibility that

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maybe David's motives was very selfish and pragmatic. Now, while

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David's refusal to harmsaw is often preached and taught as

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an act of trust in God, there are plausible reasons

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to view his decision as possibly self serving. Oh no,

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that would be. But see that would make more sense

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to me. I can understand his motives are probably more

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self serving because my motives are more self serving. Your

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motives are more self serving. Let's look at some possibly

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self serving motives. Possibly David was deciding not to kill

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Saul to avoid repercussions. You see, killing gods anointed would

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possibly bring dire consequences. In the Old Testament, the term

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anointed carried immense significance. To kill a king anointed by

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God was seen as an act of rebellion against God himself.

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So he could have been like, wait a minute, if

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I kill Saul, then I'm basically rebelling against God himself,

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and then God's gonna be against me. So I could

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be actually, if I kill Saul, I'm destroying myself. I'm

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just deding everything I want to do or be. So

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there could be like, hey, I can't kill Saul because

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that will ultimately kill me. Not that the motives are pure,

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are right, because in the next chapter David is slaughtering people.

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But to kill the anointed, oh, now that carries some

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in his mind. In this context, may have felt like

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I could kill these people and the consequences cannot be

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anywhere close to what it would be to kill the

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Lord's anointed. David's very words in First Samuel twenty six

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nine through eleven, where I'm kind of paraphrasing here where

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he says who can put out his hand against the

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Lord's anointed and be guiltless? I mean, that's pretty close

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to what was said right. In fact, we can read

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it for Samuel twenty six to nine, But David said

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to Abishai, do not destroy him, for who can stretch

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out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless?

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It's pretty close to what was said this could reflect

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a belief that such an act would lead to divine

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judgment or personal ruin. What David could be saying, hey, hey, no, no, no, no,

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don't do that because it's gonna be it's gonna bring

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me down, it's gonna destroy me. It may not be

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because anything about God or morality are right wrong. You

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could just see if we do that, I destroy me.

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Don't do it. And Second Samuel, chapter one, verses fourteen

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through sixteen, David executes to Amlekite, who claims to have

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killed Saul, accusing him of striking down God's anointed. See

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when someone claims to have killed Saul, David has that

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man killed. Because it's almost like Davidsen who whoa who

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whoa whoa whoa whoah. No, no, no, Lord, I'm I'm not

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I didn't do this. I had nothing to do with this,

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almost and again in a very self preservation mindset. So

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maybe David's motivation here was simply like, I'm of repercussions,

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I'm avoiding being destroyed, I'm avoiding any problem. I'm not

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going to do this. Maybe the motive wasn't so right. Secondly,

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he may have been doing this to secure his own reputation.

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He may have been trying to maintain public perceptions. See

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if David. David may have recognized, at least in his motivations. Again,

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sometimes we are being motivated by something we don't even know.

401
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We don't even really understand. You have to spend time.

402
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This is so important your motivations. That's what drives what

403
00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:40.680
you do. But the motivations typically remain hidden and sometimes unknown.

404
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We sometimes don't take the time to really consider what

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is motivating us. And when we really do, especially from

406
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a theological perspective and from a Christian perspective, I think

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what we'll find is like, man, my motives are messed

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up here. So David may have recognized that killing Saul,

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even in self defense, could harm his reputation among the

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Israel's Israel's tribes. See. By sparing Saul, he demonstrated restraint

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and loyalty, and these are qualities that would win public

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support as he prepared to ascend to the throne. See,

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he may have been this may have been very calculate.

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If I if I don't kill Saul, then I look loyal,

415
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I look like I have restraint, I look and this

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helps my public perception. This helps my This helps me

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politically as I try to ascend to the throne. The

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people will look at me in a positive light and

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be and they may show their loyalty to me because

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I've demonstrated such loyalty and restraint. His motivation, I hate

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to say, it could have been very political. So he

422
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could have been doing this to avoid a divine repercussion

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or divine judgment or God destroying him. Secondly, he could

424
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have been doing this simply to secure his own reputation,

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to build his own reputation in the minds of the

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people of all of Israel, because he's going to ascend

427
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the throne and the last thing you want is everyone

428
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hating you. He could have been doing this to simply

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avoid political fallout. See, killing Saul might have led to

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a civil war, as Saul still commanded loyalty from many Israelites,

431
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David's decision to spare him could have been a calculated

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move to ensure a smoother transition of power. He's not look,

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if I kill Saul and then I try to code

434
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to the throne, it's going to be a civil war.

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This may have been calculated, This may have been strategic.

436
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His motivations may not have been so pure. But yet

437
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in preaching, we reduce David to this one dimensional character

438
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and we're like, oh, look how righteous he was. Look

439
00:28:01.319 --> 00:28:05.079
how maybe his motivation wasn't so pure? Why you see?

440
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How can you say that in the very next chapter

441
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he is slaughtering men, women, and children. In the very

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next chapter, he's joining the Philistines. In the very next chapter,

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what's motivating him to join the Philistines? Wait? Oh yeah,

444
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self preservation maybe the very thing that motivated him not

445
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to kill Saul. So there are possible selfish and pragmatic

446
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motives for what David did or did not do, and

447
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he could have not killed Saul to avoid repercussions, to

448
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secure his reputation, and to avoid political fallout. Now, let's

449
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consider the cultural and philological context of God's anointed, because

450
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I think if we really understand this, this may make

451
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some sense. The sacredness of the anointing and the Old Testament,

452
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being anointed signified divine selection for a special role such

453
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as king or priest. The anointing carried theological weight as

454
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the individual was seen us under God's direct authority and protection.

455
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To attack God's anointed was to challenge God's sovereignty. Well,

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if David is going to be trusting God for him

457
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to one day take the throne, well, he wants God

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on his side to strike down the anointed, would then

459
00:29:30.759 --> 00:29:33.920
have God possibly turn on David. So David could have

460
00:29:33.920 --> 00:29:36.640
been very much because of that context, it would make

461
00:29:36.720 --> 00:29:39.279
perfect sense like no, no, no, we can't kill the

462
00:29:39.319 --> 00:29:43.720
Lord's anointed. We can't, or I'm going to basically be

463
00:29:43.799 --> 00:29:51.240
destroying myself. So the sacredness of the anointing would greatly

464
00:29:51.279 --> 00:29:54.759
then lead to some those possible selfish reasons why David

465
00:29:54.759 --> 00:29:58.640
did or didn't do what he could have done. Another

466
00:29:58.680 --> 00:30:03.599
concept here about the anointing was divine retribution for violating

467
00:30:03.599 --> 00:30:07.279
sacred offices. The Old Testament often portrays severe consequences for

468
00:30:07.400 --> 00:30:11.359
those who oppose God's anointed and numbers. Chapter sixteen, Cora

469
00:30:11.480 --> 00:30:14.559
and his followers rebel against Moses, whom God had chosen,

470
00:30:14.799 --> 00:30:19.200
and they're destroyed. Yusaiah touches the ark of the Covenant

471
00:30:19.200 --> 00:30:24.920
without authorization and dies. This incident demonstrates the seriousness of

472
00:30:24.960 --> 00:30:29.000
disregarding what God has set apart. So you've got Old

473
00:30:29.079 --> 00:30:32.920
Testament ideas that, hey, don't mess with the anointed, don't

474
00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:35.839
even if it's an object that's been anointed by God,

475
00:30:35.960 --> 00:30:39.160
don't touch it without proper authorization. Well, then if you

476
00:30:39.200 --> 00:30:42.240
can't even touch an object that God is anointed without

477
00:30:42.240 --> 00:30:45.200
possibly dying, then you know, then David would have been like, well,

478
00:30:45.240 --> 00:30:47.319
then there's no way I'm going to kill a person

479
00:30:47.559 --> 00:30:53.400
whom God has anointed. You could see that there would

480
00:30:53.440 --> 00:30:57.160
be motivation here that would not necessarily be pure. It'd

481
00:30:57.200 --> 00:31:06.519
be like, I will be basically destroying myself. David may

482
00:31:06.559 --> 00:31:09.240
have genuinely feared that killing Saul would provoke God's wrath

483
00:31:09.319 --> 00:31:15.039
upon him, not just Saul's followers. His statement in First

484
00:31:15.079 --> 00:31:17.599
Samuel twenty six to ten, as the Lord lives, the

485
00:31:17.640 --> 00:31:20.359
Lord will strike him, or his day will come to die,

486
00:31:20.599 --> 00:31:22.640
or he will go down into battle in Paris suggest

487
00:31:22.680 --> 00:31:25.079
that David preferred to leave Saul's fate in God's hand

488
00:31:25.359 --> 00:31:29.640
rather than risk divine judgment by acting himself. And we

489
00:31:29.680 --> 00:31:32.319
see that in One Samuel twenty six ten, I'm going

490
00:31:32.359 --> 00:31:34.359
to trust God to take care of this. But look

491
00:31:34.359 --> 00:31:37.160
at how David feels about his decision in chapter twenty seven,

492
00:31:37.240 --> 00:31:40.200
verse one, and David said, in his heart, now I

493
00:31:40.240 --> 00:31:43.480
shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. There is

494
00:31:43.480 --> 00:31:46.599
nothing better for me than I should speedily escape to

495
00:31:46.680 --> 00:31:50.599
the land of the Philistines, and Saul will despair of

496
00:31:50.680 --> 00:31:53.839
me to seek me anymore in any part of Israel.

497
00:31:54.079 --> 00:31:57.240
So I shall escape out of his hand as soon

498
00:31:57.279 --> 00:32:01.359
as he can. You can almost see that the motivation

499
00:32:01.599 --> 00:32:04.680
is not so pure. He doesn't kill Saul and immediately

500
00:32:04.759 --> 00:32:08.160
is like, man, now I'm going to die. Now Saul's

501
00:32:08.200 --> 00:32:12.680
going to kill me. It's almost like I know I

502
00:32:12.759 --> 00:32:15.359
should have killed him, but I couldn't kill him because

503
00:32:15.359 --> 00:32:17.599
then that could bring God against me. Okay, now what

504
00:32:17.640 --> 00:32:20.079
do I do? This is not even about trusting God

505
00:32:20.119 --> 00:32:22.599
that much, because the media is like, okay, forget, God's

506
00:32:22.640 --> 00:32:25.240
not even gonna protect me. I've got to protect myself.

