an outline of david's life - blank...
TRANSCRIPT
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THE LIFE OF DAVID
Sermon 1
Copyright 1998 by Bob Marcaurelle 1 Sam. 16:1, 1
Kn. 9:4
AN OUTLINE OF DAVID'S LIFE
A. THE SHEPHERD YEARS (To Late Teens)
I. His Selection As King (1 Sam. 16:1-13)
2. His Strength As A Shepherd (16:18; 17:36-37)
3. His Service For Saul (16:14-23)
B. THE SOLDIER YEARS (To Age 30)
1. As A Fighter For Israel (17:1 - 19:17)
2. As a Fugitive In Israel (19:18 - 2 Sam. 1)
C. THE SOVEREIGN YEARS (To Age 70)
1. King of Judah - 7 1/2 Years (2 Sam. 2-4)
2. King of All Israel - 32 ½ Years
(2 Sam. 5- 1; Kn. 2)
Life of David Sermon 1
WANTED - PEOPLE LIKE DAVID
"The Lord said in Samuel. . . be on your way; I am
sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his
sons to be king.”. . . (The Lord said to Solomon)". . . walk
before me in integrity of heart and uprightness, as David
your father did.”
(1 Sam. 161;1 Kn.
9:4)
Today we begin a study of the life of David. And a more
appropriate study could not be made at this hour in church
history. The reason is, God seems to be working in the hearts of
men, helping them see the need and find the courage to stand up
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boldly as followers of the Lord. Athletes and public figures are
openly proclaiming their faith. Organizations like "Promise
Keepers” fill vast stadiums with men who want a challenge from
the Lord and do not care if the world knows it.
Who better than to look at than David? He was a man's man -
the one who stood up to and killed Goliath while others only
trembled before him (1 Kn. 17). And yet he had a tender side.
He played the harp and wrote hymns (1 Kn. 16) and he cried
unashamedly while his baby was sick (2 Sam. 11) and when
Absalom, his son, died (2 Sam. 18). Samuel called him a man
after God's "own heart” (1 Sam. 13:14). The TEV translates
this, "The kind of man he (God) wants.” Paul, preaching in
Antioch said, "he served God's purpose in his own
generation” (Acts 13:36). In other words, he lived by God's
will which is what all of us are called to do.
I. THE STORY OF DAVID (1 Sam. 17-1; Kn. 2)
In many respects when we look at David's life we look in a mi
rror. He is in so many ways a man just like us. The man who
wears a crown hurts and hungers just like the man who plows his
fields. David starts out young and strong (1 Sam. 17-18) taking
on lions, bears, and giants, but he dies old and cold in his bed (I
Kn. 2). How quickly we can read David's life! How quickly
David lived his life. We see in him how short life really is and
the truth of these lines. "Only one life, 'twill soon be past,
Only what's done for God will last."
1. The Shepherd Years (1 Sam. 16; 17:36-37)
David, the great-grandson of Ruth and Boaz (Ruth 4:12), the
eighth son of Jesse, who lived in the beautiful village of
Bethlehem, turned to God when he was a boy. He was a little
boy keeping the sheep when God looked at his heart (1 Sam.
16:7) and sent Samuel to anoint him as the next king (1 Sam.
16:1). As the song we just heard said, "When others saw a
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shepherd boy, God saw a king."
Anointed by the Holy Spirit, David grew strong and
handsome. He grabbed lions and bears who stole his sheep and
beat them to death (17:34-37). And when Saul was driven insane
by his sins and needed a musician to calm him, his servants
recommended David and said, "The Lord is with him” (16:18).
What a tribute for a teenage boy.
2. The Soldier Years (1 Sam. 17 - 2 Sam. 1)
Life changed suddenly for David one day when as an older
teen he took a lunch to his soldier brothers. He heard a Philistine
giant making fun of Israel's soldiers because they were afraid to
fight him. He saw it as an insult to God, took the giant on and
killed him with his slingshot. From then on he was a public
figure. The next 10-12 years he was a soldier, first as the
honored fighter for Israel, when he won battle after battle against
the Philistines (1 Sam. 17:1 - 19:17). How many years this was
we do not know. But it all came to an end when Saul, jealous of
him from the beginning, was bound and determined to kill him.
David ran away in the night and for years became a hunted
fugitive in Israel (1 Sam. 19:18 - 2 Sam. 1).
Here, my friends, we encounter the strange and the sorrow
filled ways of God. When David the boy felt the oil of God's
anointing, he must have said, "Thank you God!” When David,
the teen, grabbed a lion and killed it in the power of God, he
must have said, "Thank you God!” When David, the older teen
saw Goliath at his feet, and David, the young man heard all Israel
sing his praises, he must have said, "Thank you God! This
Christianity stuff is all right!” But now when his new wife slips
him out a window and he is on the run for years, the question is:
What will he say now? Thank you God! Or get me out of here!
God taught him in the school of hard knocks.
3. The Sovereign Years (2 Sam. 2 - 1 Kn. 2)
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When Saul and Jonathan died in battle, David, at age 30,
became king, first in the South for 7 ½ years, and then over all
the land for 32 ½ more. In these years he saw tremendous
growth, great sin in his life, troubles in his home and civil war in
his nation. He died and handed the throne to his son Solomon.
II. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DAVID
(1 Sam. 13:14; 1 Kn. 9:4, 11:44; Acts 13:22)
1. The Title Given Him (1 Sam. 13:14; Acts 13:22)
These are the bare facts, but oh what a man who lived them.
His title in Scripture is, "A man after God's own heart” used first
by Samuel in 1 Sam. 13:14 and quoted by Paul in his first
recorded sermon in Acts 13:22. Paul said God said, "1 have
found David, son of Jesse, A MAN AFTER MY OWN HEART; he
will do everything I want him to do.” (Acts 13:22). A man
after God's own heart! Listen to the translations of this: ". . . the
man he (God) wants” (LB). . . "the kind of man he wants”
(TEV). . . "A man in harmony with him” (BERKELEY).
2. The Testimony About Him
(1 Kn. 9:4, 11:46, 38; Acts 13:22)
God had faith in David; the question is, was he faithful? Did
he live up to God's expectations? According to God Himself he
did. When Solomon stood in the new Temple he had built, God
appeared to him there and said, ". . . walk before me in
integrity of heart and uprightness, AS DAVID YOUR
FATHER DID” (1 Kn. 9:4). Solomon failed to do this and God
tells us why in 1 Kn. 11:4,6:". . .his heart was not FULLY
DEVOTED to the Lord his God, as the HEART OF DAVID
HIS FATHER HAD BEEN. . .he did not follow the LORD
COMPLETELY AS DAVID HIS FATHER HAD DONE.”
(1 Kn. 11:4, 6). When Jeroboam took over for Solomon God
said, "If you do whatever I command you and walk in my
ways and do what is right by keeping my statutes and
commands, AS DAVID MY SERVANT DID, I will be with
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you” (1 Kn. 11:38). In other words, when David's life's work
was done, God said, "Bravo! Well done, my good and faithful
servant!” (See Mt. 25:21).
III. THE SINFULNESS OF DAVID
(1 Sam. 25,30; 2 Sam. 11; 1 Kn. 2:8-9)
Honesty compels me to admit that one of the hardest
Scriptures for me to understand is David being called God's kind
of man. Why? Because David was downright savage and sinful.
It's not enough to say he wasn't perfect. He was anything but.
He wanted to kill a man's entire family when the man insulted
his men (1 Sam. 25). He promised not to kill a man who insulted
him (2 Sam. 19:16) and then, on his deathbed told Solomon to
do it (1 Kn. 2:8-9). When the Amalekites stole his people, he
caught them and killed every man, woman, child and animal (1
Sam. 30). And we all know how he committed adultery with
Bathsheha and then had her husband killed to hide his sin (2
Sam. 11).
How then could God look at him and say "Well done!” or "This
was a man after my own heart!” It's a difficult question. We
will answer it as we go through his life. We must remember
these sins are isolated instances in a seventy -year life of
faithfulness. Thank God our Heavenly Father does not judge us
in the low moments of life when we are not at our best. Also,
David's sin broke David's heart as Ps. 51 tells us. And again,
David was always praying, seeking and struggling to do better.
Stephen Olford says the person who lives close to God has a life
in which "the moral struggle has been most faithfully
maintained.” Sin was in David's life as it is in yours and mine,
but to him it was an intruder to be put out, a burden to be lifted,
an enemy to be killed, a dirty place to be cleansed, an enemy to
be conquered.
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Conclusion: There's a big difference between LIVING IN
SIN and committing isolated acts of sin in low and weak
moments. Chuck Swindoll tells of the man and woman who
drove into a fried chicken place. The owner had the habit of
putting the day's receipts into a chicken box when he left, to fool
would-be robbers. Well, you guessed it . He gave the man the
box of money by mistake. When the man and woman got out to
lover's lane to eat and then make out, they opened the box and
saw the money. They drove back to the store and returned it.
The owner was dumbfounded over such honesty. He wanted to
call the TV station and report it but the man refused. He kept
insisting until finally the man leaned over and said, "You can't do
it. THIS WOMAN I'M WITH IS NOT MY WIFE.” He lived in
sin.
Illustration: When I preached this sermon I used stock car
racer Jeff Gordon as an example of a brave, strong, handsome,
successful young man who, like David, is not ashamed to profess
his faith publicly. He did it at Promise Keepers last year and
when he won the Daytona 500 last month. Now, before I wrote
the message, an article came out in a local paper telling how an
audio scanner had picked up Jeff Gordon using curse words
talking to his crew. I hope it isn't true. But even if it is, this does
not necessarily disqualify him as a man of God. We don't have
to write him off as a phony (as I was tempted to do when I heard
it). The question is - is this something he hates, is ashamed of
and is working and praying to overcome? If so, then right now,
at this time in his life, he can he a man after God's own heart,
seeking to be and do better. It all depends on what kind of heart
he has.
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The Shepherd Years
Sermon 2
1. The Selection of David I Sam. 16:1-2
(I Sam. 16:1-13)
A DEFEATED CHAMPION
"The Lord said to Samuel, 'How long will you mourn for
Saul, since I have rejected him as being over Israel? Fill
your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to
Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.’
