In this episode of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack Hibbs delves into the profound truth about loving our enemies as illustrated through the Biblical narrative of David and Saul. Through examining the trials David faced, we uncover insights into how God uses adversities and opposition to refine our character and deepen our faith. As David exemplifies incredible grace under pressure, resisting the very human impulse for revenge, we are reminded of the power of humility and the freeing nature of forgiveness.
God uses enemies in our lives, people, to keep us humble and usable and open. Don’t get upset if you have an enemy. God will use them to hone your Christianity.
SPEAKER 02 :
This is Real Life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I’m David Jay, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God’s Word, the Bible. Fear does not have to control your life, not when Christ is at the center of it. This month, we’re featuring a powerful and deeply personal book, Living Fearless in Christ, by Hediyeh Miramadi. Once a devout follower of Islam and a high-level attorney in Washington, Hediyeh had everything except peace until she encountered the living Jesus. Choosing to follow him cost her everything, her career, her status, and her place in the world she once knew. But what she gained was far greater, freedom, identity, and a fearless faith that cannot be shaken. Her story will challenge you, encourage you, and remind you of the power of the gospel to transform lives. Living fearless in Christ is more than a testimony. It’s a call to bold surrender. Available for the month of February for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com, where real stories point you to real truth and real life in Christ. On today’s edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues his series called First Samuel and a message titled Loving Your Enemies. Samuel of the Old Testament was the last judge of Israel and the first of her prophets. So here in Chapter 24, we’ll consider how loving your enemies isn’t just a New Testament command given by Jesus, but a powerful Old Testament example of David’s life in the wilderness. Now, you see, David had the opportunity to take vengeance on King Saul, but he chose not to retaliate. Instead, he resisted the impulse to repay evil with evil by not taking God’s justice into his own hands. So today, Pastor Jack teaches that even though David was the one who was sinned against, he supported Saul by honoring him as God’s anointed king. There was no evil in David’s heart. And if you think about it, that’s an awesome response from a man after God’s own heart. Now with his message called Loving Your Enemies, here’s pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.
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I read a little thing the other day. Somebody sent it to me. I hope I get this right. This little boy wanted to pray. He heard his family praying. He wanted to try it for the first time. And he said something like this. He said, God, I’m asking that you would help me, that you would forgive me of the trash that I passed and those that have passed trash about me. Instead of trespass against me, who passed trash. Forgive me for my passing the trash and those that have passed trash about me. Isn’t that right? I mean, that’s it. Passing trash. What do you do with those people? You gotta forgive them. And in doing so, we’re walking like Jesus. David’s learning this. And what a beautiful thing that we see here. He’s troubled by that. He’s troubled by it. He’s got to deal with it. Loving your enemy is allowing yourself to be troubled when you put them down, when you talk them down, when you’re rude to them. The Holy Spirit will speak to you and say, uh-uh, like David of old, I’m speaking to you. They may be treating you this way, but you are not to act that way. It’s so easy for us as humans to say, well, she’s this way to me, so I’m going to be that way back. That’s the world. And that’s not the thing to do. Verses 8 to 15. Loving your enemy. What does it look like? Well, how about this? What loving your enemy does. Not only what it looks like, and we’re seeing that in David’s life, but what loving your enemy does. This is a powerful thing, people. I want to share a few things as we get into this. What loving your enemy does by action. The first thing we see here in verse 8 is this, that it sets us free as we move in humility. It sets us free. It’s an action. If we’re going to be loving our enemy, it’s going to be an action. You can try to convince yourself, well, I love my enemy. I’m going to obey Jesus. I love him. They’ll never know that. We’re going to see how God will touch David’s heart to communicate to Saul that David does love him in the Lord. Did you hear what I said? David does love Saul in the Lord. In other words, David’s loving Saul for Jesus’ sake. Sometimes that’s all it comes down to. Did you know that? Sometimes that’s the way it has to be. I tell you, hold your place right here and, well, no, write it down. We don’t have the time. Go look at Romans chapter 12, verses 9 to 21. Wow. About loving your enemies? Paul picks up where Jesus was speaking and Paul says, listen, not only love those that are against you and speak against you, but listen, and we get this all wrong. He says, in so doing, you’ll heap coals of fire upon