507
00:32:25.440 --> 00:32:27.839
I'm running. I'm going to the Philistines. Next thing you know,

508
00:32:27.880 --> 00:32:32.799
he joins the Philistines and he's slaughtering people, meaning that

509
00:32:32.920 --> 00:32:37.000
his reason for not killing Saul wasn't because oh, I'm

510
00:32:37.079 --> 00:32:40.839
trusting God. If he was trusting God, then he would

511
00:32:41.079 --> 00:32:44.920
why the massive change in chapter twenty seven. He wasn't

512
00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:48.640
killing Saul because of these selfish reasons, Because of the

513
00:32:48.720 --> 00:32:54.960
stillological context. He understood the sacredness of the anointing, he understood.

514
00:32:55.240 --> 00:33:00.319
Retribution for violating the anointing he understood and was probably

515
00:33:00.400 --> 00:33:07.000
concerned with the fear of personal judgment. And then you

516
00:33:07.079 --> 00:33:11.920
kind of consider David's contrasting behavior and on Samuel twenty

517
00:33:11.920 --> 00:33:15.799
seven David Slaughter's entire populations, leaving neither man nor woman alive.

518
00:33:16.119 --> 00:33:18.960
This shows that David was capable of extreme violence when

519
00:33:19.000 --> 00:33:23.000
it served his interest, particularly as securing resources and preventing

520
00:33:23.039 --> 00:33:26.759
intelligence from reading akish. This stands and start contrast to

521
00:33:26.839 --> 00:33:30.839
his restraint and sparing Saul, suggesting his actions in first

522
00:33:30.839 --> 00:33:34.039
Samuel twenty six may have been motivated by factors other

523
00:33:34.160 --> 00:33:40.480
than moral conviction. You think this is all pragmatic here,

524
00:33:41.400 --> 00:33:44.160
I know, we want to reduce this to a morality tale.

525
00:33:44.279 --> 00:33:47.599
This is a man who is sinful and his actions

526
00:33:47.720 --> 00:33:52.319
are motivated by a lot of pragmatism and self preservation

527
00:33:52.680 --> 00:34:00.799
and self seeking and being strategic. David's willing to kill

528
00:34:00.839 --> 00:34:05.039
indiscriminately and on Samuel twenty seven highlights his pragmatic and

529
00:34:05.079 --> 00:34:09.800
survival oriented mindset. It raises the possibility that his restraint

530
00:34:09.840 --> 00:34:13.119
and for Samuel twenty six was less about pure motives

531
00:34:13.239 --> 00:34:19.320
and more about self preservation and political calculation. Oh, I

532
00:34:19.440 --> 00:34:32.679
know that's horrible to say. No, it's reality. So when

533
00:34:32.719 --> 00:34:35.119
we consider this story, we have to consider the possible

534
00:34:35.480 --> 00:34:39.719
selfish or pragmatic motives for David. We have to, and

535
00:34:39.840 --> 00:34:43.480
his motives could have been to avoid repercussions, to secure

536
00:34:43.559 --> 00:34:46.639
his reputation, and to avoid political follout. We also have

537
00:34:46.719 --> 00:34:49.800
to consider the cultural and philological context of God's anointed,

538
00:34:50.199 --> 00:34:53.679
the sacredness of the anointing, the divine retribution for violating

539
00:34:53.719 --> 00:34:56.840
basically the anointing, and obviously this would lead to fear

540
00:34:56.880 --> 00:35:01.039
of personal judgment. We have to then contrast David's behavior,

541
00:35:01.159 --> 00:35:05.000
and we see his ruthless action in First Samuel twenty seven,

542
00:35:05.159 --> 00:35:08.760
which then stands and start contrast to all the purity

543
00:35:08.800 --> 00:35:11.440
that we give him in First Samuel twenty six, which

544
00:35:11.480 --> 00:35:13.679
causes us to question all of this, and we have

545
00:35:13.760 --> 00:35:17.199
to see that basically David is acting, he's following pragmatism

546
00:35:17.239 --> 00:35:24.679
over principle. So is there a way to reconcile David's

547
00:35:24.760 --> 00:35:27.840
actions and First Samuel twenty six and twenty seven, Well,

548
00:35:27.920 --> 00:35:31.880
we could basically acknowledge David is portrayed in scripture as

549
00:35:31.880 --> 00:35:36.599
a deeply flawed individual whose actions are a mixture of faith, fear,

550
00:35:36.679 --> 00:35:41.079
and pragmatism. His refusal to kill Saul may reflect genuine

551
00:35:41.119 --> 00:35:44.239
trust in God's sovereignty, but it is likely interwoven with

552
00:35:44.280 --> 00:35:46.840
self serving motives. Now, I don't know if it shows

553
00:35:46.880 --> 00:35:50.079
genuine trust in God, because by the time he's done

554
00:35:50.119 --> 00:35:53.320
in twenty six, he's already going, I'm going to die, God,

555
00:35:53.840 --> 00:35:55.960
Saul's going to kill me. I'm going to go join

556
00:35:56.000 --> 00:35:58.559
the Philistines. That doesn't show that he was trusting God.