” (16:1)
I. The Selection of David (16:1-13)
1) The Sorrow of Samuel (16:1-2)
2) The Sending of Samuel (1-5)
3) The Seven Sons Rejected (6-10)
4) The Selection of David (11-12)
5) The Spirit On David (13)
1) The Sorrow of Samuel (16:1-2). Joe Louis was a great
heavyweight boxing champion in and out of the ring. He lost
some fights, but no one beat him twice. He made the mistake of
fighting way past his prime. When Rocky Marciano ended his
career by knocking him through the ropes, be turned his back as
Louis went down. A sportswriter misread it as contempt but
Marciano said, "No. Joe Louis was my hero and I didn't want to
see a champion go down that way.”
That is what we see in our text - a champion in the dirt.
Samuel, the man who singlehandedly brought Israel out of the
distressing days of the Judges, was now a beaten man. He was in
the midst of prolonged grief over God's rejection of King Saul.
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I. THE REASONS FOR GRIEF (16:1)
1. The Spiritual and Natural Reasons. It is all right to cry.
It is all right for men to cry as we will see in David's life. But
sometimes sorrow and grief and tears are wrong and this was one
of those times. Now HUMANLY SPEAKING Samuel had every right
to be depressed. A rebel sat on the throne, a man so dominated
by sin that he would kill anyone God anointed as a new king
(16:2). Thus God rejected him and planned to replace him (1
Sam. 15). Israel’s enemies were poised and ready to come in and
overthrow the nation the moment Saul was deposed. Samuel
looked at the church situation and the world situation and just
wanted to stick his head in the sand and have a pity party. Can't
we do the same? Crime is out of control. Pornography on the
Internet is called free speech. Babies are being murdered every
day. And the church, with all its noisy meetings, is as weak as
water. The latest edition of "The Barna Report” shows the sorry
state of the church, especially when it comes to MEN who claim
to be born again (1/3 of the population). Only 28% go to church,
47% believe in absolute truths, 55% believe in differences in
eternity, 28% believe in hell. It's enough to make all of us in the
church throw up our hands in disgust and defeat and give up.
2. Personal Reasons (I Sam. 8:3; Ch. 12). Samuel also had
personal reasons to he down. First was the failure of his sons
(8:3). He, like every dad, wanted them to follow in his footsteps,
and walk in the way of God, appointed them as judges but (the
Bible says they accepted bribes and were very corrupt (8:3).
Only a parent knows how much he saw himself as a failure. He
would not he the first or the last preacher to say with Solomon,
they "made me take care of the vineyards; my own vineyard
I have neglected" (Song Sol. 1:6).
Second, was the favoritism shown to Saul (Ch. 12). When the
people clamored for a king, to give them protection from their
enemies, Samuel took it very personally. He saw it as them
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saying, "Old man, we don't need you anymore.” It's hard to be
on the outside looking in but it seems that's the way Samuel felt
from the day Saul arrived. These are the reasons, now we have. .
.
II. THE REBUKING OF GRIEF (16:1-2)
1. The Depletion of Faith (Ex. 15; I Sam. 13:14).
The words "How long?” show God's displeasure with His
champion. Why? Because he had his eyes on the problems and
not on the Problem Solver. He forgot THE WORD. He, by
worrying about what was going to happen to Israel, had forgotten
about the God of Israel, revealed in Scripture, who buried the
Egyptian army in the Red Sea (Ex. 14); kept Israel safe in the
wilderness (Numbers); and cast out the Canaanites (Joshua). He
forgot his own WORDS (13:14). When he knew God had
rejected Saul, he preached him a sermon. He said, “. . .your
kingdom will not endure; the Lord has SOUGHT OUT (It
was a done deal!) a man after His own heart and appointed
him leader of his people” (1 Sam. 13:14). Samuel had
preached that God was in control, now he was living as though
He wasn't.
Illustration: Spurgeon was subject to deep periods of
depression. Once, when he felt he just couldn't go on he asked
his wife to read him some passages from the Puritan preachers he
loved. She read to him from a sermon and God took the words
and rekindled the fire in his soul. Joyful because of a word from
God, from the words of a man, he said, "Who said that wifey,
who said that? Susanna smiled and said, "You did!” She had
read him one of his own sermons.
Application: Theologians talk about God's PREVENIENT
GRACE. That is grace that goes before us. When Samuel said
God had already appointed a man, it could be that DAVID HADN'T
EVEN BEEN BORN YET. Now while Samuel was worrying in
Ramah, about 20 miles away, God was working in the life of a
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boy named David. Ray Pritchard says that while we are
struggling with a problem on TUESDAY God is already ahead
of us working on the problems of FRIDAY. With God we will
win because His purposes for Israel and for the church and for
the world will succeed. What we tend to do is look at the little
waves of defeat that come crashing into our lives from time to
time and take our eye off of the tide: "O mighty sea! Thy
message/ In changing spray is cast/ Within God's plan of
progress/ it matters not at last/ How wide the shores of evil/
How strong the reefs of sin/ The wave may be defeated/ But
the tide is sure to win.” It has been well said –
FAITH SEES THE INVISIBLE, BELIEVES THE INCREDIBLE AND DOES
THE IMPOSSIBLE.
When we don't have it we see. . .
2. The Defection From Faithfulness (12:23).
More important, Samuel was not being faithful. He had defected
from active duty. After Saul arrives he slips away. He tells the
people he will pray for them and continue to teach them the ways
of God (12:23). But we don't know that he did. He never saw
Saul again (15:35) and yet he could have helped him be the best
king he could be. He didn't get around much because when he
came to Bethlehem he scared the people to death (16:4).
Commentators tell us he headed up a school for the prophets
(19:18-24) and that he helped train young David. BUT THE BIBLE
DOESN'T SAY THIS. I believe Samuel spent his last years whining
and feeling sorry for himself in one long pity party, doing little
for God or man. Alexander Maclaren says: "The mourning
which submits while it weeps, and which interferes with no duty
is never rebuked by God! He never says, 'How long dost thou
mourn?' unless. . tears have blinded us to . . duty."
(Expositions of Holy Scripture, Vol.1, Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 1959, p.333).
We may be depressed and despondent and have only a
fraction of the faith we once had but we can still be faithful and
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do the task at hand. When faith in God goes, faithfulness to
God goes with it. Why? Because fear takes over. This was the
highest moment in Samuel's life. God had spoken to him. God
still wanted to use him. God had assured him that He still
watched over Israel and already had a new king picked out. This
old soldier, with a new lease on life, and with a new spring in his
step, should have turned cartwheels all the way to Jesse's house.
But what does he say, "How can I go? Saul will hear about it
and kill me.” (16:2)
Application: Here is yet another reason why David is called
a man after God's own heart. Here is Samuel, an old man, afraid
to die and unwilling to give his life for his nation. But up in the
hills is a boy who is more than willing to give his life for His
Lord. Years later when David told Saul about these shepherd
years, he said, "When a lion or a bear came and carried off A
SHEEP. . . I went after it -- and rescued the sheep from its
mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it - and killed it”
(17:3415). He was willing to give his young life for ONE
SHEEP. No wonder God was pleased with him.
Illustration: When Napoleon's armies occupied parts of
Russia, one certain town was deserted. All the people had run
away except for a giant wood cutter (Lumberjack) who stood
defiant in the town square with his ax hanging from his belt. A
French soldier started over to kill him but when the French
captain saw the man's courage, he said, "We can use men like
him. Brand the Emperor's initial in his palm.” It was done and
the man looked at the "N” and asked what it meant. He was told,
"Now you belong to Napoleon!” At that, the man pulled out his
ax, laid that hand on the block and chopped it off. And he said,
"That hand may belong to Napoleon but my heart and soul and
life belong to Russia!” That's the metal of David. What about
you? What about me?
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Application: We don't face dramatic tests like this but we
face daily tests where our courage is needed. An angry man
came to see his pastor. He did not like two morning worship
services and had opposed it since day one. He said, "Preacher, I
found out this week that a man I have worked with for five years
is a member of our church. He attends early worship and I didn't
know it. That is a shame and a disgrace.” The pastor replied,
"No, the shame and disgrace, sir, is that you have worked with a
man for five years and never found out if he was a Christian or if
he went to church, and you never let him know you were a
Christian and where you went to church.” Folks, the church
desperately needs people with courage enough to live for the
Lord.
The Selection of David Sermon 3
2) The Sending of Samuel1 Sam. 16:2-5
FAITH WALKS IN! FEAR WALKS OUT!
"But Samuel said, 'How can I go? Saul will hear about it
and kill me”. . ." When he (Samuel) arrived at Bethlehem,
the elders or the town trembled when they met him." (16:2,4)
After thirty years of flying, an airline pilot described his job
as hours and hours of monotony punctuated by moments of sheer
panic. Life is like that, but for passengers like me and most of
you, on airplanes and on the ride of life, there is a steady
undercurrent of fear. We are afraid! Afraid . . . this plane is
going to crash. . .we will lose our jobs. . .we will go crazy on our
jobs. . .our husband will leave us. . our husband will drive us
crazy if he doesn't leave. . .we will lose our health. . .we are not
really Christian. . .we won’t go to heaven, etc.
You name it and most of us have been afraid of it and some of
us are afraid of something right now. When life caved in on Job,
it had already done it a thousand times in his mind. He said,
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"What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has
happened to me." (Job 3:25)
The answer for fear is FAITH-Give whatever is bothering us
to the Lord, determine to live in His will and LEAVE our
problem in the hands of the Lord. And faith means we either
believe God will work our problem out or take care of us if it
doesn't work out. That's what we have in our text. Samuel is
paralyzed by the fear of DEATH. To crown a new king would
be considered treason, and insane Saul would think nothing of
killing him for doing it. The townspeople, when Samuel goes,
tremble over the fear of DETECTION - having their sins
discovered. Samuel calms them the wrong way, with a religious
party in the fellowship hall. But we will see how true faith takes
away the fear of death and other disasters and takes away the fear
of being discovered for what we are -- sinful people.
I. THE FEAR OF DISASTER (16:1-13)
1. The Patience of God. When God tells Samuel to go
anoint the new king and Samuel balks, God tells him to not
reveal his purpose, but just have one of the religious festivals
they practiced. The amazing thing here is that God puts up with
Samuel, that God puts up with you and me. He takes Samuel out
of retirement. He lifts him out of his pity party. And when
Samuel balks, God doesn't say, "All right, Samuel, just stay here
and die of old age. I'll get one of my young prophets to do your
job.” No, he doesn't say one word of rebuke. Isn't it wonderful
that when our strength is gone God still has work for us to do?
