Lent 5 - Judica [ 20:11 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is the sermon for the Fifth Sunday in Lent (Judica). The sermon text is: 1 Sam 26:5-14. The sermon theme is: Deliver Us From Evil. Here is the Written Sermon

Deliver Us From Evil

Deliver us from Evil. We speak those words almost every Sunday. And for many of us, if we say that as our evening prayer, we speak those words even more. But what do they mean? What do those words look like in our every-day life? Today is Judica Sunday. Judica means “judge! vindicate! bring justice! bring judgement!” And in the words we look at this morning we see why a person would pray that pray at all and what a Christian’s life looks like. In 1 Samuel 26 we read: “Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of my spear; I won’t strike him twice.” But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless? As surely as the Lord lives,” he said, “the Lord himself will strike him; either his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed.” (1 Samuel 26:8–11 NIV)

Sunday after Sunday we pray “Deliver us from evil.” And this might seem like a very mundane point to speak about, but in reality it’s an extremely important point. In that short prayer who is it that we are praying will deliver us from evil? Are we praying that God would let us deliver ourselves from evil—or is it that we are praying that God himself would be the one to deliver us?

You see, David understood this. Here he is, in the middle of Saul’s camp. He could kill Saul and deliver himself. And if the temptation is in his brain, then how much worse is it to hear if from the lips of the guy right next to him? Abishai offers to even do it for him.

But what does David do? He says ‘no.’ The Lord himself chose Saul to be king. The Lord set up Saul and his reign as a legitimate kingdom. David knew that in this area of his life, if he took matters into his own hand—if he tried to deliver himself, he would be sinning against the Lord.

“Deliver us from Evil” does not mean that we get to deliver ourselves by killing others in rebellion. Out of all the 50 states we here in Pennsylvania should understand this most of all. If you go out to Gettysburg, go and see the battleground. But then, after that, go across the field to the Seminary. And if you go into the library, you’ll see this massive painting. It’s a painting of a pastor finishing up a sermon. With his lips he says “a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.” (Ecclesiastes 3:8 NIV) And with his hands he tears off his pastor’s robe—and what’s underneath? Underneath his robe is an officer’s uniform. Peter Muhelenberg became an officer in the American Revolutionary army.

At the Gettysburg seminary they have this massive painting in their library because they are proud of Peter Muhelenberg. They want you to think that he was the model of what a true American Christian should look like. But what you won’t hear about at Gettysburg is the story of Peter’s father. Peter’s father was Henry Melchior Muhelenberg. He is often considered the father of American Lutheranism. When Henry heard that his son, Peter had become an officer in a rebellion, it caused him such grief and agony. And he had to publicly condemn his son’s actions. For Peter had chosen to be American at the expense of being Lutheran. He had chosen to be Abishai, not David. He had chosen to pray “Dear Lord, let me deliver myself from evil”, not “Deliver me from evil.”

My brothers and sisters, learn from this. There are times, in very limited ways, when we can get ourselves out of trouble. If we’re speeding on the highway, we can slow down. If we’re going to flunk a test in school—and we know it, we can study more. But there are many areas where we have no control. And we don’t get to break God’s law and God’s word to deliver ourselves. Learn from these examples. For there will be times in your life when the world, just like Abishai, will be ever-so-willing to give you the lesser of two evils. And there have been many, many times we have chosen the lesser sin, thinking that it would bring about greater good. But sin only brings about one thing: more evil.

In these words in 1 Samuel 26, David confronts Saul and speaks to him. For just as he doesn’t have the right to deliver himself by killing Saul’s body, so also he doesn’t have the right to deliver himself by killing Saul’s reputation. At the end of the conversation David concludes with these words: “The Lord delivered you into my hands today, but I would not lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed. As surely as I valued your life today, so may the Lord value my life and deliver me from all trouble” (1 Samuel 26:23–24 NIV)

David say the word “may.” “May the Lord value me. May the Lord deliver me.” That word sounds so wimpy in english, doesn’t it? This prayer that David speaks is a challenge to the Lord. This prayer is a reminder to God. You see, when David said “let the Lord deliver me” he realized that it wasn’t just a prayer. It was also a promise. It was also a statement of trust that the Lord would do what he promised to do.

And if “deliver us from evil” isn’t just a prayer, but it’s also a promise, then what does God’s deliverance look like? Just exactly how does the Lord deliver us from evil?

As we look throughout God’s word, we find three ways in which God works. First, he can directly and boldly take evil away from us. When there is an evil in your life that you do not have the strength to bear. And let’s face it, it’s hard to think of an evil that we can face on our own. When this happens, you pray “Deliver us from evil.” And how does the Lord answer that prayer? He can simply take it away. You don’t know how he does it. He just does it.

The second way he delivers us is by delivering us in spite of evil. This is what happened in David’s life. David ran from Saul for years and years.¹ He was constantly at risk from being killed by Saul. But here’s the great irony. Spiritually speaking, this was his best time. Spiritually speaking, this was when he was closest to his Lord. It was only after his kingdom was firmly established and he had peace from most of his enemies that he committed adultery with Bathsheba.

The Lord delivers us in spite of evil. David’s life teaches us, doesn’t it? Satan brings evil into our lives and uses it to destroy us. And the Lord uses these pressures, these crosses, these evils to move us to cling to him and trust in him.

So, our Father delivers us from evil by delivering us from evil. He delivers us by delivering us in spite of evil. And finally, he delivers us by delivering us through evil. In these words we look at David. In these words we see a man who would not take matters into his own hands to deliver himself. And we see what happened. He reigned and had a long life and then died.

But David had a friend—a best friend. His friend’s name was Jonathon. And they had the same heart and the same faith. When Saul tried to pin David to the wall with a spear, David did not kill Saul. And when Saul tried to do the same to Jonathon, just like David, he too didn’t kill his father. Jonathon did what was right. He did not take a shortcut by rebelling. And what did it get him? He died along with his father on a bloody, messy battlefield on Mount Gilboa.

Where was the Lord’s deliverance that day? Where was the Lord valuing Jonathon’s life that day? Do you see? The Lord delivered Jonathon through the evil. So Jonathon died on that Philistine field of blood. But then where was he? He was in heaven. And now he’s still there. He’s there with righteous Abel. He’s there with faithful David.

And so the Lord delivers us. He delivers us from evil. He delivers us in spite of evil. And he delivers us through evil. But, my brothers and sisters, let us not forget, especially in this time of Lent, that there was a cost. There have been many times that we thought we could deliver ourselves from evil by taking evil into our own hands. There have been many times we have thought of rebellion either against our government or against our God—or both. But who is the one who paid the price of our rebellion? Yes, exactly, Jesus is. Jesus delivered us from evil by enduring the evil of hell in your place. Jesus delivered us from death by dying in your place.

This fact brings us so much sadness. But along with, and even more so, let there be joy as well. For Sunday after Sunday, we say “Deliver us from evil.” That is our prayer. And because Jesus endured hell and death in your place, the prayer is also now Christ’s promise to you. He will deliver you. He will deliver you from evil and in spite of evil and even through evil. Amen.

¹ “David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years.” (2 Samuel 5:4 NIV)