their head. You say, yeah, what verse is that? That sounds cool. I don’t have any coals of fire, but can I use a shotgun? That’s not what it means. Coals of fire. It’s to take the fire from your hearth and your home that’s cooking your food, giving light to your family, warming your home, to take part of that fire from your house, put it in the specially woven basket that they transferred fire in on top of your head, go to your neighbor’s house who the guy can’t stand you, and say, I notice your house is dark. Are you freezing? Yeah, we’re cold. What do you care? I just noticed it was dark in here. What are you doing on my porch? What? I’m just giving you some fire for your house. Here, here’s the basket. The guy pours it into his hearth, gets a fire going. He can cook food, warm his family, have light, hand you back the basket. And that’s how you win friends and influence people. You do that to an enemy. Do you have an enemy? Target them with things like that. Bless them. Listen, it’s a lot of fun. Bless them. It’ll drive them nuts. You see something, you know, look at this. This is really cute. Boy, this is really nice. Buy two. One for you and one for them. Say, you know what? Hey, hey, neighbor. Everyone’s got a neighbor, right? You got a neighbor that’s got an insane dog or something that, you know, everyone’s got a problem there. A tree hanging in your yard. Hey, this chainsaw was on sale at Home Depot. I bought two. No, but you know what I mean. You bless the guy, and it’s like, what are you doing this for? Well, look, we’ve had our differences, and I’ve probably been a pretty miserable Christian witness to you, but this was the right thing to do. I’ll talk to you later. Walk away. Romans 12, verse 18, it says, as much as it is possible, live peaceable with all people. Don’t you love the practicality of the Bible? That means there’s some people that when you see them, it’s like, what are you doing here? Hi, how’s it going? That’s all it should be. As much as it is possible, live at peace with all. Even in the body of Christ, there’s some people, you just don’t get along. Just be cordial, be Christ-like. You don’t have to sit down next to them, put your arm around them and say, well, how was your summer? You guys are like gasoline and fire. It just doesn’t work. In the Lord, pray for them. In the Lord, love them. But walk in wisdom. You’re brothers and sisters. You’ll be in heaven together. But right now, you do have this personality. It just doesn’t work. Now, let me make this clear. I’m not talking about a husband and wife here tonight. I see some ladies going… No, I’m not encouraging you. I’m talking about brothers and brothers or brothers and sisters in the Lord and you just don’t get along. You say something and they take it wrong. You know those kind of relationships? It’s like, I didn’t even mean that. Let’s just agree to say hi to each other, okay? And we’ll talk in heaven when all that stuff’s out of us.
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No, really.
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It frees us up. Sets us free. It says in verse 8, David also arose afterward and went out of the cave and called out to Saul. Man, this is humility, isn’t it? This is humble. Saying, my Lord the King. And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face down toward the earth and bowed down.
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Wow.
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David knew he was in the flesh and now he’s in the faith. He’s obeying the Lord now. God uses enemies in our lives, people, to keep us humble and usable and open. Don’t get upset if you have an enemy. God will use them to hone your Christianity. Someone, I don’t remember the name of the book, but it has some sort of a title. It’s been out for 20, 30 years. It’s Loving Your Irregular Person. Isn’t that a nice way of putting it? Who’s that? Well, that’s my regular person. Well, ask the Lord to give you love for this person and then act upon it. Do the right thing and you’ll be free. That step of obedience, Christian, will accomplish for you what no therapist, doctor, drug, or vacation could ever achieve for you. And I’m telling you, it’s a powerful thing. Not only that, look at verses 9 through 11. What loving your enemy does in an action powerful in a verb way, because love is a verb, it establishes your heart as you speak the truth in love. David said to Saul, why do you listen to the words of men who say? Listen to him speak to Saul. Indeed, David seeks your harm. Look, this day your eyes have seen that the Lord delivered you today into my hand in the cave, and someone urged me to kill you. Do you see the powers at play? Someone told Saul, David’s out to get you. Then on David’s side of the camp, one of his men say, kill him now. You know, now’s the moment. It must be from God. It looked right. But David has seen the Lord’s will here. But my eyes spared you. And I said, I will not stretch out my hand against my Lord, for he is the Lord’s anointed. Stop right there. Mark it in your Bible. This is an awesome thing. David is calling Saul the Lord’s anointed. David is defending Saul’s position. So what? It would be wrong for a man to defend his own position stating this passage or verse. It goes back to what we said earlier. Don’t defend yourself. Let God defend you. So what are you saying?