When all the fight is gone out of us He still can use us in some
battles.
2. The Problem with God. Some have trouble with God
telling Samuel to keep his real purpose hidden, but it was not a
lie and God never tells us always to tell the whole truth about
everything.
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Illustration: What are we to say when we see a baby that is
so ugly that our heart skips a heat? J. D. Sumner says, "Say-it
looks just like its daddy!” If we always told ALL the truth, love
would not rule, fights and quarrels would be multiplied and
everyday life would be unbearable.
3. The Protection of God. To dwell on this is to miss the
point entirely. The point is - we do not have to be afraid to do
the will if God. If He sends us on a mission, He will protect us
on that mission. All the powers of King Saul were powerless
over aged Samuel, because God was his Shield (Gen. 15:1) and
Bodyguard. Whatever your fears - losing your job losing your
health, losing your friends - if you do what God says - forget
them. The old hymn says it best, "Be not dismay'd whate'er
betide/ God will take care of you/ Beneath His wings of love
abide/ God will take care of you."
Illustration: When Robert Bruce, the Scottish Preacher,
stood up against King James VI, all the powers of the throne
came down against him. But Bruce died of old age at 77. Once
when he was running from the King's soldiers he hid in a cave
where he slept through the night. That night the King's soldiers,
hunting for him, walked right by the cave, but didn't go in.
Why? After Bruce entered, a spider built a huge, magnificent
web over the opening. The soldiers saw it and surmised no one
was in the cave. God WILL take care of you and me.
II. THE FEAR OF DETECTION (16:4-5a)
1. The Fear Superficially Relieved. Samuel, because God
was with him, had nothing to fear and went to Bethlehem with a
heifer to sacrifice. But when word got out that he was headed
there, the people felt they had much to fear. They began to say,
"Here comes the Judge.” Bethlehem was probably not on
Samuel's regular circuit and the Bible says when he got there the
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town elders "trembled when they met him” and asked "Do
you come in peace?” (16:4) Conscience DOES make cowards
of us all. Did Samuel come as preacher or judge? Can't you hear
the townspeople? Mary tells Anna, "I told you not to steal from
Joseph's garden. Micah tells Joseph, "I told you to stop meeting
Benjamin's wife down by the river.”
Did Samuel come as judge? Did he come as an agent of God's
wrath? No wonder they trembled. How relieved and thrilled
they were when he said, "I come in peace. I have come to
sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the
sacrifice with me"(16:5a). The rituals vary - there are
washings, prayers, singing, etc., and FOOD. The word
"sacrifice” ZEBACH means a festival not a feast (Pulpit
Commentary). “Thank God,” the people said, “Samuel has not
come to expose our sins, he has come to be RELIGIOUS. We
are going to have a party.”
Application: Religion, even in the Christian church, is often
a harmless pastime. It has so little effect on how we live. It's
just one big religious party! And the pulpits of America and the
programs and the practices are right in the big middle of it. The
important things now are NICKELS AND NOSES - how many
warm bodies we get in our buildings and how much money they
give. It's big business and in big business the customer is King,
so we make our churches "User Friendly!” We make church a
party. Listen to this church Ad described in the March 97 issue
of Pulpit Digest:
CAPPUCCINO AND CHRIST
Sleep a little later, throw on some jeans, have a hot cup of Joe,
listen to some great music, and get together for some wonderful
fellowship. Trinity United Methodist invites you to join us for a
unique service that offers an alternative. No pressures, no
commitments, no hassle. All we ask is that you give us 45
minutes of your Sunday.
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God help us, we all play this game. There's nothing wrong with
churches providing good, clean, fun-filled recreation to produce
a Christian environment. But we are not to use it to "court”
people. We are to call people from sin to the Savior and preach
that salvation is the basis of all our fellowship. A. A. Members
stand up and say, "I am an alcoholic.” Church members need to
stand up and say, "I am a sinner, forgiven and changed by the
grace of God and the death of Christ.” To get this we see. . .
2. The Fear Spiritually Revealed (Jn. 16:8). It is a main
task of the church to create a Christian conscience and expose
sin. Jesus described the work of the Holy Spirit like this: "He
will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and
righteousness and judgment” (Jn. 16:8). A member of
another church told me her new pastor was wearing everybody
out preaching on being saved every week. The sad thing is if he
would preach the Christian Life - the second mile life, the turn
the other cheek life, the take up your cross life - people would be
convicted of how far short they fall and see the need for being
saved. Add to that the preaching of the sacrifice of Jesus for
people like us and the Holy Spirit can work conviction of sin into
our souls.
Application: Martin Luther said, "If I were God and the
world treated me as it treated God, I would kick the wretched
world to pieces.” He got the message! C. S. Lewis saw himself
under the gospel light and said, "For the first time I examined
myself. . .and there I found what appalled me; a zoo of lusts, a
bedlam of ambitions, a nursery of fears, a harem of fondled
hatreds.” He got the message!
Illustration: In an old episode of M-A-S-H, an Air Force
officer was there at the field hospital with a minor wound. He
was a nice, kind, helpful young man that everybody liked. In
one ward he saw the Korean War horrors - a group of children,
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some blind, some faceless and some with arms and legs blown
away. He asked how this could happen and was told they were
casualties of an American bombing mission nearby. The light-
hearted young man began to sob because he was one of those
flyers who dropped the bombs. He had never seen up close and
personal, the effects of his actions. We who sin and think so
little of it and so much of ourselves, need to see, up close and
personal, what we do to our parents, our families, our friends,
our co-workers, our witness, our church and our Lord. We need
to tremble, like these elders, over our sins; tremble in sorrow and
tremble in fear over meeting a holy, righteous God, who sees all
the effects of all our sins. But thank God, conviction of sin is
never the last word with God or from the lips of the church. That
word is. . .
3. The Forgiveness Joyfully Received (Ps. 51 and 32). No
one in all the Bible fell further into sin than David. He walked
with and worshiped God all his life. God made him king and he
had many wives and concubines. He had his pick of the most
beautiful women in Israel. And what did he do? He stole the
wife of one of his soldiers in adultery and had him killed in battle
to hide his sin. He was tortured body and soul by guilt. He said,
"'When I kept silent my bones wasted away through my
groaning all day long” (Ps. 32:4). He confessed sin to God
and cried out, "...blot out my transgressions. Wash away all
my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin (Ps. 51: Ib-2). God
did and he gave this testimony: "Blessed is he whose
transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered” (Ps.
32:1). He went down, trembling, into the horrible depths of his
evil and came up singing the song of salvation.
Illustration: I love the story of the guy who just had one bad
day after another. Finally, in desperation he cried out to heaven,
"Why me, God? 'Why me?” Rumbling from the sky above, a
voice answered, "Some people just tick me off.” Ladies and
Gentlemen, I'm here to take away all your fears about a God who
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you think is "ticked off” at you and makes you tremble. I'm here
with the good news that God has come to this ugly world in
Jesus to give His life for the very people who crucified Him. I'm
here to tell you, the sin has not been invented yet that will make
God not love you or me. We don't have to receive His love,
that's our choice. But we can't stop it from being there or being
offered. That's what church is all about -- to tell you God knows
you, really knows you, and loves you anyway. First John 4:18
says it all, "There is no fear in love. . .perfect love drives out
fear.”
The Life of David (1)
Sermon 4
(Youth Sunday) (1 Sam. 16:2-13)
IT’S WHAT’S ON THE INSIDE THAT COUNTS
“The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man
looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the
heart” (1 Sam. 16:7b).
Illustration: A little black boy, watching a man fill colored
balloons said, “Mister, will those black balloons go as high as the
others?” Knowing the lad had more than balloons on his mind,
he replied, "Son, it's not what's on the OUTSIDE but what's on
the INSIDE that determines how high they got.” This great
principle of life was spoken to Samuel as he looked at strong, tall
Eliab, the son of Jesse, and felt he surely must be the one God
had chosen as King. But God saw the kind of person Eliab was
in the inside, the kind who would belittle David (17:28), and told
Samuel it was what was on the inside that counted.
Young people, it is not circumstances that determine how
high you will go as human beings, but CHARACTER!
Reputation is what people think you are, but character is what
and who God knows you are. And that is what determines what
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you will become in life. I challenge you today to be the kind of
person God Almighty admires, a person like David whom the
Scripture says was "A man after God's own heart. What did
God see on the inside that furnished the raw materials for an
imperfect but victorious, divinely applauded life?
I. A SAVED LIFE (Ps. 23)
The hallmark of David's life has to he the 23rd Psalm, the
most beloved chapter in Holy Scripture. The God of Israel
pictured in the Sacrificial System and preached in the Scripture,
was David's Shepherd, his Savior and Lord. When, as a boy, he
was recruited to sing and play for Saul, the men said, "The Lord
is with him” (Sam. 16:18)
Is Jesus Your Savior? Is Jesus your Lord? Are you trusting
Him for forgiveness? Are you following Him in obedience?
And are you proud of it and open about it? Will you carry your
Bible to college? Will you put it where it can be seen? Will you
find a church home? Will you align yourself with some
Christian group and count for God? If so you will be with God
and God will be with you. If not, you will be on your own and
you may sow some seeds that produce much heartache in the
years ahead. Go with God and God will go with you.
II. A SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT (Ps. 78:70)
David was born to be King. Ps. 78:70 says God "chose
David his servant and took him from the sheep pen.”
Jonathan, Saul's son was every inch a king. He was a hero in
battle (1 Sam. 14:1-15) and refused to fight back when his father
wanted to kill him (1 Sam. 14:16-45). He was an honored man
the people would die for (14:1-15) and follow (14:16-45). He
was a holy man who gave God credit for his victories (14:12)
And he was a humble man who bowed before David when he
knew God wanted David as king (18:1- 4). Why not Jonathan?
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Because God's special assignment for him was to stay with his
father as an influence for good and to be the best friend David
ever had. And God's special assignment to David was to he
King.
Do you want to rise high for God and man? Four words will
do it. I call them God's dynamite because they will change your
life like nothing else. In them you will find your career, your
life's companion and your place in the church. What are they -
THY WILL BE DONE! Many of us old timers mourned the
passing of Mickey Mantle. It's like the day you will mourn the
passing of Michael Jordan. But, thank God, Mickey Mantle died
saved. He accepted Christ on his sick bed and the main reason
was Bobby Richardson, the Yankee second baseman who
witnessed to him and never gave up on him for years. I don't
challenge you to be like Mickey Mantle. He himself regretted
that he had waited so long. He hurt a lot of people he loved and
who loved him. I challenge you to be a Bobby Richardson, one
who stands up for Christ from the start and goes through life
helping people. When Bobby was playing he was asked to pray
at an FCC national banquet. His prayer gives the secret of his
life and David's. He said, "Dear God! Your will! Nothing
more! Nothing less! Nothing else! Amen!"
