Hard Mode Pt 4 - I’ll Pin David to the Wall
This sermon was preached at Immanuel Fellowship Church in Ellisville Missouri as part of our "Hard Mode" series within 1 Samuel, exploring David’s trials and growth from the time he was anointed King until he took the throne. For more resources on faith and Christian living, visit our website or connect with our community. You can email us at hello@ifcstl.com or call/text us at 636-431-4708
Okay. We're continuing our series today in 1 Samuel, if you want to go ahead and turn to 1 Samuel chapter 18.
I had a tooth pulled on Friday unexpectedly, and so my jaw—they actually specifically told me not to do public speaking for the first 36 hours! So you might be thinking to yourself, "Ah, that means the sermon will be shorter!" I love you guys, and I'm going to suffer for you today. Listen, if blood just starts coming out of the right side of my mouth today, just ignore it and keep pushing through—we'll be good! Ibuprofen is a gift from the Lord.
We're continuing our series in 1 Samuel that we're calling Hard Mode. Basically, we're just talking about how hard it can be to live our lives in this cursed and broken world. That's just fundamentally true, right? If you've lived life for more than a day or two, you can relate to the fact that living in this broken world is oftentimes difficult.
And beyond that—beyond just living in this world—giving God your "yes," seeking to actually live a life that glorifies God and submits to Him, is often harder. It's more difficult. A life seeking our calling in the goodness of God, seeking our calling in the Kingdom of God, is inherently hard.
And yet, it is often in those difficulties, in those hard places, in the trials of life, that God actually sharpens us, matures us, sanctifies us, and prepares us for the call He is putting on our life.
So in our study of 1 Samuel, we've taken this chunk to look at a similar season in David's life. He's been anointed as the next king of Israel, but Saul is still reigning, right? That's the issue we see here. This creates years of difficulty, suffering, and trial for David. We've seen it over and over and over in the text, but God is in the hard parts. He's in the trials. He's using it to grow us and to perfect our faith.
Welcome to a Very "Gross" Passage
1 Samuel 18 is where we're going to be today. If you don't have a Bible with you today, we have house Bibles around the room—just look under the chairs. We really believe in the importance of access to God's Word here at Emmanuel Fellowship. If you don't own a physical Bible, I would strongly encourage you to take one.
Before we get into this text, I do just want to say: if you are visiting today, we are so glad you're here. You picked one of the top five weirdest texts of the Bible to visit today! I just want to pre-warn you—get ready, because this is very gross. We're about to read my contender for, like, maybe second-place grossest passage in all of the Bible. So welcome! We're glad you're here.
Last week, we saw David's meteoric rise out of obscurity with his defeat of the giant Goliath. You should have come last week—that was the famous one! This one's the weird one, but that was on you; you made that choice!
Anyway, last week David killed Goliath and we saw him rise out of obscurity. He went from being this unknown shepherd, this low-level servant in the court of Saul, to being probably the most well-known person in all of Israel next to King Saul himself.
And really, when we think about this, this really should have been David's moment. This was his rise, right? This is what should have started him down his path to the life he wanted. But it actually doesn't make David's life easier. In fact, this new state in his development of being known publicly is actually going to make his life incredibly difficult—significantly more difficult than his days herding sheep.
Integrity Will Always Beat Out Position
Today, we're going to see specifically how David's personal integrity is used by God to help him navigate this new and difficult life in the public eye, under the scrutiny of the King.
And I'm going to say something here that's incredibly obvious, but it's the kind of thing we have to say because it's so hard to live. And that's simply this:
Personal integrity will always beat out position.
100% of the time. Always. Integrity will always beat position.
The Scripture comes back to this idea over and over and over, and all of us intuit it on some level. Give me a guy who actually means what he says over a guy who just thinks he's a big deal! That's what everyone wants, right?
Yet even though we know that, even though we all intuit that, even though we all believe that, how difficult is it to actually live that? We all know how valuable integrity is, and yet it's incredibly hard to live with integrity.