557
00:35:58.760 --> 00:36:02.320
That means to me, then it would be fair to

558
00:36:02.400 --> 00:36:06.679
at least offer the hypotheses that his motivation in twenty

559
00:36:06.719 --> 00:36:10.320
six was more like, hmm, if I kill the Anointed,

560
00:36:10.639 --> 00:36:14.480
I'm gonna die, all right. So I can't do that. Man,

561
00:36:14.800 --> 00:36:18.440
Now I'm going to die. That's not trusting God. I

562
00:36:18.480 --> 00:36:20.920
know everybody wants to make twenty six about whoh look,

563
00:36:20.920 --> 00:36:26.119
it's David's trust in God. I know. I have a

564
00:36:26.159 --> 00:36:28.400
hard time with that. I have a hard time with

565
00:36:28.480 --> 00:36:32.800
that all right. Day when a good example of his

566
00:36:33.159 --> 00:36:36.000
all of his self serving motives and everything else David's

567
00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:39.840
sin with Bathsheba, he demonstrates his moral failure. Yet yet

568
00:36:39.880 --> 00:36:41.920
he has still called a man after God's own heart.

569
00:36:42.039 --> 00:36:43.760
You know why he's still called a man after God's

570
00:36:43.760 --> 00:36:47.960
own heart because he believed in God and that is

571
00:36:48.000 --> 00:36:51.679
counted unto him as righteousness, says the whole. Remember, Paul

572
00:36:51.920 --> 00:36:56.559
uses David as an example in Romans to teach justification

573
00:36:56.719 --> 00:37:00.840
by faith alone, that we are declared righteous by faith alone,

574
00:37:00.960 --> 00:37:03.639
not by what we do. David is declared a man

575
00:37:03.679 --> 00:37:07.639
after God's own heart because he believed. Abraham was declared

576
00:37:07.679 --> 00:37:11.400
to be righteous because he believed both men were deeply

577
00:37:11.559 --> 00:37:16.599
flawed and sinful. I know that blows everyone's mind, but

578
00:37:16.679 --> 00:37:19.599
that's the way. That's why, as non Catholics we believe

579
00:37:19.639 --> 00:37:26.920
in a salvation based off imputed righteousness. David is a

580
00:37:26.960 --> 00:37:30.480
complex character, and when we reduce him to a one

581
00:37:30.519 --> 00:37:35.599
dimensional morality, Telle, we really blind people to the complexity

582
00:37:35.639 --> 00:37:49.280
and scripture. Now, what are some of the implications from now,

583
00:37:49.320 --> 00:37:51.440
I've got more notes here I'm skipping. But what are

584
00:37:51.440 --> 00:37:56.320
some of the implications for my suggested interpretation that his

585
00:37:56.440 --> 00:37:59.760
motivation here isn't so good? Well? I think it helps

586
00:37:59.840 --> 00:38:06.639
us avoid basically reducing biblical figures to one dimensional ideals.

587
00:38:06.639 --> 00:38:10.440
We like to idolize them, we like to turn them

588
00:38:10.480 --> 00:38:15.599
into a moral ideal. Hey, David, is this example of

589
00:38:15.639 --> 00:38:18.840
this moral idea, and then we're going to teach it

590
00:38:18.880 --> 00:38:23.239
that way. Preachers and readers should resist the urge to

591
00:38:23.360 --> 00:38:27.320
assign purely righteous motives to biblical characters like David. We've

592
00:38:27.360 --> 00:38:30.960
got to stop that. We got to stop in our

593
00:38:31.000 --> 00:38:34.920
preaching opening the text and basically assigning, Oh, this man

594
00:38:35.039 --> 00:38:37.239
is pure, this man is righteous, this is how we

595
00:38:37.280 --> 00:38:40.519
should be. Because their motivations are not always so pure

596
00:38:40.559 --> 00:38:43.800
and righteous. We got to start turning them into examples

597
00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:47.599
of moral ideals and let them be human beings with

598
00:38:47.760 --> 00:38:54.280
flesh and blood and a sinful nature. We should acknowledge

599
00:38:54.280 --> 00:38:57.360
the complexity of human motives and the overarching work of

600
00:38:57.400 --> 00:39:02.800
God in history. We also have to so we have

601
00:39:02.880 --> 00:39:07.000
to avoid reducing them to a one dimensional moral ideal.

602
00:39:07.239 --> 00:39:10.280
We have to let them be human beings. Second, we

603
00:39:10.360 --> 00:39:13.440
have to recognize the tension between faith and self interest.

604
00:39:14.400 --> 00:39:18.159
David's actions demonstrate the tension between trust in God and

605
00:39:18.280 --> 00:39:23.079
self preservation. This tension reflects the human condition and provides

606
00:39:23.119 --> 00:39:25.679
a realistic picture of faith under pressure. We've got to

607
00:39:25.679 --> 00:39:28.639
be willing to acknowledge that sometimes we trust in God,

608
00:39:28.840 --> 00:39:34.599
sometimes we are doing things out of self preservation. See

609
00:39:34.639 --> 00:39:37.159
the way the pastor and that sermon that we reviewed

610
00:39:37.199 --> 00:39:39.599
was like, hey, David could have solved all of his

611
00:39:39.679 --> 00:39:43.000
problems by taking the spear and killing Saul. But the

612
00:39:43.039 --> 00:39:46.760
reality is no. Maybe the reason he didn't take the

613
00:39:46.800 --> 00:39:49.239
spear and killed Saul is because he knew that would

614
00:39:49.320 --> 00:39:52.039
really be the beginning of his problems, because now he

615
00:39:52.320 --> 00:39:55.239
would think God is going to destroy him. God's going

616
00:39:55.280 --> 00:39:57.280
to kill him, It's going to create a civil war,

617
00:39:57.519 --> 00:40:01.719
it's this is going to destroy my political spirit. No. Now,

618
00:40:01.800 --> 00:40:05.920
actually the best thing to do for self preservation is

619
00:40:05.960 --> 00:40:09.039
to not not the sword the spear. I keep saying sword.