III. A SPIRITUAL PRIORITY
(Ps. 55:6; 42:1-2; 1 Sam. 17:26; 2 Sam. 23:3:1 1 Kn. 2:2)
To be saved and to be surrendered to God's will is not
enough. The devil is strong. He defeats us and discourages us in
perpetual attempts to drive us from the paths of God's will.
Listen to David in Ps. 5:5-6, "Oh, that I had the wings of a
dove! I would fly away and be at rest.” The easiest thing to
do in a marriage is run away. The easiest thing to do in a job is
run away. The easiest thing to do in the will of God is run away.
But it isn't the BEST.
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What keeps us keeping on? I believe it is a "God intoxicated"
soul. I believe it is living every minute of every day knowing we
are in the presence of, we are responsible to, and we are going to
face the God who created us and put us here for a reason. When
Daniel Webster was asked the greatest truth he had ever learned,
he snapped Back immediately his answer, "My individual
responsibility to almighty God!"
That's what we find in David. Listen to Ps. 42:1-2 "As the
deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O
God my soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” Now the
interesting thing is that David's name is not attached to the
Psalm. But listen to the comments of Spurgeon, "Although
David is not mentioned as the author this Psalm must be the
offspring of his pen; it is so Davidic, it smells of the son of Jesse,
it bears the marks of his style and experience in every letter. We
could sooner doubt the authorship of the second part of Pilgrim's
progress than question David's title to be the composer of this
Psalm.” (The Treasury of David, p.299, Associated Publisher
and Author's Inc., Byron Center, Mich., 1970 ed.)
Spurgeon knew David. His whole life was wrapped up in
God. As a boy, he said of Goliath,
"Who Is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the
armies of the living God? (1 Sam. 17:26) As a king he said he
ruled, "In the fear of God” (2 Sam. 23:3) As an old and dying
man he said to his son Solomon, "show yourself a man, and
observe what the Lord your god requires” (I Kn. 2:2).
Illustration: A French soldier wounded in battle was having
a bullet dug out of his chest by a military surgeon. The probe
went deep and the boy said, "Dig any deeper and you will find
Napoleon.” That's what God was to David - everything! He saw
God in the stars. As a shepherd looking at the beautiful
Bethlehem sky, he saw God. That's why he wrote in Ps. 19,
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“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim
the work of his hands...In the heavens he has pitched a tent
for the sun" (Ps. 19:1, 4b). He saw God in the Scriptures.
That's why he probably wrote Ps. 119, the longest chapter in the
Bible and the greatest tribute to the Bible ever penned. The God
who delivered Israel from Egypt he believed could deliver him.
The God who led Israel in the desert, he believed, could lead
him. The stars and the Scripture. These are God's two books.
Read them young people! As a boy on a farm, as a king on the
throne, and as a dying man in his bed, God was everything to
David. He loved God. He feared God. He trusted God. And he
obeyed God. And it was all IN SPITE OF SOMETHING. For
he also had. . . .
IV. A SPLENDID MIND AND BODY
(16:12,18; 17:42; 17:34-35)
David was a 10 talent young person with a strong splendid
mind and body. Because of God's command not to look on the
outside and, because Jesse didn't even think of bringing him to
the prophet, we are tempted to think of David as a puny little
fellow easily overlooked as the “runt” of the litter. Nothing
could be further from the truth. The five scriptures that describe
young David tell us he was fair skinned, handsome, prudent in
speech, had beautiful eyes and was a valiant warrior. (See the
Amplified Bible)
And you talk about strong! Listen to what he tells Saul about
his sheepherding, as THE LIVING BIBLE puts it. "When I am
taking care of my father's sheep . . . and a lion or bear
comes and grabs a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a
club and take the lamb from its mouth. If It turns on me I
catch it by the jaw and club it to death. I have done this to
both lions and bears.” (17:34-35) I like the way a black
preacher here in Anderson put it. He said "David was a man
after God's own heart but he wasn't nobody to be messed with.”
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How right he was!
People talk about the obstacles David faced - a father who
forgot him (16:10) and brother who made fun of him when he
challenged them to fight a Goliath (17:28). These are not
obstacles, they are incentives! Tell us we CAN'T do something
and most of us will go through hell and high water to do it out of
pure spite.
David's greatest obstacles to serving god were his handsome
features, his strong body and his outstanding mind. In I Cor.
1:26 Paul says of Christians that God does not call many who are
wise by human standards, many who are influential or many who
are of noble birth. One reason for this is that the wise, the
influential, the handsome, the strong, the wealthy and the nobly
born see little need for God in their lives. They are quite
satisfied with what the world has to offer. Are you beautiful or
handsome? You will be sorely tempted to see this as everything
in life. Are you popular, athletic, intelligent, wealthy? You are
in grave danger of making these your gods.
IV. A SUBMISSIVE WILL
All of David's excellent qualities would have been useless
unless he submitted them to God. There are some fine Sunday
School Teachers in every church who have never taught a class.
There are some powerful soul winners who have never led
anyone to Jesus. There are some capable preachers of the gospel
who have never stood in a pulpit. Why? Because they have not
given who and what they are to the service of the Lord. They
may be saved but they have lived for themselves and have
missed being the blessing they could have been and reaping the
blessings they could have received.
Conclusion: Ivan, the Czar of Russia put on a disguise and
visited his subjects to see what kind of people they were. One
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night dressed as a beggar, he went from house to house in
Moscow, asking for food and lodging. At every door he was
turned away. His heart sank into deep depression as he saw the
selfishness of his people. At length, however, a poor man let
him in. He was given bread, water and a bed of straw. The poor
man said, "I'm sorry I can't do better but my wife and baby are in
the next room sick and I don't even have the money for doctors.”
Ivan left, but later that day returned in his robes, with his soldiers
and with his doctor. He cared for that family, educated that child
and made that man a trusted official. When asked why he said,
"He has a heart that is true!” Can God say that of you? Of me?
A. The Strength As Shepherd Sermon
5
3. The Service For Saul(1 Sam. 16:14-23)
MUSIC FOR A MADMAN
It might surprise you to know that David was a MINISTER
OF MUSIC! After his anointing by Samuel, how many years we
don't know, but probably while he was in his early teens, David
was called Saul. He did this in two ways - what we call the
SECULAR or NON-RELIGIOUS - as a skilled musician; and in
what we call the SACRED or RELIGIOUS - as a spirit-filled
man of God. When Saul's attendants saw his dangerous mood
swinging, they said he needed a skilled musician. One of them
knew he needed that and more, so he recommended David of
whom he said, "--THE LORD IS WITH HIM" (16:18). He
recommended a godly man.
I want to tell you two stories, one about a doctor and one a
preacher. The doctor, in Switzerland, Paul Tournier, took many
of his patients into his den, and by the fireplace talked to them
about the Lord. He helped more people find mental and physical
healing there than in his office, so he became a Christian
counselor. He turned from what we call the SECULAR or
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NONRELIGIOUS, to the SACRED, to the RELIGIOUS. I am
sure he was criticized by his professional colleagues in medicine
and accused of ignorance and superstition.
The other man, John Redhead, pastor of the First Presbyterian
Church in Greensboro, North Carolina, was helped out of severe
stress by practicing MIND CONTROL RELAXATION. He
incorporated it into his counseling. He had people lie on a
recliner, relax their minds and bodies, think of a peaceful scene
and picture Jesus talking to and listening to them. This became
as important a tool in helping people as his preaching. He turned
form the SACRED and the RELIGIOUS to the SECULAR, the
NONRELIGIOUS, and I am sure he was criticized by his colleagues
in the ministry and accused of being Biblically ignorant and
superstitious, another convert to NEW AGE.
Well, friends, all this talk of SACRED and SECULAR is wrong
because we live in a UNI-VERSE with our creator. All truth is
God's truth. Luke was a medical doctor and Paul was a minister
of the gospel, but they teamed up in the Book of Acts (Acts
16:10). Paul instructed Timothy in godly living (2 Tim. 2:24)
but he also said for him to "use a little wine" (1 Tim. 5:23) for
his stomach and his health. All true help and healing come from
God. And we see that in our text. Saul, depressed and depraved
because of sin, is ministered to by young David and temporarily
helped. He ministers to him with his MUSIC (The Secular) and
as a young, spirit-filled MAN OF GOD (The Sacred).
King Saul had what we call DEPRESSION. And nowhere is the
SACRED and the SECULAR, working together, needed more than
here. When we encounter a depressed person, our first advice
should be for them to see a good family physician. One half of
all depression is genetic. It is as much a disease, needing
medicine, as cancer or high blood pressure. Some depression, as
in Saul's case, is due to sin. It is the product of a guilty
conscience, a proud spirit and deep-seated anger against God. It
26
too may require medicine to get the person mentally able to hear
the truth of God. Music here was Saul's soul medicine; but it's
job was to open the door to David's message and David's
manhood, so Saul could turn to God, find forgiveness and be set
free forever.
I. A TERRIBLE MALADY (16:14-15)
1. The Damaged Soul. Saul's soul was tormented. You will
not find a more terrifying Scripture than our text. After telling us
the Holy Spirit came upon David (16:13 ) the Bible says, "Now
the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil
spirit from the Lord tormented him" (16:14). What on earth
does this mean? Certainly God is not the author or source of
evil. James 1:13 says, "God cannot be tempted by evil, nor
does he tempt anyone." But in the General Providence of God,
He allows evil to exist in our universe and to tempt us. It is a
moral and spiritual TEST He wants us to pass. So it could be
said God is the ultimate source since he allows it. When we
break God's natural laws and jump from a roof, God will allow
us to break our necks. The Hebrews saw ALL THINGS coming
in the permissive will of God and, thus, what we do to ourselves,
can be said to come from Him. That's why the Bible in Ex. 8:15
says Pharaoh "hardened his heart" but in Ex. 4:21 and other
places says God hardened it.