That brings me to my main point today that I think we're going to see in this text. It's simply this:
Jesus fuels your integrity in this life.
I think that's what we're going to see over the course of this text—not just "look at David, he's a cool guy"—but we're going to see that it is Christ Himself, Jesus, who fuels our integrity.
Because I think this is a real issue for us, more so than we probably are willing to admit publicly. We know integrity matters. We see the hollowness of politicians, bosses, and celebrities who have all the attention but have self-serving hearts, right? We want to be people of integrity ourselves, but at a bone level, if we're willing to be honest, we know that that is just hard.
It's hard to be honest.
It's hard to be hard-working.
It's hard to be kind.
It's hard to be consistent, especially when we know no one is watching and there won't really be consequences.
When we're in our own seasons of obscurity, difficulty, and trial, we so easily justify slipping into selfishness and sin. Just trust me on that one—that's all of us.
Let me pray, and let's see what God might have for us in this text.
Jesus, we need You this morning. We need You to be our discipler. We need You to speak to us through Your text. Holy Spirit, we ask that You would just do the ministry You do: that You would challenge us, encourage us, and remind us; that You would draw life and gospel out of Your Word and meet our hearts in what we actually need today, so that each and every one of us could leave this space today having connected with You in a way that's real. Holy Spirit, move us closer to You. Move the needle in our heart, our life, and our faith that we might walk in greater security in You, that we might walk in faithfulness to You, and that we might be more like You. We need You to do it, Jesus; we cannot do it on our own. So we pray this in Your name. Amen.
The Song of Jealousy (1 Samuel 18:6–9)
To set us up before we read: remember what's going on here. David has literally just slain Goliath—the really famous story. It led to an absolute rout of the Philistines by the Israelite army. Now the triumphant Israelite army is making their way back to Saul's palace in Gibeah. David just went from being a mostly unknown shepherd and court worker to one of the most famous men in the whole country.
Saul would be foolish not to capitalize on this and draw David into his inner circle of warriors. Saul's own son, Jonathan, has built a deep, abiding connection with David and has sponsored him as a soldier in the army, pulling from his own equipment to outfit David. David is a royal warrior in every sense of the word.
Now, with the spoils of victory, the literal head of Goliath, and a whole lot of attention, David begins making his way alongside Saul and the rest of the army back to Gibeah and his new permanent home.
Starting in verse 6, read this:
As the troops were coming back, when David was returning from killing the Philistine, the women came out from all the cities of Israel to meet King Saul, singing and dancing with tambourines, with shouts of joy, with three-stringed instruments. As they danced, the women sang:
"Saul has killed his thousands,
but David his tens of thousands."
Saul was furious and resented the song. "They credit tens of thousands to David," he complained, "but they only credited me with thousands. What more could he have but the kingdom?" So Saul watched David jealously from that day forward.
To really get ourselves into this story, you have to remember something: this was not a normal border dispute. This campaign around Goliath was an intentional, destructive, and almost successful campaign by the Philistines to destroy Israel. By the time of the battle, they were a scant 15 miles away from Gibeah—right at the border of the capital! This was an existential threat to Israel that God saved them from through the bravery and faithfulness of David.
So when they're making their way back, everyone is really stoked. This is a time to celebrate! News of David's miraculous defeat of Goliath has spread ahead of the army, and the women come out singing David's praises alongside Saul.
Now, there's an interesting detail here: the phrase "Saul has killed his thousands, but David his tens of thousands" was almost certainly not meant as a dig at Saul. That figure of speech ("thousands and tens of thousands") is a well-attested parallelism in ancient Hebrew poetry and music. You see it inside and outside of Scripture (several Psalms use this exact phrasing).
The two lines were meant to go together as a couplet, not a contrast!
They are praising Saul for his victory, and alongside that, praising Saul for selecting and finding such a great warrior in David.
This is a celebration song meant to be accompanied by dancing and children running in the street!