620
00:40:09.039 --> 00:40:12.360
I don't know why. The idea is he could have

621
00:40:12.440 --> 00:40:14.360
taken the spear and did this, but he did not.

622
00:40:14.960 --> 00:40:17.360
He chose not to. And maybe the reason he chose

623
00:40:17.400 --> 00:40:19.400
not to is because he felt that was the way

624
00:40:19.440 --> 00:40:25.440
to resolve his problems to at least some level long term. See,

625
00:40:25.480 --> 00:40:28.880
this is not such a black and white decision here.

626
00:40:29.599 --> 00:40:32.639
The sermon was like, hey, David could have taken the

627
00:40:32.639 --> 00:40:35.039
spear killed Saul. It would have been a sin, but

628
00:40:35.079 --> 00:40:38.079
it would have solved all of his problems. But I

629
00:40:38.119 --> 00:40:41.079
think David was like, no, by not using the spear.

630
00:40:41.679 --> 00:40:44.840
This is the best way. Now, There's gonna be short

631
00:40:44.960 --> 00:40:48.400
term issues, but I avoid the long term consequences of

632
00:40:48.639 --> 00:40:52.239
maybe God trying to destroy me a civil war, and well,

633
00:40:52.360 --> 00:40:55.039
having all these people hate me when I'm trying to

634
00:40:55.039 --> 00:40:57.199
ascend to the throne. It could have been much more

635
00:40:57.239 --> 00:41:00.840
motivated by a very selfish reason, which means whether he

636
00:41:00.880 --> 00:41:03.960
would have used the spear or not use the spear, selfish,

637
00:41:04.039 --> 00:41:08.320
sinful motivations were involved. Because while we're gonna send no

638
00:41:08.360 --> 00:41:11.039
matter which way we go, or see that destroys that

639
00:41:11.239 --> 00:41:18.519
entire sermon. We got to see that there's a tension

640
00:41:18.559 --> 00:41:21.719
between faith and self interest. We never look I don't

641
00:41:21.760 --> 00:41:24.559
care how much you want to pretend. Christians never simply

642
00:41:24.639 --> 00:41:28.519
operate from a position of faith or or from a

643
00:41:29.119 --> 00:41:33.079
position of self interest. We are conflicted and we are contradictory,

644
00:41:33.320 --> 00:41:38.000
and where we kind of go back and forth between

645
00:41:38.039 --> 00:41:43.679
the two. And I think what we have to remind

646
00:41:43.719 --> 00:41:49.000
ourselves is that, well, all these people are sinners in

647
00:41:49.079 --> 00:41:55.760
need of God's grace. So David's decision to not kill

648
00:41:55.760 --> 00:41:59.280
Saul and for Semuel twenty six most likely stemmed from

649
00:41:59.320 --> 00:42:04.039
a combination motives, including fear of divine judgment, political calculation,

650
00:42:05.119 --> 00:42:07.800
maybe some trust in God. I kind of throw that

651
00:42:07.800 --> 00:42:11.880
one completely out. His actions and First Samuel twenty seven

652
00:42:11.920 --> 00:42:15.760
reveal his capacity for pragmatism and violence, challenging the notion

653
00:42:15.840 --> 00:42:19.119
that David always acted with pure motives. Understanding David as

654
00:42:19.159 --> 00:42:22.599
a complex and flawed character underscores the Bible's focus on

655
00:42:22.639 --> 00:42:26.360
God's grace and sovereignty rather than human righteousness, as the

656
00:42:26.400 --> 00:42:36.840
foundation of his redemptive plan. David's motives for not killing

657
00:42:36.920 --> 00:42:40.719
Saul are probably not as pure as we want them

658
00:42:40.719 --> 00:42:45.639
to be. And guess what, you probably did a lot

659
00:42:45.679 --> 00:42:47.880
of good things this week. Maybe you did from a

660
00:42:47.960 --> 00:42:51.559
human perspective. Maybe you did some nice things for someone,

661
00:42:51.880 --> 00:42:55.920
You said some nice words. I believe in many cases

662
00:42:56.000 --> 00:43:05.400
you did those for sinful, selfish motivation. I've said this

663
00:43:05.639 --> 00:43:09.760
countless times. I know nobody really likes this, but here's

664
00:43:09.800 --> 00:43:15.599
the reality. We tend to love people for the most

665
00:43:15.840 --> 00:43:27.000
selfish reasons imaginable. We love because we are loved. We

666
00:43:27.119 --> 00:43:30.000
love so that we will get love. We will love

667
00:43:30.400 --> 00:43:35.719
so because of what we get from it. And then

668
00:43:35.760 --> 00:43:39.079
when things don't go our way and we're no longer happy,

669
00:43:39.400 --> 00:43:43.280
or we're no longer content. Then we're no longer in love,

670
00:43:43.960 --> 00:43:48.360
because love, in many cases is simply something we do

671
00:43:48.519 --> 00:43:51.880
in order to receive something, in order to get something.