When, like Saul, we set ourselves against God and break his
SPIRITUAL laws, He will let us wound our souls, our minds and
our bodies. The great psychologist, William James said, "The
hell to be endured hereafter, of which theology tells, is no worse
than the hell we make ourselves in this world by habitually
fashioning our characters in the wrong way.” Delany says, "No
man needs a heavier chastisement from Almighty God than the
letting loose of his own passions on him" (W.M. Taylor, p.25).
Which brings us to the second problem. . .
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2. The Departed Spirit There was far more wrong with Saul
than a spirit damaged and depressed by guilt. The Spirit of God
had left him. He left Saul the Monarch. When he was called as
King, the Spirit came on him and he prophesied and became "a
different person" (1 Sam. 11:6-10). This probably meant God's
Spirit equipped him to he a king. So what we have here is Saul
on his own, ruling and facing problems in his own power. That's
why Saul was sitting in his tent shaking like a leaf when Goliath
came forth and why Saul let a boy do his fighting for him (I
Sam.17).
But there is possibly something far more serious here than
God leaving Saul the MONARCH. It could be God had done all
He would and could for Saul and was leaving Saul the MAN. In
the wickedness of Noah's day, God sent judgement and said His
Spirit would not always "strive” (Gen. 6:3, KJV) with man. The
Book of Hebrews warns people who turn away from Christ that
they can be brought to a place where repentance is "impossible"
(Heb. 6:4-6). Had Saul crossed this terrible point of no return?
Perhaps. . .
Maybe that's why he went on to kill innocent priests (1 Sam.
27); why he sought the counsel of witches (1 Sam. 28); and why
be took his own life (1 Sam. 31).
3. The Depraved Sinner (1 Sam. 9:16) What in the world
had Saul done to damn his soul? He started high. He was
handsome and tall, humble, hard working and heroic (1 Sam 9).
But he disobeyed God twice (1 Sam. 13-15). Here I almost feel
sorry for Saul because I, too, have failed many of God's tests out
of fear (1 Sam 13:8-14). We almost feel like God rejected him
too quickly. But this rejection itself was also a test and he failed
it and he exposed the rottenness of his heart for all to see. When
he disobeyed and left captives and sheep alive (15:8) he LIED
about it (15:20). God said in his PRIDE he was building a
monument to himself (15:12). Now, Samuel, in our chapter was
28
afraid to anoint a new king, because Saul would KILL him (16:2),
David and Jesse and his family and God and anyone else who
stood in his way. He had a murderous HATRED in his heart for
God and His people. Show me a man who would kill Billy
Graham and his family and I'll show you a man like Saul.
Illustration: Aaron Burr is still considered the most brilliant
man to graduate from Princeton and, like Saul, he started high
and fell. Full of ambition and pride, he couldn't stomach the
criticisms of Alexander Hamilton. He challenged and killed him
in a duel and the whole world hated him for it. He lost his wife
and family, his business associates and his friends. He died
penniless and alone.
But there is an early chapter in his Princeton days few know
about. A revival was sweeping the campus and hundreds of his
classmates were turning from sin to God. He came under
conviction and was impressed to attend. A friend told him to
wait, do nothing and the excitement would pass. He stayed in his
room but the Spirit still spoke to him. Finally, he raised his
window and prayed, "God, if you will leave me alone I will leave
you alone. Goodby God!" With that he slammed the window
and the rest is history. You say, "Brother Bob, I sure hope that
hasn't happened to me!" If you say that, it HASN'T, because you
still care about spiritual things. But it CAN happen. That's why
Isaiah 55:6-7 says, "Seek the Lord while he may be found; call
on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way. . .
Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him and
to our God, for he will freely pardon." Do it today, my friend,
for you may never want to do it again.
4. A Defeated Saint? Bible scholars love to debate whether
or not Saul was a child of God, saved. I do not believe he was
but we will never know until we get to heaven. But I do not
believe the very common teaching on this verse (Swindall, etc.),
that before Pentecost the Spirit left God's people and after
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Pentecost He doesn't. But isn't this too simple? We cannot, as
Christians, whether Old or New Testament saints, loose the
SAVING presence. But we can loose the Spirits PEACE and
POWER and PURITY in our lives. The Holy Spirit restrains evil.
Without His power we are capable of indescribable acts of evil.
Remember Noah drunk and naked (Gen.9) and David bedding
Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11-12) and you can see
how low a child of God can sink. The Holy Spirit inspires
goodness. With His power we are capable of indescribable acts
of heroism. Saul lost the Holy Spirit like we can. It is a terrible
malady but here is a glimmer of hope because we have second. . .
II. A SENSIBLE REMEDY (16:15-23)
1. The Secular Remedy - Music (16:23) One thing Saul
needed for his diseased mind was music. The Bible says that
when David would play, the evil spirit would leave (16:23).
Music is at the heart of God because Job 38:7 says when God
laid the foundation of the earth, the morning stars sang together.
When Elisha the prophet needed wisdom about a war, he called
for a minstrel (KJV) and the Bible says, "while the harpist was
playing, the hand (of the Lord came upon Elisha... (2 Kn.
3:15)
Folks, God uses things like music, medicine, rest, vacations,
alcoholics anonymous, time management, etc. - SECULAR
CURES - to ease our minds so He can get to us the SACRED
truths that set us free. Every time I do a revival I say in one
sermon that I take antidepression medication. Why? Because in
every church there are misguided Christians who need to do the
same but are ashamed. Why? This medication, like blood
pressure medication, is a gift from God. In my case it is as much
from God as my salvation or my call to preach. But more is
needed and here we have. . .
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2. The Sacred Remedies. The first of which is the message
of God. I have no doubt that David played some lively shepherd
tunes but I also believe his main focus was on the sacred tunes
we find in our Bibles, the Psalms. God loves music. The longest
Book in His Book is a hymn hook with 150 songs. Swindoll
says God put them right in the middle of the Bible, as if to say,
"Sing them often and learn them well.” And 73 of them bear the
name of David. David wrote, played, and inspired others to
write and sing songs ABOUT GOD. ALL 73 hymns can he
summed up in two words -TRUST and OBEY. Once he opened
the door to Saul’s mind, I believe David hammered home two
truths: King Saul, OBEY GOD! King Saul, TRUST GOD! We
find this in Psalm 1, a preface to the whole collection.
The first verse says, "Blessed is the man who does not walk
in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or
sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the
Lord" (Ps. 1:1-2a). OBEY! The last verse says, ". . .the
wicked are like the chaff that the wind blows away. . .the
Lord watches over the way of the righteous but the way of
the wicked will perish" (Ps. 1:4,6). TRUST.
What a message! And we all need it -- trust and obey. Here
we find pardon, peace, power and a sense of purpose and
partnership with God. Half cures will not do. God uses them -
rest, medicine, music, etc. - to open the door to the real cure,
Jesus. And to Saul God also sent a man of GOD. David as a boy
was every inch an example of godliness. Handsome and
articulate and skilled, he was also humble, hardworking and
brave (1 Sam. 17-18). He probably knew some old men who had
known Samson the "Hebrew Hercules" (Blaikie). And David
was humble. After his anointing, David still kept the sheep. He
didn't pull rank on Saul and brag about his anointing, his fights
with lions and bears (17:34) and maybe a few Philistine bandits
(Jud. 3:31).
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Who has God placed in your life to call out that which is good
and decent and noble in your soul and lead you to repent? A
mother? A father? A friend? A pastor? Frank Pollard says the
road to hell is a gradual slope. You have to walk by godly
people who love you to get there. Equally important, fellow
Christian, are you being a David in some Saul's life? Are you a
man of God or a woman of God, regardless of your age?
Conclusion: What a combination! A godly message in music
and a godly man. It worked on William Ashley Sunday. Born
on an Iowa farm, his mother had to send him to an orphanage
when his dad was killed in the Civil War. Little did he realize
that sad day that he would one day be wealthy and buy his
mother a home. He made his money and gained fame as a big
league baseball player with the Chicago White Stockings (now
the Cubs). He lived hard and fast with his drinking and cursing
buddies. One Sunday they left a saloon and started home.
The music from a Salvation Army band on a corner lot stopped
them. For his buddies it was curiosity, but it went deeper for
Billy Sunday. These were the songs his mother had sung on that
dirt farm. An ex counterfeiter spoke a few words and invited the
crowd to come back that night for church. William turned to his
buddies and said, “Boys, I'm saying good-bye to this old way of
life!" They laughed, but he did it. He came back, walked the
aisle, was saved and became a preacher. And Billy Sunday,
touched by a godly mother and music, became an evangelist, the
Billy Graham of his day, who saw over a million people saved
through him. He got the message Saul refused to hear and heed.
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B. The Soldier Years Sermon 6
1. A Fighter for Israel 1 Samuel 17
FACING SATAN'S SUPERMEN
1) The Conquest of Goliath (1 Sam. 17). The greatest
battle in the Old Testament was not fought between two armies
but between a boy, probably in his late teens, and a 9 foot 6 inch
giant named Goliath. Picture the Scene. The Philistines have a
new battle plan. One of them, Goliath, comes out every day for
forty days, challenging someone from Israel to fight him in a
''winner-take-all'' combat.
No one does. Fear paralyzes them all. But David, sent by
his father to take supplies and food to his three soldier brothers,
hears the challenge (17:8,10). He sees the Israelites run in fear
(17:24), "dismayed and terrified" (17:11). And David boils
with anger and says, "Who is this. . .Philistine that he should
defy the armies of the living God?" (17:26). This boy, who
knew his Bible (Ps. 119) was saying, where is one like Moses,
who took on Egypt and won? where is one like Joshua who took
on Canaan and won? Where are the Gideons? the Samsons? the
Jonathans? Men who trust God for everything and will fight
anything?
Angry at such arrogance, David's oldest brother Eliab, asked
him why he came and accused him of neglecting the sheep to
come and watch the battle (17:28). David, like any young
brother, answered, "Now what have I done?.. Can't I even
speak?" (17:28). Knowing his fight wasn't with Eliab he kept
asking questions, implying he would fight, and he was brought to
Saul.
Because of the years, his mental illness and the stress of
leadership, Saul had forgotten David was the boy who once
played for him. With kindness he tried to talk David out of
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fighting Goliath because, he said, "You are only a boy and he
has been a fighting man since his youth" (17:33). David told
him how God had delivered him from lion and bear attacks, so
Saul agreed to let him fight. He tried to get David to wear his
armor but he was a 48 and David was a 38. So all David took
was his sling and his staff and his faith in God.