Anyone listening in that moment would have heard this as praise and celebration: God has saved Israel, the king is amazing, and his general is amazing!
And Saul hates it.
He hates it! Rather than joining in what is obviously intended as celebration, he sees a rivalry in David: "Why are they crediting David with more kills than me?"
Think about how ridiculous this is for a moment: Saul is the king of Israel who has reigned for years, an elite trained warrior who has led Israel in countless battles and likely killed thousands of Philistines. At this point, David's kill count of Philistines is precisely one!
The song is obvious hyperbole, but Saul can't engage it that way. Saul sees it as competition.
This was supposed to be David's breakthrough moment. He was faithful, obedient, and brave when no one else was willing to trust God. He steps up, God works through him, and everyone sees it. But instead of a triumphant breakthrough, Saul instantly sees him as a rival and an enemy.
Things change for David forever. His shepherding days are over, but his days in Saul's court have changed too. He doesn't get to slip into the background as a music therapist or an intern anymore. The king's eye is on him, and things are about to get way harder.
Dodging Spears and Sidestepping Traps (1 Samuel 18:10–19)
Read on with me and let's see how bad this gets. Verse 10:
The next day an evil spirit sent from God came powerfully on Saul, and he began to rave inside the palace. David was playing the lyre as usual, but Saul was holding a spear and he threw it, thinking, "I'll pin David to the wall." But David got away from him twice.
Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with David, but had left Saul. Therefore Saul sent David away from him and made him a commander over a thousand men. David led the troops and continued to be successful in all his activities, because the Lord was with him. When Saul observed that David was very successful, he dreaded him. But all Israel and Judah loved David because he was leading their troops.
So Saul told David, "Here is my oldest daughter, Merab. I will give her to you as a wife if you will be a warrior for me and fight the Lord's battles." But Saul was thinking, "I don't need to raise a hand against him. Let the hand of the Philistines be against him."
Then David responded, "Who am I, and what is my family or my father's clan in Israel, that I should become the king's son-in-law?" And when it was time to give Saul's daughter Merab to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as a wife.
We see how this elevation in position actually goes for David: it goes nowhere. It's bad!
David tries to serve in his old role, playing music to soothe Saul, but Saul goes psycho and throws a spear at him. Notice that the text says he did this twice. That detail shows us two important things:
It was a supernatural miracle: Saul's palace in Gibeah was tiny—archaeological evidence shows his throne room was essentially a big living room! There is no easy way to dodge a spear thrown at close range at 90 miles an hour (military doctrine back then was to catch it on a shield or armor, not dodge it). David had no armor, no shield, and was holding a lyre. Dodging that spear twice was a miracle from God! Saul even notices this and realizes, "The Lord is with David."
David's heart for Saul: The fact that David dodged it twice means David didn't even run out of the room after the first spear was thrown! He was trying to help Saul, to soothe him. It took a second throw before David said, "Okay, I should leave!"
Saul doesn't want David in the palace anymore, so he makes him a captain over 1,000 troops and sends him out to the border.
(A brief side note: this is where David begins his transition from a shepherd boy to a warlord. We like to think of David as a king, general, or artist, but David spent the vast majority of his young life leading a independent band of soldiers to raid and pillage to support themselves. Understanding him as an ancient Near Eastern warlord makes sense of many of his decisions later in life!)
God blesses David in this role. He becomes incredibly successful, and the text says Saul began to dread David.
So Saul schemes: he offers his oldest daughter, Merab, to David as a wife. (Saul had already promised a daughter as a reward for killing Goliath, but hadn't delivered yet). Political marriages in the ancient Near East were strategic tools to gain massive wealth via a bride price or to secure political treaties.
Saul's hidden motive is: "I'll make him fight my border battles permanently, and eventually a Philistine arrow will take care of my David problem."
But David walks with humility and integrity. He says: "Who am I? My family isn't wealthy or influential. It wouldn't be right for me to marry the king's daughter." Even though marrying a princess would have elevated his status, David steps back out of integrity—and in doing so, he sidesteps a fatal trap!