672
00:43:52.400 --> 00:43:55.480
Love in many cases is simply the outworking of our

673
00:43:55.519 --> 00:43:59.480
own internal selfish motivations. I love because of what I

674
00:43:59.519 --> 00:44:02.039
get from I get a good feeling, I get a

675
00:44:02.039 --> 00:44:04.480
warm I get a warm. This I get I get this,

676
00:44:04.559 --> 00:44:06.679
I get that, I get this, intimacy, I get this,

677
00:44:06.760 --> 00:44:10.000
I get this support, I get this encouragement. And you

678
00:44:10.199 --> 00:44:15.559
get things you love because you get things what We

679
00:44:15.639 --> 00:44:23.599
are constantly motivated by the most selfish things. We look

680
00:44:23.639 --> 00:44:26.760
at David like, oh man, a man after God's own heart.

681
00:44:26.920 --> 00:44:32.920
He didn't kill Saul. I think the motivations here are conflicted,

682
00:44:33.280 --> 00:44:36.519
they're messed up, and they're probably not as godly as

683
00:44:36.559 --> 00:44:39.920
we want them to be. So in the sermon we reviewed,

684
00:44:40.800 --> 00:44:42.519
let me go back and try to state it clearly.

685
00:44:42.920 --> 00:44:46.119
The sermon put forth this idea that Saul, that David

686
00:44:46.159 --> 00:44:52.440
walked into the camp, saw Saul sleeping there, saw the

687
00:44:52.599 --> 00:44:56.320
spear that's a lot of Essa's saw the spear, and

688
00:44:56.360 --> 00:44:59.039
then he was faced with a choice, take the spear,

689
00:44:59.719 --> 00:45:03.840
kill Saul, right, commit a sin. But all my problems

690
00:45:03.880 --> 00:45:08.599
go away? Would you would you commit a sin to

691
00:45:08.639 --> 00:45:11.320
make all of your problems go away? Well, that reduces

692
00:45:11.320 --> 00:45:14.000
this into a morality tale. The only problem is that's

693
00:45:14.159 --> 00:45:17.360
that's not how the story really should be told. David

694
00:45:17.760 --> 00:45:20.920
saw Saul sleeping there with the spear next to his head,

695
00:45:21.079 --> 00:45:24.079
and David had to make a calculated Well, if I

696
00:45:24.199 --> 00:45:28.679
kill Saul, I may make my immediate problem go away.

697
00:45:28.679 --> 00:45:32.440
But then, hmmm, well then I killed the anointed, so

698
00:45:32.519 --> 00:45:35.199
God may destroy me. That's not probably not good. Could

699
00:45:35.360 --> 00:45:37.800
spark a civil war while I'm trying to, you know,

700
00:45:37.840 --> 00:45:40.840
ascend to the throne. It could turn people against me.

701
00:45:41.119 --> 00:45:44.280
It could turn the perception completely against me. That this

702
00:45:44.360 --> 00:45:46.599
could be a desire. I don't know if I can

703
00:45:46.679 --> 00:45:52.639
do that. David's motivations me whether by using the spear

704
00:45:52.800 --> 00:45:55.079
he could have been committing a sin, but by not

705
00:45:55.360 --> 00:45:57.880
using the spear he still could have been committing sin

706
00:45:58.000 --> 00:46:00.480
because he could have been doing it for the most soish,

707
00:46:00.800 --> 00:46:06.320
self seeking, self preservation, pragmatic reasons on the planet. This

708
00:46:06.480 --> 00:46:10.280
is why we can't. It's we like within Christianity, we

709
00:46:10.840 --> 00:46:14.400
so want to. We I think our understanding of sin

710
00:46:14.599 --> 00:46:17.679
is so flawed. See I want you to see the

711
00:46:17.719 --> 00:46:20.559
reality here. By using the spear, David would have been

712
00:46:20.599 --> 00:46:23.880
committing the sin. By not using the spear, we say

713
00:46:24.000 --> 00:46:26.280
David didn't commit a sin, but he's still could have

714
00:46:26.280 --> 00:46:29.960
been committing fifty sins with his motivations and his reasons

715
00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.639
for not using the spear. And we know that his

716
00:46:34.760 --> 00:46:37.400
motivations could not been that pure because in the very

717
00:46:37.440 --> 00:46:40.480
next chapter he's like, oh, we know it's not motivated

718
00:46:40.480 --> 00:46:42.840
by trust in God, because the very next chapter he's like,

719
00:46:42.960 --> 00:46:44.880
oh no, now Saul's going to kill me. What do

720
00:46:44.880 --> 00:46:46.320
I do? What do I do? He doesn't say God's

721
00:46:46.320 --> 00:46:48.400
gonna protect me. God's good. No, He's like, what, i

722
00:46:48.440 --> 00:46:50.400
gotta get out of town, and I'm gonna go to

723
00:46:50.440 --> 00:46:53.599
the Philistines, the very enemies of Israel, and I'm going