Down into the valley he went. Stopping at a creek, he put
five smooth stones in his bag. (From 2 Chronicles 8:1 and 21:8
where we find five sons from Gath, one being a giant, some say
Goliath had four brothers and David was ready for all five.)
Either way David walked toward Goliath and Goliath, with his
shield bearer in front, walked toward David. When he got close
enough to see David was a boy, he was insulted. He despised
him and said, "Am I a dog that you come at me with sticks?"
(He) "cursed David by his gods" and said, 'Come here. . .and
I'll give your flesh to the birds. . .and the beasts."' (17:43).
It is here that David preached one of the greatest messages in
the Word of God. He said, "You come against me with sword
and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of
the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom
you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me.
. .and the whole world will know there is a God in Israel. . .it
is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is
the Lord's, and he will give all of you into our hands" (17:45-
47).
We all know the rest of the story. Goliath, enraged, moved in
for the kill and David, the Bible says, "ran quickly. . .to meet
him" (17:48). David put a stone in his sling, threw it, hit the
forehead of Goliath and the big man fell flat on his face. David
stood over him, killed him with his own sword and then cut off
his head. The Israelites, inspired by this boy, took off after the
Philistines and chased and killed them all the way back to their
homes. David, when the battle was over, took Goliath's head to
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the Jerusalem area where he lived and put Goliath's weapon in
his tent. Saul then called David to him where he stayed as his
soldier (17:48-53).
This ancient story is relevant today as we Christians face up
to the giant challenges in life. Life's trials, troubles and
temptations either beat us or we beat them. And in David's
victory we see a picture of our warfare with Satan's supermen
and, praise God, we also see some principles of victory.
I. THE PRINCIPLE OF PROBLEMS (Rom. 5:3)
Principle number one in facing all kinds of problems is that
problems are for our good. Modern TV Christianity" with
millionaire evangelists flashing Rolexes sell us the bill of goods
that God is a giant Santa Claus who gives us health and wealth.
Well, Jesus was a poor man who had to depend on the generosity
of faithful women (Lk. 8:1-3). Paul suffered all his life with a
terrible “thorn" (2 Cor. 12). And James and Stephen, both young
men, were killed for following the Lord (Acts 6, 12). Why? To
make them strong. Romans 5:3 says, "We rejoice in our
sufferings because we know suffering produces perseverance;
perseverance, character; and character, hope."
We already see that in David. His battles as a boy with a
father who forgot him; with brothers who criticized him; and
with wild animals that attacked his sheep, made him a man ready
and able to take on Goliath. He was a boy but he had already
learned much about life and God and his best school was the
school of hard knocks. He learned that God's presence could
conquer loneliness; that God's estimate, not his brothers’, was
what mattered; and that God, through him, could easily take care
of lions and bears and Goliaths. David would not have been
David without these problems. He believed he and God could
deal with Goliath because he and God had been tackling things
together all his young life. So when giant challenges come your
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way, see them as an opportunity to trust God and see what He
can do. To do this we need. . .
II. THE PRINCIPLE OF PERSPECTIVE
1. We Must See Satan (Eph. 6:10-18). If step one is to see
God in our difficulties, step two is to see Satan. Paul was made
better, made humble (2 Cor, 12:7) by his "thorn" but he called it
a messenger from Satan (2 Cor. 12:7). Picturing the struggles of
the early church he said, "We are not fighting against people
made of flesh and blood, but against persons without bodies -
the evil rulers of the unseen world" (Eph. 6:12, THE LIVING
BIBLE).
I'm not into TYPOLOGY but it's hard NOT to see it here.
Goliath is six cubits high (17:4). In verses 5-7 he has six pieces
of armor listed. And the head of his spear weighs six hundred
shekels. SIX-SIX-SIX! This is the number for evil mankind, the
evil world system in Revelation 13:18. It was the Roman Empire
in John's day. It will be the world system when Jesus returns.
It's the world we live in now and the Philistine and Canaanite
world David grew up in.
Compare Satan and Goliath! Goliath was powerful, taking on
all challengers. Satan took on Jesus Himself (Mk. 1:12-13) and
toward us is called "a roaring lion looking for someone to
devour" (1 Pet. 5:8). Goliath is proud, making boast after
boast. Satan is proud today and vocal as never before and God's
people, says Adrian Rogers, are folding up when they ought to
be standing up. And Goliath is persistent. This man stood 9 feet
6 inches. The head of his spear weighed 15 pounds. His body
armor weighed 125 pounds. And every day he suited up and
walked and stood and sat in the hot sun from morning to night.
And he did it for 40 days.
Application: Would to God that God's people would do one
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tenth as much for Him as the devil's crowd does for the devil.
Satan has one good point - persistence - he never quits. We need
to see Satan in life's trials and...
2. We Need to See the Son of God. In David we see more
than David. We see more than the son of Jesse. We See the Son
of God. Compare David and Christ. Both were set apart to be
king before they were born. Both were sanctified, set apart and
empowered before their public ministries by, the Holy Spirit (1
Sam. 17; Lk. 3:21). David was sent by his father with bread and
Jesus was sent by the heavenly Father with the bread of heaven
(Jn. 6). Both were scorned by their own people. Eliab insulted
David and the Bible says of Jesus, “. . .his own did not receive
him" (Jn. 1:11). But, thank God, both were successful. Jesus,
by his perfect life and sacrificial death, defeated the devil and
won the right to every human being (Col. 2:14-15). Oh, friends,
we are no match for Satan, but Jesus, in us, is. He has already
defeated him once and will do it again and again in us. I like the
way Tony Evans puts it. He says, "when Satan knocks say -
Lord Jesus, please get the door.."
III. THE PRINCIPLE OF PARTICIPATION
1. The Decision (17:28,32). Once we see the true spiritual
battle lines in life, with Satan on our side and the Son of God on
the other, we must decide if we are going to fight or just sit on
the sidelines. Fighting spiritual battles begins with a
DECISION. David said to Saul, ". . .your servant will go and
fight him" (17:32).
Application: Young people, have you decided to keep
yourselves sexually pure until marriage and alcohol and drug
free? Have you "Just said NO"? Christian businessmen, have
you decided to be honest no matter what it costs. Sufferer, have
you given your suffering to God and asked Him to use it to make
you a better person? If not, you are already as good as beaten.
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Decision is 90 percent of the battle.
2. The Determination (17:24-39). The decision to do right
must be followed by persistence in the face of fierce opposition.
David faced the disdain of his brother Eliab (17:28) but he didn't
fight Eliab because his fight wasn't with him. Satan does a great
work when he gets Christians to fight Christians, churches to
fight churches, denominations to fight denominations and church
members to fight church members. We fight everybody but the
devil. David faced the dismay and fear of the church (17:11,24).
Everybody else was running away and the temptation there was
to join the crowd and fold up instead of stand up.
Application: It's hard NOT to cheat in school or in business,
when many of your fellow church members cheat. It's hard to
stay sexually pure when your so-called "Christian" friends laugh
at you. The state of the Church right now is so low that a
dedicated, God fearing, God honoring person will often feel out
of place with his Sunday School class, his fellow pew members
and his youth group. A lot of people ARE folding up when they
ought to be standing up.
David faced the directives of the concerned (17:30-39).
Saul, hiding in his tent, was nobody to give advice on fighting,
but he gave it and his motive seems to be kindness. Satan will
use even our friends to pull us away from God's will.
Nehemiah's friends told him to run and save his life (Neh. 6).
Our Lord's family tried to pull Him away from the stress of His
work (Mk. 3:21- 31). Paul's friends begged him not to go to
Jerusalem and die (Acts 21:10-12). We must thank people who
love us for their advice, but in the end we must always listen to
the Lord and fight the battles He gives us in our own armor.
Finally, David faced the danger and destructiveness of Goliath.
It's a terrible day when Satan bares his fangs. Standing for God
your friends may turn from you, your health may fail, your
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business may decrease, your family problems may mount, etc.
What will you and I do when we see that our problems are
spiritual, our enemy is real and is powerful? Paul, in Ephesians
six, says that in the evil day, like David, we are to STAND our
ground.
Illustration: A friend told me of a little guy he knew in high
school who never backed down from a fight. A fellow, shell-
shocked in Vietnam, who bullied everybody, came in a pool hall
and ordered everybody out. Everyone left except this little guy.
The big veteran walked over and said, “Aren’t you scared of
me?” “Yeah, I am,” the little guy replied, “but I ain’t chicken.”
David had to be like that when he faced Goliath. We have to be
like that when Satan stands before us.
IV. THE PRINCIPLE OF POWER
(17:26, 37, 45-47)
When we do we have the principle of divine power. David’s
power was not in David but in God. He saw Goliath as an insult
to God (17:26). He said the God who delivered him from the
lion and bear would deliver him again (17:37). He said the battle
is the Lord’s (17:47) and God did not win by sword and spear
(17:47). He said when Goliath went down everyone would know
there was a God in Israel (17:46). Israel wouldn’t fight because
Goliath, compared to them, looked so big. David fought, because
compared to God he looked so small. To Israel Goliath was too
big to hit. To David he was too big to miss. David didn’t fight
for his honor, his fame and his profit. He fought for God’s
honor, God’s fame and God’s profit. That’s what made him a
winner.
Illustration: Robert Schuller, in his book, Tough Times
Never Last, But Tough People Do!, tells of the time he spoke to
a convention of 3,500 farmers. He had his speech and his jokes
ready but the man who was to introduce him gave him a jolt. He
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said these farmers were going under. They were losing their
farms. Their families were strained and they didn’t need his
funny stories, his grin or his “Everything Will Be All Right!”
optimism. They needed hope.
Schuller put his speech away and told them about his dad, an
Iowa farmer. His dad, forced to drop out of school in the sixth
grade, earned money by manual labor to pay down on their farm.
He and his family burned corn cobs to stay warm. Hard work
and poverty was their lot. One summer Robert was home from
college and a tornado came. He and his mom and dad secured
the animals and drove away. When they came back, everything
was gone — the house, the barn, the animals, the crops —
everything. The eerie silence was broken by the sound of dying
animals.
Schuller’s dad said nothing. He walked alone out into the field.
He stooped down, picked something up and brought it back. It
was a plaque from their kitchen wall and it said “KEEP
LOOKING TO JESUS!” His dad did. He bought lumber and
shingles from a house being torn down and build a new home
were the old one had stood. Nine farms were destroyed. His
was the only one rebuilt. In five years he paid off his mortgage.
The farmers left that day with hope because they knew no
Goliath was too big for them AND God to handle.
1. A Fighter for Israel Sermon
7
2) The Campaigns for Saul
FROM ZERO TO HERO
As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine
Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David
still holding the Philistine’s head (17:57). . .Whatever Saul
sent him to do, David did it so successfully that Saul gave him
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a high rank in the army. This pleased all the people, and
Saul’s officers as well (18:5). . .Michal let David down
through a window and he fled. . .(19:12).”
If David was about 18 (a good guess) when he killed Goliath,
then in 12 more years, at age 30, he would be crowned king of
Judah in the South. Seven and a half years later he would be
crowned king of all the land and would reign until he died at age
70 (2 Sam. 5:1-5). Twelve years is a short time and David, in his
twenties, like us, had a lot to learn before he was fit to rule others
and serve God. So God sent him to the school of hard knocks.
There were, it seems, about 2-3 years, from age 18 to 21, when
David was an honored fighter for Israel (17:57-19:17). After
that, for 8-9 years he was a hunted fugitive - one step from death
(1 Sam. 20:3) Thus he went from zero to hero (shepherd boy to
famous soldier) and then from hero to zero (an honored fighter to
a hunted fugitive). Application: Put all this together and David
shows us how to face fame, friends and foes, the little giants of
daily life that so often defeat us.
These first few years, as a fighter for Israel, filled with daily
duties, good and bad experiences, and waiting on God to do
something, are the “stuff" of which life is made and the true test
of our Christianity. It's not the big challenges in life, the
Goliaths, that get us down, it's the little things. You probably
won't get fired from your job (a Goliath) but more than likely
you will have someone in the work place who makes your life
miserable. Your children probably won't become drug addicts (a
Goliath) but they might make you a nervous wreck before they
leave home. Your wife or husband probably won't leave you for
someone else, but the frictions of daily life might sometimes
make you wish they had. I heard Dr. Criswell say that not many
preachers will be swallowed by whales like Jonah, but many will
be nibbled to death by minnows like Jeremiah. The Bible says ”.
. .the little foxes. . .ruin the vineyards" (Song of Sol. 2:13).
Little bitty giants rise up everywhere, all
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the time, to beat the life, the joy, the enthusiasm the zest for
living out of us. They did for young David. Let's see how God
brought him through.
1. A NEW FAME (17:57-18:30)
Challenge number one was a new fame and David, in it,
conquered pride and developed the beautiful grace of
HUMILITY. David from the moment he killed Goliath, though
only a teenager, became the number one man in Israel, the
Hebrew Hercules. The women sang his praises (18:2). Saul kept
him in Jerusalem (18:2), put him in the army and he did so well
that he soon received a "high rank" which "pleased all the
people and Saul's officers as well" (18:5).
Jealous Saul, seeing God was with David (18:12), sent him into
more and more battles, hoping he would die, but David just kept
on getting victory after victory, and becoming more and more
famous and successful (18:30). So here is David, not even 20
years old and he becomes the hero of every man, the idol of
every young person, the topic in every home, and the target of
every girl. He was the undisputed heavyweight champion soldier
of the world!
I call this new fame a positive but it is also a negative. Few
things in life corrupt and ruin us more than power and success.
Illustration: Thomas Carlisle said, "For every 100 people who
can handle adversity there is only one who can handle success."
Tom Landry, when coach of the Dallas Cowboys, said it was
easy to motivate and coach a team after a loss. They will listen.
The true challenge of coaching, he says, is to get the team to
listen when they are winning. Illustration: I like the story of the
preacher who was being introduced. The introducer just went on
and on about his virtues and victories. He rose and, after much
applause, said, "We need to offer two prayers before I speak.
We need to ask God to forgive this brother for lying! And we
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need to ask Him to forgive me for believing him." In success we
become proud and the Bible says, "God hates a proud look" and
"God opposes the proud" (Js. 4:6). In success we become
intolerant and impatient with others. We look down on them and
become critical. If our business succeeds we attribute it to our
hard work, personality, good sense, etc.
David handled this fame with beautiful HUMILITY! In all his
writings he never mentioned Goliath. Spurgeon said some men
publicize it when they kill a mouse but Samson killed a lion and
David killed a giant and never spoke of it. I think it was Dr.
Criswell who told about the man who survived the Johnstown
Flood. That's all he talked about until he got to heaven and St.
Peter, to shut him up, introduced him to NOAH.
These few years are perhaps David's best, "the most
blameless and beautiful of any" (Blaike). With beautiful
humility he just ignores Saul's hate and does his job. And when
he is told he will marry the king's daughter, listen to what he
says, "Who am I. . .that I should become the king's son-in-
law?" (18:18).
Who are you? Man, you're the giant killer. You're the top
man in all the land. No, David would say, God is the One on
top. I am a sinner, saved and right with Him only because of His
grace and mercy. And because of His love for me, I am His
servant. That, my friends, is the mark of those God can use.
Illustration: I am reading Just As I Am, the autobiography of
Billy Graham. What impresses me the most about him is his
remarkable humility! In every sermon he acknowledges the
sinfulness of his heart and how he does not deserve to be a
Christian or a preacher. The one quote that was drawn from the
massive book and placed on the cover is this. Dr. Graham says.
“I have often said that the first thing I am going to do when I get
to heaven is to ask, 'Why me, Lord? Why did you choose a
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farmboy from North Carolina to preach to so many people. . .and
to have a part in what you were doing in the latter half of the
twentieth century?’" In his question we have the answer -
humility!
11. A NEW FRIEND (18: 1-4; 19:1-6)
To help David handle success and all of life's challenges, God
gave him a new friend. In this David learned fraternity, our need
for others in life. His friend is Jonathan. He is Saul's son and he
is one of the strongest, finest, most spiritually beautiful people in
the Bible. He was older than David and, thus, was a man David
could look up to. Jonathan was a brave warrior who inspired
men to fight and die, if necessary, with him, as we saw in chapter
14. The soldiers stood up for him to save him from Saul's stupid
vow (1 Sam. 14). Jonathan stayed beside his wicked father until
they both died in battle (1 Sam. 33).
And Jonathan was the heir to the throne, legally and popularly.
He had more king in his little finger than Saul had in his whole
body. But when he saw David, and no doubt knew he was God's
choice to be king, he bowed before him. In what was no doubt a
blood covenant, where his arm and David's arm were cut and
joined, he became a brother to David. (18:1-4) And when he
laid before him his robe and his weapons he gave David the
throne. What a man! What an influence he must have had on
David. No wonder, when David, years later, learns of his death,
he says this, "How the mighty have fallen in battle! Jonathan
lies slain on your heights. I grieve for you, Jonathan my
brother; you were very dear to me" (2 Sam. 1:26).
1. Who Has God Given To You? We need a sign over this
church, "No Lone Ranger Christians Allowed!" We desperately
need each other as we face the responsibilities and blows of life.
David was strong, but God knew he needed a friend to stay
strong. That's why when Satan threw a Saul into his life, God
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threw a Jonathan. Two questions come to mind. Who is your
Jonathan? Who brings out the best in you? And who are you
being a Jonathan to?
Who has God given to you? Who believes in you, encourages
you, loves you and prays for you? His or her value is better than
rubies or gold. In all the New Testament there is only one verse
that tells us to go to church, Hebrews 10:25, "Let us not give
up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let
us encourage one another...”
Illustration: The greatest thing about life is that we don't
have to go it alone. God knew David would be a fugitive, cut off
from family and friends, so he gave him Jonathan. Jonathan
saved him from Saul once as he talked him out of killing him
(19:1-7). But in the end he couldn't save him from being driven
into exile and hunted like a wild dog. The task of care givers,
like physicians, pastors, counselors and friends is that often we
cannot stop bad things from happening. But we can be there to
care! And most of the time that's what counts.
Illustration: In World War I, battles were fought from deep,
wide trenches, with "no man's land" in between. Two men, Bill
and Jim, enlisted together and fought together. They were the
best of friends. Fighting in no man’s land, Jim was severely
wounded. Bill didn't know it until he was back safe in the
trench. Learning of Jim's wounds he started out to get him. The
captain, who saw Jim fall, ordered him not to go. "He's done for,
Bill, he can't make it."
Bill, ignoring him, went over the top and through the bullets
and got to Jim and Jim died in his arms. Bill ignored the fire and
carried Jim's body back to the trench, taking two bullets in the
leg. The captain, seeing his wounds and seeing Jim's dead body,
said, "Bill, was it worth it?" Without a moment's hesitation,
ignoring the pain and brushing back the tears, he said, "Yes, sir!
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It Was!" And then he told why, "He was alive when I got there
and the last words he said were - “BILL, I KNEW YOU WOULD COME!"
2. Who Has God Given You To? It's not enough for us to
have people like Jonathan we can count on, we need to be the
kind of people others can count on. What better place to start,
men and women, than at home? Children can be examples to
their fathers. When Bill Cosby's son was brutally and
senselessly murdered, Bill paid him the highest of compliments.
He said of his boy, "He was my hero!"
Illustration: Fathers can be examples to their children. In
1924 Bill Hayes was in Paris, France, the best hope America had
for a gold medal on the Olympic rowing team. He got a letter
from home that his wife was to give birth to the first child earlier
than expected. He had a choice to make - stay and row or go be
with his wife. He went home and was there when his son Frank
was born. Did he do the right thing? I believe he got the answer
24 years later, in a letter from Frank. Frank was also a rower on
the United States Olympic team and he won the gold in Helsinki,
Finland. He wrote: "Dear Dad. Thanks for waiting around
for me to be born. I'm coming home with a gold medal that
belongs to you. Your loving son, Frank." Any father or
mother knows that a letter like that is worth a thousand gold
medals. And we all can win one if we try.
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2) The Campaigns for Saul Sermon 8
(3) A New Foe (18:6-19:17)
FROM HERO TO ZERO
“Saul. . .told them, Bring him up to me in his bed so that I
may kill him. . .Michal let David down through a window,
and he fled and escaped" (1 Sam. 19:15,12).
Have you ever tried to do what was right, to serve God and
people, only to have some person hurt you beyond words?
David did. From age 18 to 21 he got a new fame and a new
friend, but also a new foe - a Goliath who wouldn't go away, a
person he loved who hated him and tried to kill him.
