God's Good Timing

Order of Service

• Hymn — Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken
• Call to Worship — Exodus 15:1-11
• Hymn — Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Faith — Nicene Creed
• Scripture Reading — Acts 11:19-30
• Hymn — We Gather Together
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Prayer of Dedication
• Hymn — Take My Life and Let It Be
• Sermon
• Closing Prayer
• Hymn — I Surrender All
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: God's Good Timing

Scripture: 1 Samuel 24

I. God's Good Timing Involves Long-Suffering from the Believer

A. Saul, after dealing with the Philistines, immediately resumes pursuit of David with 3,000 men, finding him at En Gedi

• 1. Saul enters a cave unaware that David and his men are hiding in its depths
• 2. David's men urge him to seize the moment, possibly misquoting Scripture to justify taking the kingdom now

B. David's response: he cuts the corner of Saul's robe — a symbolic act

• 1. Recalls 1 Samuel 15:27-28: the tearing of Samuel's robe signified the kingdom torn from Saul; David's act echoes this symbolism
• 2. Yet David's heart immediately strikes him with conviction; he refuses to harm the Lord's anointed and rebukes his men sharply

C. Theological foundation: to strike the Lord's anointed is to dishonor the Lord himself

• 1. David will not grasp the kingdom in his own timing but waits on God's way
• 2. Parallel to Christ's temptation: Satan offers the kingdoms of the world now; Jesus refuses to take the kingdom by any means other than the Father's appointed way
• 3. Parallel to Peter's rebuke: "Get behind me, Satan" — Matthew 16:23

D. Application: the road to kingdom glory is cross-shaped and dependent on God's timing

• 1. John Bunyan spent 12 years in prison rather than renounce preaching; friends urged him to comply for his family's sake — a reasonable but worldly argument
• 2. Waiting on God's timing sometimes means turning a deaf ear to outwardly reasonable counsel
• 3. We live in the tension of the already/not yet kingdom; we must not try to yank down the not-yet consummation by our own means

II. God's Good Timing Involves Vengeance from the Lord

A. David emerges from the cave, bows before Saul, and shows him the cut corner of his robe, proving his innocence and exposing Saul's folly

• 1. David likens himself to "a dead dog, a flea" — Saul's enemy is no real threat; yet Israel's real enemies, the Philistines, go unaddressed
• 2. David calls on God as the righteous judge: Romans 12:19 — "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord"

B. The imprecatory psalms (notably Psalm 69 and Psalm 109) reflect this same principle

• 1. To imprecate is to invoke God's righteous judgment on his enemies — not personal revenge but calling on the Lord to act
• 2. Modern discomfort with these psalms may reflect a lack of zeal for holiness and too great a comfort with surrounding wickedness

C. The ultimate fulfillment of the imprecatory psalms is the cross

• 1. Isaiah 53:10 — "It was the Lord's will to crush him": God poured out his vengeance on the sin-bearer
• 2. Romans 5 — when we were enemies of God, objects of his just curse, he sent his Son to absorb that curse for us

D. Two-pronged application for praying about enemies today

• 1. Pray for enemies' salvation — that the imprecation would be exhausted for them in Christ, not upon them in judgment
• 2. Pray maranatha — as evil has its day (e.g., current events in Ukraine), cry out: "Come, Lord Jesus, crush the serpent" — 2 Timothy 2:25

III. God's Good Timing Involves Recognition from the Enemy

A. Saul weeps and acknowledges David's righteousness and right to the throne (1 Samuel 24:16-20)

• 1. David's refusal to repay evil with evil places burning coals of conviction on Saul's head
• 2. Saul asks David to swear not to cut off his offspring; David grants this — but notably, this oath had already been made to Jonathan in 1 Samuel 20:14-17
• 3. David honors the covenant with righteous Jonathan, not merely wicked Saul — fulfilled later in 2 Samuel 9:1

B. Christ as the ultimate fulfillment: Philippians 2:6-11

• 1. Though equal with God, Christ did not grasp equality with God but became a servant, submitted to long-suffering and to the Father's vengeance at the cross
• 2. The result: every knee in heaven, on earth, and under the earth will bow and confess Jesus Christ is Lord — recognition from every enemy

C. The church participates in this mission: Colossians 1:24

• 1. Paul "fills up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions" — not that Christ's atonement is insufficient, but that Christ's presence on earth is now through his body, the church
• 2. Augustine's insight: where the body is, there Christ is also — Christ's kingdom mission advances through the church
• 3. Jesus' words to Saul on the road: "Why are you persecuting me?" — to afflict the church is to afflict Christ; to serve through the church is to extend Christ's presence
• 4. As we wait on God's timing in long-suffering service, we hasten the day when every enemy will confess Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords