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We're starting a new series in
the book of 1st Samuel, Life of David. I'm excited to get
into this one. I have loved the study of it
so far and I'm really looking forward to what the next 13 weeks
are going to bring for us in this lesson series and we're
looking at David and I just, David is a character that has
always seemed, he's always captivated me. And you know, he's in the
Bible quite a bit when you look at it. Now, I didn't realize
this initially when I went into this study. I mean, I think everyone
who reads their Bible knows David's in there a lot. I think we all
recognize that. But how much is he in there?
Well, David, you know, David is mentioned 1,127 times in the
Bible. That's a lot. Now, for comparison, you know,
we talk about Paul all the time. Paul is a New Testament, what
we would consider to be a church planner, a world mover. just
on fire for the gospel. And he's so ingrained in our,
you know, in the Bible and in our history, you know, when you
go up the trail of blood all the way back to the book, The
Church in Acts, where we place our lineage as Baptists, one
of the titles for one of those sects of our doctrine were the
Paulicians. That is how ingrained Paul is
in what the Bible is teaching. And Paul himself was only mentioned
163 times. by comparison there. David is
given 54 chapters in the Bible. That's not including Psalms,
because his pastor knows better than anybody there are no chapters
in Psalms. But there is... But he, David, is a major Bible
character. Now clearly, him being in here
as much as he is, God wants us to learn of this man. So I find
it highly valuable that we take time to do that in a class setting
where we could slow down, look at some of the history. We're
going to have applications, but it's less application-oriented,
more learning-oriented. I think anything you learn that
you can't apply to your life is, for what we're doing here,
I think it's meaningless. So of course, we're going to
apply this to your lives. I want to do that. But there's more
teaching in these than maybe you would get in a particular
sermon. looking at his life. Now first, before we look at
David specifically in his entrance, he comes into play in 1st Samuel
chapter 16. I'm starting us out in 1st Samuel
chapter 7 for a reason. I want to lay some groundwork
and I want to get back a little bit and see the context in which
David is introduced into. Okay, now this lesson in particular
and more than likely others as they come along, very long introduction,
okay, because that's where the history and the actual teaching
of the context is. A very small transition into
what this means for us and then the end part of the lesson is
going to be how do we apply this to our lives, okay. So that's
the framework here so that you know where we're going and how
we're getting there. but let's lay some groundwork here. So
first, before we talk about David, we have to talk about Saul. Before
we talk about Saul, we have to talk about Samuel. Before we
talk about Samuel, we have to talk about Hannah. Hannah is
in chapter 1 of 1 Samuel. Now, we won't turn there for
sake of time, but Hannah is the mother of a very prominent Bible
character by the name of Samuel. We see in 1 Samuel chapter 1,
verses 21 to 28, you remember that She, Lord if you give me a child,
I will dedicate this child to the Lord. I think we all know
that account in 1 Samuel. That child was Samuel. Okay,
so Samuel from the time he was previous to the time he was even
born, he was dedicated to the Lord. He had an entire life of
living for the Lord. Now Samuel, when we look at him,
he was the judge of Israel. He was the son of Hannah. And he was a very prominent Bible
figure. Go with me to 1 Samuel, chapter
7. 1 Samuel, chapter 7. Or 1 Samuel, chapter 7, verse
15. 1 Samuel, chapter 7, verse 15. And Samuel judged Israel all
the days of his life, and he went from year to year in circuit
to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpah and judged Israel in all those
places. And his return was to Ramah,
for there was his house, and there he judged Israel, and there
he built an altar unto the Lord. Israel during the time of Samuel
was a nation run by the Lord through Samuel the prophet, and
that was his predominant role. He was a prophet. He was somebody
who God spoke to directly in the Old Testament. Samuel, we
will see here, he set his sons to be judges over the land, but
his sons, unfortunately, were not like Samuel. They were not
honest. They were not just. And as a result, the people wanted
a king like the other nations had had. Go with me now to chapter
8, verse 1, right under where we just read. And it came to
pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over
Israel. Now, the name of his firstborn
was Joel, and the name of his second I'm sorry, the name of
his second, Abiyah, there were judges in Beersheba and his sons
walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre money and took
bribes and a perverted judgment. Then all the elders of Israel
gathered themselves together and came to Samuel unto Ramah
and said unto him, Behold, thou art old. Nice thing to say. And thy sons walk not in thy
ways. Now make us a king to judge us.
like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel.
And they said, give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed
unto the Lord. So we see there that his sons
don't walk in his ways. They don't do the things that
he taught them to do. They don't live the way that he taught them
to live. And as a result, they were judges. And the people saw
the perversion of judgment. They saw all these things. And
they wanted him They wanted them out and they wanted a king like
every other nation had. Which is usually the pattern
of people who are searching for the world when it's already in
their heart. If the man of God fails, their default is to do
what the world's doing. Because the man of God failed.
Well, that's in the heart of a carnal person to think that
way and that's no different with the Israelites here. Now, we
see here that Samuel warned them of the dangers but they doubled
down. You go to verses 19 through 22. In chapter 8, it reads this way. Nevertheless, the people refused
to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, Nay, but we will
have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations,
and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight
our battles. And Samuel heard all the words
of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord.
And the Lord said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice. and
make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men
of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city. So at this point we
see we go from what is essentially a theocracy where God through
Samuel is running things to now we see that God through a king
just like every other nation is going to run things. Who is
this king? Well, enter a character by the name of Saul. Go with
me now to 1 Samuel chapter 9. Again, this is all laying groundwork
and building context to introduce David. You need to know this
first. 1 Samuel chapter 9, verse 1. Now there was a man of Benjamin
whose name was Kish, the son of Ebil, the son of Zeror, the
son of Bekroth, the son of Epitheth, a Benjamite, a mighty man of
power. And he had a son whose name was
Saul, a choice young man, and a goodly And there was not among
the children of Israel a goodlier person than he from his shoulders
and upward. He was higher than any of the
people." So we now introduce this character named Saul. Now
Saul, he was choice, meaning that if you had a lineup of people
that you could choose, you would choose Saul. He was impressive. He was the people's choice. And
he had a lot going for him. He had all the capabilities,
the stature, and all these things that could make a great and impressive
looking king, but his heart was not with the Lord. And we see here, time goes on,
Saul the normal patterns take place.
He jumps into, you know, he's appointed king, he is king for
a time, he does some good things for the Lord here and there,
but ultimately we see that he is not for the Lord. And the
last straw of this, really the proof of this that we see was
when he rebelled against the Lord's specific commands here.
Go with me now to 1 Samuel chapter 15. verse 7. And Saul smote the Amalekites
from Heveliah until thou comest to Sir that is over against Egypt. And he took Agag, the king of
the Amalekites, alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with
the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag, and
the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings,
and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy
them, but everything that was vile and refuse that they destroyed
utterly. Then came the word of the Lord
unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to
be king, for he has turned back from following me, and hath not
performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel, and he
cried unto the Lord all night. And when Samuel rose early to
meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul
came to Carmel, and behold, he set him up a place and has gone
about and passed on and gone down to Gilgal. So what we see
here, I'll give you some background into that. So essentially what
happens is that God tells Samuel to tell Saul, go to the Amalekites,
destroy everything, leave nothing. And Saul hears that and decides,
you know, we're going to do that, but we're going to save the king
and we're going to take all their best sheep for us. Now, is that
obeying the Lord? That is in no way obeying the
Lord. And we see here that angered
the Lord so much that he decided to take away Saul's kingship
from him. Now, not immediately, but eventually. The hand of blessing was now
taken off Saul. He was not a man after God's heart. Chapter 15,
verse 19, reads this way. Wherefore then didst thou not
obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and
didst evil in the sight of the Lord. And Saul said unto Samuel,
Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the
way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of
Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people
took of the spoil, sheep, and oxen, the chief of the things
which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto
the Lord thy God in Gilgal." Okay, so then you see in verse
21, he's starting to make some excuses for himself. In verse
22, And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt
offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than
the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of
witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also
rejected thee from being king. And we see because of his stubbornness,
because of his rebellion against the Lord, which, by the way,
small rebellion is still rebellion. When you rebel against the Lord
in a small thing, it's no different than if you rebel against him
in a big thing. Because if you're rebelling against him in a small
thing, you will rebel against him in a big thing. It's just
a matter of your character. And we see here that that's exactly
what Saul did. Well, okay, at this stage of
things, Let's review. So Samuel is running things,
well the Lord's running it through Samuel, and he's serving the
Lord and he's pleased in his work and all of these things,
and then he tries to set his sons as judges. Okay, so at this
point his sons fail. That's very stressful and deeply
concerning for Samuel. And then the people cry to him
and say, hey, you're old and your sons fail. That's super
encouraging. We need a king. So hey, you're
old. Hey, your sons are failing. Hey,
we want to do things in a way that God does not want, but we
want. Another deeply concerning thing
happening in Samuel's life. Then they appoint the king, Saul,
The choice person, the one that, get this, the one that the people
wanted, not the one that God wanted, the one that people wanted. And then he even failed. And he had his kingship removed
from him. And Saul had to be the guy to
tell him. Or not Saul, Samuel had to be the guy to tell Saul. And then Samuel had to, you read
on, Samuel had to kill Agag, the king of the Amalekites. Bad
day for Samuel. He had to finish up what Saul
wasn't even willing to do. So at this point in things, Samuel
is troubled and he's discouraged because he's seeing all of these
things go wrong, at least in his mind that they're not going
the way that they should go. We went from this theocracy to
where God is in charge and he's using me and I don't care if
he uses me but I want God to be in charge of this and I want
things done right. So now it's like we're two bad judges and
a bad king later and it's like well now we have no leadership
at all. What are we supposed to do? All of this is backdrop and context
into the situation David is entering. Now let's focus now on David. Go with me to 1st Samuel chapter
16 please. 1 Samuel chapter 16. And this is where David enters the
picture. And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn
for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill thine horn with oil, and
go. I will send thee to Jesse, the
Bethlehemite, for I have provided me a king among his sons. And
Samuel said, How can I go? If Saul hear it, he will kill
me. And the Lord said, Take and heifer
with thee and say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord. Jump down to verse six. And it
came to pass when they were come that they looked on Eliab, and
said, Surely the Lord's anointed is before him, one of Jesse's
sons. Verse 7, But the Lord said unto
Samuel, Look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature,
because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth not as man
seeth. For man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. Now go with me
down to verse 11. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are
here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth
yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel
said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him, for we will not sit down
till he come hither. And he sent and brought him in.
Now he was ruddy, which means reddish, and withal of a beautiful
countenance, and goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise,
anoint him, for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of
oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren, and the Spirit
of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose
up and went to Ramah. God told Samuel to go to the
house of Jesse. There he would find the new king.
He seized the choicest of Jesse's sons, but God refused them. We see this in verses 6 and 7.
Then the smallest one, The insignificant one, David,
the one that was so insignificant that Jesse had not even prepared
for him to be in the lineup. He is the one that God picked. Now Samuel is elated and he takes
the horn of oil that God says and he anoints David, he pours
it over his head as the heir apparent of the king of Israel.
And that's David, small little shepherd boy. who, when Jesse
lined up his sons to which one of these are gonna be king, God
goes over to the shepherd, or God goes over to the field to
the least impressive one and goes, I want that one. So that's the context, that's
the introduction of David into the Bible here. I think we've
got a pretty strong foundation laid at this point. And that
is how David is introduced. And that has all been very academic
and reminding you of some things and touching up some details.