III. A NEW FOE (18:6-19:17)
1. The Decline of a Rotten Soul (17:57-19:17). David was
a beautiful young person, faithful to God and liked by everyone
(16:18; 18:5-7, etc.), but Saul hated him for it and made his life a
living hell. His deep depression caused by guilt had not been
cured years before when David sang for him and gave him a
good and godly influence (1 Sam. 17:14). He resisted God and
now he is worse than ever. He is a coward, afraid to fight
Goliath or lead his troops. He does one good thing - he tries to
talk David out of fighting Goliath because David is so young
(18:33).
But even this will be held against him at the Judgment, because
it shows he still has a sense of fairness, he still has a conscience,
he still had the touch of God on his life. All the horrible evil we
see today in him is in spite of this. He is fighting God, he is
fighting his conscience, he is fighting his own sense of right and
wrong. You who are entrenched in wrong things today are
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walking civil wars, you are fighting yourself.
Let's see what he does. When David returns from killing
Goliath, the women sing a new song, "Saul has slain his
thousands, and David his tens of thousands" (18:7). The
Bible says Saul was "very angry" and the "refrain galled him"
because he feared David would take his throne (18:8). He was
"jealous" (18:9) of David and when he saw how God was with
David he was "afraid" of him (18:12). He seemed to know
right away that David was the "man after God's heart" Samuel
told him long ago would replace him (1 Sam. 13:14).
What a marvelous opportunity for Saul to do the right thing.
He could have turned to God for forgiveness and joined his son
Jonathan in training David to be King. He could have gone to
his grave with the knowledge that he had a part in all of David's
victories and he could have gone to heaven. But he didn't. Like
a fool he fought God's will and fought David and the whole year
or two David served him be hated him and tried to kill him.
On two occasions, one near the beginning of David's service
and one at the end (18:10-11; 19:9-10), while David played the
harp for him, he tried to kill him with a spear. David dodged.
Then he sent David into battle after baffle, hoping he would get
killed. He said to himself; "I will not raise a hand against him.
Let the Philistines do that" (18:17). What a hypocrite! Can't
you hear the beautiful eulogy he would have delivered at David's
funeral, crying on the outside and laughing on the inside?
When this didn't work he promised David his daughter,
Merab, in marriage, but when it came time for the wedding, he
gave her to someone else (18:18-19). He, no doubt, hoped
David, a man of strong passion and anger, would respond in
anger and be killed as a rebel. David didn't do it so he gave him
his daughter, Michal, believing she would one day trap him
(18:20). He made David kill a hundred Philistines to get her,
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once more hoping he would be killed. David killed 200 and
came back without a scratch. Question? How many brave
Israelite soldiers died needlessly in these battles designed to kill
David? It makes no difference to Saul. He is evil to the core.
Finally, the situation reached a climax in (Chapter 19). Saul,
exposing his evil, rotten heart, orders Jonathan and his soldiers to
kill David, but Jonathan pleads with him and talks him out of it
(19:1-7). David, who knew of this and stayed away, was
restored "with Saul as before" (19:7). He played the harp for
him one day and Saul tried the second time to spear him (19:8-
10). David went home to Michal and Saul sent his soldiers to
capture him the next morning. Saul said, "Bring him up to me
in his bed so that I may kill him" (19:15). Michal, put there to
trap him, warned him, helped him out of the window to escape
and put an idol in his bed to give him more time to run. When
Saul asked her why, she lied and said David said he would kill
her if she didn't help him.
Two men stand out in this awful story - Saul and David. We
will see in a few minutes that the same evils that lived in Saul,
lived also in David. All of us here today are indwelled and
tempted by evil. The question is are we embracing it like Saul or
fighting against it like David. Are we in the grip of sin or
righteousness? We are all going somewhere in life today -
morally, ethically and spiritually. Saul was headed downward
from a man who feared for David's life in his fight with Goliath
(17:33), to one who said, "Bring him up to me in his bed so
that I can kill him" (19:15). David, with the same kind of evil
in his heart was headed upward. In him we see. . .
2. The Development of a Righteous Soul. What a beautiful
period this is in David's life. Blaike calls it the most beautiful of
all. He is humble, seeing himself unfit to marry a king's
daughter. As the master he serves hates and tries to hurt him,
there is no hint of anger or the desire to retaliate. He just serves
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God and does his job and submits to the man who despises him.
God is teaching him some lessons.
1) A Lesson in Discipline. Why does God let evil people
hurt His people? One reason is evil people are free. God, 2
Peter 3:9 says, is patient with evil people because He wants them
to repent. It wasn't God's will for Saul to hurt David, but when
he did it God used it to make David a better person. Saul was
Satan's tool but God used that tool to shape his servant. GOD
USES EVIL AND GODLESS PEOPLE LIKE SAUL TO MAKE
GOOD AND GODLY PEOPLE LIKE DAVID. Out of being
hated comes unconditional love. Out of being hurt comes
forgiveness. Out of danger comes trust in God.
2) A Lesson in Depravity (1 Sam. 25). One reason David
could not hate Saul was he saw a lot of himself in Saul. Saul, in
rage, threw spears at David. Later David, in rage, had to be
stopped from killing all the men on a farm because the owner
insulted him (1 Sam. 25). Saul sent David to die in battle, no
doubt causing many good men to die. Later, David did the same
thing to Uriah (2 Sam. 11). The only difference between us and
evil folk who hurt us is Jesus. This ought to make us LOVE
JESUS MORE for loving us and putting up with us. And it
ought to make us LOVE AND WANT TO HELP PEOPLE
FIND THE SAME LORD WHO HAS HELPED US. There's
also. . .
3) A Lesson in Duty (18:5,14,15,30). David was like a
rubber agitator in the middle of a washing machine. While dirty
thing after dirty thing was dumped on him and while they,
whirled around him, he just stood tall for God, and came out
clean, loving his enemy as his Bible taught in Exodus 23:4 and
doing his duty. Verse five says, "Whatever Saul sent him to
do, David did it. . .successfully" (18:5). The word
"successfully" also means "wisely" and appears four times
(18:5,14,15,30). Like the agitator, David did what God told him
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and came out clean in the end. And old poem says:
Courage brother do not stumble,
Tho’ thy path is dark as night.
There's a star to guide the humble-
Trust in God, and do the right!
Perish policy and cunning,
Perish all that fears the light,
Whether losing, whether winning,
Trust in God, and do the right.
Some will hate thee, some will love thee.
Some will flatter, some will slight;
Cease from man and look above thee -
Trust in God, and do the right.
(William Taylor; David - King of Israel,
Baker Book House, 1961, Grand Rapids,
Mich.; pg. 74)
Is all hell breaking loose on you? Remember the agitator.
Stand tall! Stay clean! Forgive those who hate you and do your
duty. And do it ONE DAY AT A TIME. A man very prone to
suicide, because of depression, told me in his sixties that the only
reason he was alive was that in his lowest moments, when life
was too much for him, he (or God's Spirit) would tell himself "I
can make it through today!” Those days added up to a lifetime
of service to God and others, one day at a time, doing what is
right. If so, we will learn.
4) A Lesson in Dependance (Ps. 59). The introduction to
Psalm 59 says David wrote it about his escape here. In that
Psalm, David, the man who actively seizes problems and does
away with them, is passive. He begins, "Deliver me from my
enemies, O God; protect me from those who rise up against
me." (Ps. 59:1). He calls God his "fortress" (59:9,14).
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David, the strong young teenager, was a man of action. He
dealt with his problems by doing away with his problems. He
did it trusting God, but he did it. If his father and brothers didn't
notice him, NO PROBLEM. He just went to the back part of his
farm to be alone with God and his sheep. If a lion or bear came
to kill a sheep, NO PROBLEM. He just walked over and beat that
sucker to death. If Goliath insulted God and made brave soldiers
cowards, NO PROBLEM! WHOOSH! One throw and he was dead in
the dirt.
The problem is, life is filled with problems we can't handle this
way. We have to stand still and trust the Lord. And that is
harder that tackling problems ourselves. But God can be trusted.
His unseen hand is seen here everywhere. He let David see and
dodge the three spears Saul threw. He led Jonathan talk his
father out of killing him (19:1). The wife, Michal, Saul gave
David to trap him (18:21), God used to help him escape. And in
the fierce battles designed to kill him, while brave men died on
his right and left, God kept David safe. What a God we have!
We can trust Him. We can get to the point where we would
rather walk in the darkness, holding His hand, than walk in the
light by ourselves.
Illustration: A young accountant, weary from a day's work
on the sixth floor, left his desk and headed for the elevator. In
the hall he was met by a wall of smoke and fire between him and
the elevator. He and two others rushed to a window at the end of
the hall. Black smoke billowed up from below and they could
not see straight down. Across the street were firemen and police
they could see. Over a megaphone a fireman was yelling,
"Jump! There's a net below?" The two with him jumped
immediately. Jim hesitated. Then smoke covered the entire
street below. He could see nothing at all but heard the fireman's
voice yell over and over -Jump! But he couldn't. He could not
bring himself to jump into total darkness. Then he heard a
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familiar voice over the megaphone. It was a lady's. She said,
"Jim, this is Mama! It's all right son. The firemen are there to
catch you. Go ahead, son, jump.” With no hesitation, he leaped
into the unknown, into the dark, and was saved. He trusted the
one he loved and the one who loved him. David did that with
God and so can you and so can I. Let's do it!
Conclusion: The great lessons of these chapters are these:
(1) To grow us spiritually, great honors are often followed by
great trials. (2) In great trials we often find great and unexpected
blessings - Jonathans. (3) The trials of godly people do not
compare in severity with the self-torment of wicked people.
Don't pity David, pity Saul. He is the one troubled most in these
accounts. No outward trial can compare with the self-torment of
wicked men. Saul turning madder day by day is the victim of his
own sin. The cruelest emotion known to man, jealousy, entered
his heart and gnawed away at the core of his humanity. His
peace was gone. His pleasures were filled with gall. He had,
says Parker, a cruel serpent gnawing at his heart. David, my
friends, did not have to lift a hand against Saul. The "evil spirit
from the Lord" within him was punishment enough.
And so, my dear friend in the valley, do not ask "'What have I
done to deserve ill treatment?" Ask, "What is God doing in me
through this?" Imagine the silver in the fire asking, what have I
done'? Not realizing that is it being prepared to adorn the table of
a king. Imagine the field asking, What have I done that the
plough should cut me up? "We are strong," says Parker, "only so
far as we see a divine purpose in the discipline of our life."
Amen!