724
00:46:53.639 --> 00:46:56.360
to join them, and then I'm gonna slaughter people on

725
00:46:56.440 --> 00:47:07.320
their behalf. Oh well, what a what a great idea. See,

726
00:47:07.360 --> 00:47:10.880
you can use the spear and commit a sin. You

727
00:47:10.920 --> 00:47:13.679
can refrain from using the spear and do it for

728
00:47:13.840 --> 00:47:20.440
selfish sinful motivation, which means you're still sinning. Do you

729
00:47:20.599 --> 00:47:25.920
realize you can do sinful things externally and you can

730
00:47:25.960 --> 00:47:31.119
refrain from doing sinful things externally, but you're still sinning internally,

731
00:47:31.360 --> 00:47:35.599
based off motivation, based off reason, based off desire, and

732
00:47:35.679 --> 00:47:38.440
et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, which means, if we

733
00:47:38.480 --> 00:47:42.559
are even remotely honest with ourselves, are good and our

734
00:47:43.400 --> 00:47:45.800
whether it's our bad or whether it's our good, it's

735
00:47:45.880 --> 00:47:49.920
all nothing but filthy rags before the holiness of God. Therefore,

736
00:47:49.960 --> 00:47:53.039
that's why we need and imputed righteousness, and our salvation

737
00:47:53.119 --> 00:47:55.599
can never be based off what we do, and can't

738
00:47:55.599 --> 00:47:59.159
even be judged or tested by what we do. It

739
00:47:59.199 --> 00:48:04.480
has to always it's security, hope, and fulfillment in Christ Jesus.

740
00:48:09.960 --> 00:48:12.679
If we just look at this in any reasonable way,

741
00:48:13.039 --> 00:48:17.239
the story is not is not as I know. I

742
00:48:17.280 --> 00:48:21.119
know that destroy Sunday school lessons. I know. I know

743
00:48:21.239 --> 00:48:23.639
this stops David from just being reduced to a little

744
00:48:23.639 --> 00:48:26.760
one dimensional you know flannel graph thing that you show

745
00:48:26.760 --> 00:48:28.760
in Sunday school classroom back in the day. I know

746
00:48:28.800 --> 00:48:31.199
I don't people'll probably don't use those anymore. But whatever,

747
00:48:31.480 --> 00:48:34.199
it doesn't. It doesn't work for a nice little Veggie

748
00:48:34.199 --> 00:48:36.480
Tells story. I know it doesn't work for you know,

749
00:48:36.519 --> 00:48:39.559
a nice little episode of whatever your favorite little Christian

750
00:48:39.599 --> 00:48:44.280
television show is It doesn't work that way. It's convoluted,

751
00:48:44.519 --> 00:48:50.199
complicated because there's human beings involved, and they're all sinners.

752
00:48:53.320 --> 00:48:55.239
That's why Paul said, the things I want to do

753
00:48:55.320 --> 00:48:57.360
I don't. The things I don't want to do I do.

754
00:48:57.719 --> 00:49:00.519
Why Because that is the reality of the Christian in life.

755
00:49:00.559 --> 00:49:03.719
We sin and we can wrap it up and religious

756
00:49:03.760 --> 00:49:07.039
garb and say all the right things, but our motivations

757
00:49:07.039 --> 00:49:13.199
are all messed up. If you hear that sound in

758
00:49:13.239 --> 00:49:15.760
the background, the rain is coming down here in West

759
00:49:15.760 --> 00:49:20.840
Texas today. So I started this with asking a grammatically

760
00:49:20.840 --> 00:49:28.159
incorrect question about your motivations. But today you're gonna do things.

761
00:49:28.239 --> 00:49:31.280
You're gonna say things to your spouse, say things to

762
00:49:31.320 --> 00:49:33.840
your kids, you're gonna do things. You're gonna go to

763
00:49:33.960 --> 00:49:39.599
church tomorrow. What really are your motivations? And each specific

764
00:49:39.679 --> 00:49:42.639
thing you have to stop and consider what your motivations are,

765
00:49:42.760 --> 00:49:46.719
and sometimes you just gotta be honest. I'm doing this,

766
00:49:46.880 --> 00:49:51.119
but my motivation here is so self seeking, so self serving,

767
00:49:51.159 --> 00:49:55.920
it is not even funny. I started this broadcast by

768
00:49:55.960 --> 00:50:00.039
acknowledging my own selfishness. I'm doing this broadcast because I

769
00:50:00.039 --> 00:50:02.880
haven't been happy with the last two. I was doing

770
00:50:02.920 --> 00:50:05.679
this to make myself feel better. I wasn't even doing

771
00:50:05.719 --> 00:50:09.119
this about you or about God. I was doing it

772
00:50:09.159 --> 00:50:12.119
for my own And now I'm kind I feel like

773
00:50:12.159 --> 00:50:13.880
I didn't even do this one really well. I think

774
00:50:13.920 --> 00:50:15.760
I should have worked a little bit more on this one.

775
00:50:15.960 --> 00:50:18.960
So I'm not even really happy with this one. So

776
00:50:19.119 --> 00:50:23.119
my now my motivation to do this really I didn't

777
00:50:23.119 --> 00:50:25.760
fulfill that motivation. So then there's a high chance my

778
00:50:25.840 --> 00:50:29.880
next message maybe again motivated by selfish reasons as well.