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Okay, it would be nuts. It would be wrong.
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If Saul said, hey David, you can’t touch me. I’m the Lord’s anointed. You don’t have to speak that of yourself. Years ago, I had somebody tell me, you can’t, you can’t tell me that. I said, well, you’re wrong what you’re doing. That’s wrong. What you’re doing is wrong. I can show you in the Bible. It’s wrong what you’re doing. You can’t tell me that. I just told you that. I just told you that. It’s here in the Bible. What you’re doing is wrong. You should be ashamed of yourself. Have you not read that you shall not touch the Lord’s anointed? That’s what this person said to me. Well, yeah, but you’re not supposed to say it about yourself. David said it about Saul. And the truth is, I’m rebuking you according to the scripture. What you’re doing is wrong. You’re ripping people off. You shouldn’t do it. You’re touching the Lord’s anointed.
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Isn’t that weird? David is supporting Saul. David’s the one who sinned against. David’s the one who’s been attacked. David comes out defending Saul’s position. Saul, I’m sorry.
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I acted like a fool. I bow in humility. I confess. I cut the hem of your garment off. If I had evil in my heart, would I not have killed you then? I’m not going to touch the Lord’s anointed. If Saul ever needed an endorsement from David, he got it.
SPEAKER 01 :
You’re listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. To learn more about this ministry or to catch up on some previous episodes, go to jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. And now let’s get back to today’s message. Once again, here’s Pastor Jack.
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Saul viewed David as his enemy. And yet such a view cannot stand because now Saul is hearing his, quote, enemy saying, I will not touch you ever again. You’re the Lord’s anointed. This is powerful, people. This is how we deal with enemies. This is a lesson for all of us. I love them. Verse 11, moreover, my father, see… Yes, see the corner of your robe in my hand.
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Wow.
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For in that I cut off the corner of your robe and I did not kill you. Know and see that there is neither evil nor rebellion in my hand. And I have not sinned against you, yet you hunt my life to take it. Notice here that the more spiritual one, David, is honoring the position of the less spiritual one. Isn’t that true in our walk with Jesus? Doesn’t Jesus show us more honor than we often show him? And we’re the sinners. Isn’t that funny? He’s the one who saved us, yet he loves us more. Shouldn’t we love him more than he loves us? But it’s impossible because the one who loves us the most and loves us first is the one who sacrificed himself. Ladies and gentlemen, listen up. The one who is more spiritual will be the one connecting the bridge or building the bridge back together. If any of you are in a relationship or you’re dating somebody or you’re engaged to somebody or whatever the case might be, and you know, they’re so sweet, they’re so cute, but man, he sure can’t say, I’m sorry. He’ll do anything. He’ll send me a box of chocolates, but he won’t say sorry. I just want you to know that you’re dating a really proud person. And it’s a precursor to a lot of bumps up ahead. The person who understands more their relationship with God and is in tune with their communication with God will settle the accounts usually by sundown. Because in the morning when you wake up and you have not dealt with your relationships, in the morning when you wake up, those relationships are a thousand miles away. Any of you are married and you went to bed and you didn’t settle the agreement and you wake up, you feel a thousand miles away. You know what I’m talking about, it’s bizarre. It’s a spiritual thing, that’s why. Very powerful. Establish your heart as you speak the truth in love. And keep this in mind also, the one who sinned against my friend, is always the one who pays the price. The one who is sinned against is the one who always pays the price for their relationship. Did you know that? You say, well, that’s not fair. Oh, you’re darn tootin’, that’s not fair. Fair about it. Redemption and salvation is not fair. The one who’s holy, sinless, and pure… comes down here to this mud hole of a planet to die for a bunch of people who can’t give him anything in return. He pays the price to set us free. We sinned against him, but it was his sacrifice. The one who sinned against. If a wife is unfaithful to the husband, but she comes back, who pays the price? The husband pays the price. The children pay the price. She’s forgiven. She’s reestablished. If a man cheats on his wife and he comes back home, who pays the price? The