There is almost a "Mr. Magoo" level of protection around David here!
Saul tries to kill him with a spear; David thinks, "Man, this guy's health is bad, I need to serve him better."
Saul sends him to the border to die; David becomes a brilliant warlord.
Saul offers his daughter to trap him; David says, "I'm not worthy," and steps out of the trap!
Through David's honesty and integrity, God protects him from tragedy.
How God Protects Us in Hardship
It's worth stopping to consider this truth: We have no idea how much God is actively protecting us outside of our knowledge. We have no idea how many times God goes ahead of us, behind us, and around us to protect us from traps and tragedy.
Many of us allow the pain of this world to harden our hearts and make us cynical: "I've been hurt, so I have to protect myself." But in David's life, we see him walking forward in faith and integrity, not assuming the worst—and God protects him in the midst of it.
God's protection didn't put David's life on "Easy Street"—he still faced trials, hardship, and suffering. But God sustained him through it.
Early in my life, when my wife Kim and I were engaged, I got laid off from my first ministry job. I had a degree in theology and thought I'd be a youth pastor at my home church forever. Suddenly, five months out from my wedding, I was delivering Chinese food part-time and filling out applications for government housing aid. I felt crushed. I had given God my "radical yes," and everything fell apart.
At the last minute, I got an interview for a youth ministry position in inner-city Salt Lake City working with youth gangs. Kim and I prayed and said, "Lord, we'll give You our yes. We'll move across the country into a dangerous neighborhood."
A week before we were supposed to fly out, they called and said, "Just kidding, we canceled your flight. We hired someone else." That was six weeks before my wedding day. I was crying in my car between Chinese food deliveries, calling one of my mentors.
My mentor told me: "When the big fish swallowed Jonah, Jonah thought he was dying. He thought it was a punishment. But it was actually God's salvation protecting him."
That same week, Kim shared our situation with a friend, who said, "I think my home church in Ballwin, Missouri is looking for a youth pastor."
That was the path God used to move my family to West County 15 years ago—to plant roots, walk with families for a decade and a half, see kids grow up, fall in love with Jesus, get married, and have kids of their own. I had no idea what God had in mind! God closed a door in a way that felt terrible at the time, but it was actually His protection and preparation.
God works in the midst of difficulty to protect and prepare you.
The 200 Foreskins (1 Samuel 18:20–30)
Now let's finish this text with one of the single grossest passages in the whole Bible. Verse 20:
Now Saul's daughter Michal loved David, and when it was reported to Saul, it pleased him. "I'll give her to him," Saul thought. "She'll be a trap for him, and the hand of the Philistines will be against him." So Saul said to David a second time, "You can now be my son-in-law."
Saul then ordered his servants, "Speak to David in private and tell him, 'Look, the king is pleased with you. All his servants love you. Therefore you should become the king's son-in-law.'"
Saul's servants reported these words directly to David, but he replied, "Is it trivial in your sight to become the king's son-in-law? I am a poor commoner."
The servants reported back to Saul... Then Saul replied, "Say this to David: 'The king desires no other bride price except a hundred Philistine foreskins to take revenge on his enemies.'" Actually, Saul intended to cause David's death at the hand of the Philistines.
When the servants reported these terms to David, he was pleased to become the king's son-in-law. Before the wedding day arrived, David and his men went out and killed two hundred Philistines. He brought their foreskins and presented them as full payment to the king to become his son-in-law. Then Saul gave his daughter Michal to David as his wife.
Saul realized the Lord was with David and that his daughter Michal loved him, and he became even more afraid of David. As a result, Saul was David's enemy from then on. Every time the Philistine commanders came out to fight, David was more successful than all Saul's officers, so his name became well known.
We are all mature adults in this room—we can do this!
Saul finds out his younger daughter, Michal, actually loves David. Perfect! This gives Saul another excuse for his scheme.
Because David said he couldn't afford a bride price, Saul sets a unique condition: 100 Philistine foreskins.