779
00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:33.280
I know that's shocking, but I'm telling you we do

780
00:50:33.400 --> 00:50:38.519
things for wrong motives all the time. I'm not justifying

781
00:50:38.559 --> 00:50:43.480
wrong motives, right, I'm not justifying it. I'm acknowledging the

782
00:50:43.519 --> 00:50:57.960
reality of it. What is your motivation for any specific

783
00:50:58.039 --> 00:51:01.599
thing you're going to do today? What are your motivations

784
00:51:01.639 --> 00:51:06.559
in general? Now? What we like to say, if we

785
00:51:06.599 --> 00:51:10.159
talk church, church and ease, right, if we talk the

786
00:51:10.239 --> 00:51:14.760
church language, Oh, my motivation is to glorify God and

787
00:51:14.920 --> 00:51:20.400
enjoy Him forever. My motivation is God's glory. It's God's honor.

788
00:51:20.840 --> 00:51:25.280
That's what motivates me. We know to talk a big

789
00:51:25.320 --> 00:51:31.440
game sometimes, if we're honest, our motivation is me ego, pride,

790
00:51:32.239 --> 00:51:36.800
self preservation, getting what I want, getting what I need,

791
00:51:37.119 --> 00:51:41.800
feeling better, making my ego better, getting this, getting that.

792
00:51:42.159 --> 00:51:47.239
Sometimes sometimes you just cannot be honest with yourself. Oh,

793
00:51:47.280 --> 00:51:50.360
I'm doing this because I care. I'm doing this because

794
00:51:50.480 --> 00:51:52.400
I want to be a good friend. You're doing it

795
00:51:52.440 --> 00:51:56.360
because you are a self seeking and you want self

796
00:51:56.400 --> 00:52:00.519
pleasure and you want self exaltation. That's why you do

797
00:52:00.599 --> 00:52:12.199
what you do. I think even our best motives are

798
00:52:12.360 --> 00:52:18.519
always corrupted to some level, because motivation arises from within,

799
00:52:18.920 --> 00:52:23.000
and what is inside the house sinful nature, and that

800
00:52:23.119 --> 00:52:29.920
sinful nature twists and corrupts everything. It infects every part

801
00:52:29.920 --> 00:52:36.360
of us. And that infection, I know pastors will say, no,

802
00:52:36.400 --> 00:52:39.480
when you become a Christian, you know, you know, old

803
00:52:39.559 --> 00:52:42.440
things pass away, all things have become news. It's just

804
00:52:42.599 --> 00:52:46.480
that's true positionally, is not true practically it's true. Practically,

805
00:52:46.480 --> 00:52:51.800
then you would be sinless. Motivation can tell you that

806
00:52:51.920 --> 00:52:56.639
even when your actions are not sinful, your motivations may be.

807
00:53:01.480 --> 00:53:05.039
Maybe David did not commit the sin of using the spear,

808
00:53:05.239 --> 00:53:12.920
not the sword, the spear, but maybe his motivations were selfish, pragmatic, political,

809
00:53:13.400 --> 00:53:16.199
and just as sinful as if he were used a spear.

810
00:53:19.400 --> 00:53:21.440
I know that just destroyed all the sermons on first

811
00:53:21.480 --> 00:53:24.920
Samuel twenty six and for Samuel twenty seven, but I

812
00:53:24.920 --> 00:53:27.639
think it's a more realistic Appruss Now I stated by saying,

813
00:53:27.679 --> 00:53:34.400
this is my hypothesis. Now you can disregard it, and

814
00:53:34.440 --> 00:53:38.000
that's perfectly okay. My job is just to try to

815
00:53:38.119 --> 00:53:42.119
challenge us to think better. Don't reduce the Bible to

816
00:53:42.159 --> 00:53:45.760
a morality tale. Don't reduce these Bible characters to some

817
00:53:46.280 --> 00:53:51.679
idealized moral principle. Right, there's just hey, we're going to

818
00:53:51.760 --> 00:53:55.960
reduce these men to some moral ideal No, these are

819
00:53:56.079 --> 00:54:00.760
human beings, flesh and blood, and they're just as complicated

820
00:54:00.800 --> 00:54:05.000
and complex as we are. Now, I'm going to go

821
00:54:05.039 --> 00:54:08.639
do things today, and I bet you my motives will

822
00:54:08.639 --> 00:54:19.039
probably be wrong all day. I know you're disappointed in me.

823
00:54:19.199 --> 00:54:23.039
I know I'm disappointed in myself. Oh oh wait, when

824
00:54:23.039 --> 00:54:25.079
you walk by the mirror, look in that mirror, because

825
00:54:25.239 --> 00:54:29.559
you'll see someone Your motives are probably not so pure either.

826
00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:36.599
That's why we all need a savior who's perfect, holy, died,

827
00:54:37.079 --> 00:54:42.760
and his righteousness is imputed to me by faith alone.

828
00:54:43.159 --> 00:54:46.239
Doesn't make me righteous, but it makes me right, righteous

829
00:54:46.280 --> 00:54:51.719
positionally not practically, and I thank God for that. Everyone

830
00:54:51.760 --> 00:54:54.400
have a great day, God bless