wife pays the price. The kids pay the price. The one who is sinned against always pays the price. It’s life. And it’s the way that God has established redemption. The innocent always is sacrificed for the wicked. Next time you think, you know, well, that’s not fair. Thank God he’s not fair. Because if he was fair, he’d throw us into hell. He’s beyond fair. He’s better than fair. Verses 12 to 15. Are we going to make it? No? Verses 12 to 15. I’ll just read this and you can write it down. We’ll go home. What loving your enemy does, verses 12 to 15, it reveals the depth of true spirituality. Let the Lord judge between you and me. And let the Lord avenge me on you. Hey, if God’s out to do something, let God do it is what he’s saying. But my hand shall not be against you. As the proverb of the ancients says, wickedness proceeds from the wicked. In other words, we would say today, examine the fruit of someone’s life. But my hand shall not be against you, David says. After whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? A dead dog? A flea? Therefore, let the Lord be judge and judge between you and me and see and plead my case and deliver me out of your hand. Instead of sticking out their chest and arguing with each other, let’s let God be God in this. Let’s let God be the judge of our relationship. Keep going on this. Third and final point, verses 16 to 22, what loving your enemy confirms? A few things. Number one, that you’re witnesses of God. When you love your enemies, there’s probably no greater testimony that you’re connected to God. Verse 16, so it was when David had finished speaking these words to Saul that Saul said, is this your voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. He’s a mess, isn’t he? So emotionally whacked out, poor man. Then he said to David, you are more righteous than I. That’s true. For you have rewarded me with good, whereas I have rewarded you with evil. His emotional tide up and down. Saul has always been an emotional man, driven by emotionalism. Verses 18 to 19, we learn that your intentions are of God. When you’re loving your enemy, it confirms that your intentions are of God. Verse 18 and 19, it says, And you have shown this day how you have dealt with me. For when the Lord delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me. For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him get away safely? Therefore, may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. Saul is speaking truth there. How did he ever come to admit such a thing? By the righteous intentions of David here. Acted out, shown in love, displayed. People, we preach a sermon by what we say, and it lasts for about an hour. It’s how we live our lives. That’s the message that people will remember. And then finally, verses 20 to 22, what loving your enemy confirms is that your calling is from God. Who’s the real king around here anyway, right? Saul or David? Which one would you pick after reading just up to these 24 chapters? You don’t have to think about it. Who’s called to the kingdom to be the king? Obviously, David, you can see God working in his life. And now I know indeed, this is Saul speaking, that you shall surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. Therefore, swear now to me by the Lord that you will not cut off my descendants after me. and that you will not destroy my name from my father’s house. So David swore to Saul, and Saul went home. But David and his men went up to the strongholds. It’s where they stayed. Why? How come David didn’t go back to Jerusalem? Everybody made up. They kissed and hugged and sent, you know. Everything’s fine. David knows Saul. His emotions will change probably before he gets home. And they will. Loving your enemies. It’s a power that you possess if the Holy Spirit dwells within you. And God will call us. And he’s calling us.
SPEAKER 02 :
pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio, and his message called Loving Your Enemies. Thanks for being with us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack’s series called First Samuel, a series that highlights the prophet Samuel, who was called by God during one of Israel’s darkest times to bring the people back to a heart of true worship. And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hey, everybody, on February 11th, that’s a Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Pacific time, I’m going to invite you to sit down with me as I interview Hedia Miramadi. She was once a Muslim, born and raised in the Islamic world. Having heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, came to know the Lord. We’re going to sit down and talk about the world around us, about faith, and about our country. So join us Wednesday, February 11th at 7 p.m. Pacific time on The Real Life Network. Go to reallifenetwork.com.
SPEAKER 02 :
This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in His Word. We’ll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.