Why foreskins? Practically speaking, Israelites circumcised their infants. A foreskin was physical proof that the slain soldier was a Philistine enemy and not an Israelite. Gross? Yes. Effective proof? Yes.
Saul thinks sending David to kill 100 armed men in hand-to-hand combat will surely get him killed. But the scheme backfires completely! David thinks: "Kill Philistines? I've become surprisingly good at that! That's my job!"
David takes his 1,000 trained warriors, goes out, and doubles the order. He comes back with a bag of 200 Philistine foreskins, sets it down in the throne room (it probably squelched when he set it down!), and presents it to the king.
Contender for top ten grossest scenes in Scripture!
David is excited—he thinks he's honoring God, serving the king, and getting to marry the princess who loves him. But Saul is horrified. His plot failed, his daughter loves David, his son Jonathan is loyal to David, and David is more popular than ever.
From that day on, Saul views David not as a servant, soldier, or rival, but as an enemy.
Yet the theological context of the story remains: Saul sees David as an enemy, but God's Spirit is on David, blessing everything he does.
Jesus: The Fuel for Our Integrity
Here is the fundamental gospel truth of this scripture: David didn't short-circuit God's plan.
David knew he was anointed to be king, but he didn't grasp for power. He didn't try to force it. Instead, he walked forward with slow faith and integrity, choosing faithful service step-by-step, and God blessed and protected him.
This should draw your eyes directly to Christ.
Think of the life and ministry of Jesus. Jesus knew His calling and why the Father sent Him. But Christ didn't short-circuit the Father's plan.
When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness (offering Him food, fame, and authority over the kingdom on Satan's terms), Jesus rebuked him and chose to walk forward toward the cross.
Christ walked forward with perfect integrity and obedience—even when it was unimaginably hard—and God the Father worked through Him in power to bring about our salvation.
Paul describes this in Philippians 2:5–11:
Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be grasped or exploited. Instead, he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross.
For this reason, God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus's humility and integrity created the space where the Triune God worked out the redemption of the universe!
And Paul tells us: Adopt the same attitude.
The accomplished work of Jesus on the cross fuels our integrity.
We can't muster up perfect integrity on our own willpower. In our flesh, we do what is comfortable, what brings us pleasure, and what serves our selfishness.
But the cross frees us to live with true integrity because it secures our lives within a context of grace! Because Jesus defeated sin and death, your eternity is secure. You don't have to cut corners, cheat, manipulate, or grasp for power to protect yourself. You can trust God's timing.
Examining Our Own Hearts
Think of the areas of your own life that test your integrity:
Your Work Ethic: Whether in a classroom, boardroom, or warehouse—do you cut corners? Do you slide on reported hours? Or are you honest when no one is watching?
Your Sexual Ethics: Do you honor God with your thoughts, actions, and what you choose to watch?
Your Time: Do you redeem your time for the kingdom, or waste it away in anxiety and endless scrolling?
If you are quiet for a moment, you know the areas that test your integrity. You know the struggles you have and the sins you run back to because they're comfortable.
Put those areas right next to the cross of Christ today.
It doesn't matter if it's the first time or the 5,000th time—you can bring your failures, your selfishness, and your lack of integrity to Jesus and say: "I can't fix this on my own."
His response to your confession and repentance is grace, forgiveness, life, and restoration.
When Peter asked Jesus, "Should I forgive my brother seven times?" Jesus replied that we shouldn't even keep count. That is how Christ views you today! His grace never runs out.
Come to Him today. Find life, forgiveness, and redemption at the cross—and let His grace fuel your integrity from the inside out.
This sermon was preached at Immanuel Fellowship Church in Ellisville Missouri as part of our "Hard Mode" series within 1 Samuel, exploring David’s trials and growth from the time he was anointed King until he took the throne. For more resources on faith and Christian living, visit our website or connect with our community. You can email us at hello@ifcstl.com or call/text us at 636-431-4708