And that's all very good, but that does not much for us if
we can't apply this to our lives. So what are we supposed to learn
from this? What is it for us? What are we learning? Well, here's
my proposition. Thinking about Samuel here for
a minute, considering all the things up
to this point that he went through, the struggles, the pain, the
confusion, the uncertainty of leadership. Think about all of
that. When things do not go the way
that we expect, the way we plan, or the way we desire, we need
to remember that God is in control of things. That's the point. Samuel had a lot at this point
that he was fretting about. But you know, God shows us through
this account three things about himself in the situation that
reminds us that we can trust him. And I'd like to look at
those for just a few moments here. Let's look at the first
reason that we can trust the Lord. What is the first reason
we can trust the Lord? Well, number one, and I've already
alluded to this, but do you know the Lord is in control? He's
in control of things. He's got it. We won't read this right away,
but Philippians chapter four. Go turn there. God is in control. You know,
when I was in school, I had, I was a music person then as
I am now, and I remember I had a band director and I had a choir
director, okay? Now, my band director, he was
the one that I worked more with. He was much closer to my own
age. He actually, he went to Midview. He and I went to school
together, or not school together, we went to the same school. I
graduated different years, obviously, but we knew each other. We were
very friendly with each other, and you know, He was not quite
as organized or as driven as maybe I would have preferred
him to be. And he didn't quite have a grasp on things the way
that I wanted him to. And you know what I found myself,
I'd be sitting in his rehearsals, and I'd be sitting there, and
you know, the clock was behind us. I found myself turning back
and looking at the clock all the time. Not because I wanted
to leave, but because I didn't trust him that he was going to
get us out on time, because he wasn't really in it. Okay, I had a choir director,
and this is one of my wife's favorite people on the planet
because this woman, she was driven, she was just on it, she had everything
just perfect, she was stern with the kids, and she was exacting. Now, she loved us, but she expected
very high quality and did not relent on it. Okay she was now
I found myself when I'm sitting in her rehearsals I'm not looking
at the clock one single time. You know why? Because I trusted
her. Because I knew like look Mrs. Manning she's got it. She's
going to run this thing and it's going to be just fine. I don't
even care what the clock says. Look if the principal comes in
here right now If they start scrapping, I'm on her side because
I think she's going to win. Like that's who this woman was
and is. And she's one of my favorite
educators to this day. But what's the point in that
illustration is that I trusted this. I'm not looking at the
clock. I'm not worrying about what's
going on. She knows what's going on. I trust her. This one, not
so much. But this one, I certainly did.
Because I understood she was in control. She got it. She had
her hands on the reins. She knew exactly what she wanted
to do. She knew exactly where she was going and exactly how
she wanted to get there. And all my anxiety, the strain of
the rehearsals was harder in that situation, but I had no
anxiety about where we were going or her ability to get us there.
I had a lot of that over here. And do you know the Lord, just
like this choir director on this side, the Lord is in control
of things. How much better than that? They're in control. You don't have to worry. Go with
me to Philippians chapter 4, verse 5. Let your moderation be known
unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing,
but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,
let your request be made known unto God, and the peace of God,
which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus. Now, Samuel had reason to believe
that the kingdom was out of control. His own sons rebelled. The people
rebelled. The king rebelled. Does anyone want to take this
thing seriously? Has anyone found themselves asking
themselves that question? I have. Does anyone want to take
this thing seriously? But God knew that David would.
He knew he would. God knew it. And he chose David
to lead. Why? Because he's got it. He's
in control. We need to be careful for nothing.
And we need to approach God being careful for nothing, knowing,
just like in this rehearsal here, look, we're going through the
rigor of this process called life. Why do you want to go through
that not trusting him when he's worthy of being trusted? He's
in control. He's got it. Everything that
passes to you passes through His hand. He's not going to let
something come to you that He didn't want to come to you, or
that He doesn't at least permit to come to you. He's going to
let things happen. And you have to be willing to
be patient and let things play out. Look, what if Samuel quit
on the Lord? What if he pulled a Jonah and
just said, you know what, Lord, I'm not doing this anymore. My sons,
I spent my whole life serving you and my sons are running off,
running amok, embarrassing me. And then these people come in,
they call me old and they say that I need to replace them with
a king and Lord, I'm done with you. And then the king that they find
that Samuel has to work with very intimately and communicate
with ends up failing. And then he could look at the
Lord and say, Lord, I'm done with you. He doesn't do any of
that. You know what he does? He just keeps trusting. And he
just keeps putting one foot in front of the other. God is in
control. The Lord is in control. And not
only is he always in control, get this, here's the second thing
that I see. The Lord is always working. He is always working. And He's not just working in
your life, He's working in other people's lives around you. You
know, God wanted to pour the oil on David's head a lot longer,
much before David knew that that was going to happen. Before David
knew, Samuel knew. And before Samuel
knew, do you know who knew? The Lord. Because he had already
said way back here, when Saul failed, hey, listen, Samuel,
I've prepared myself a king. Go to the house of Jesse, he's
there. And he's working in Samuel's
life, taking Samuel to that place. He's working in Jesse's life,
preparing his son. so that he can work in David's
life to pour the oil over his head and anoint him to be king.
He was not just working in David's life. Now, think of your David
here for a second. Now, if you're David, if God
knew that David had a heart for him already, then when Samuel,
big name, big deal kind of a person, comes and says, hey, I'm gonna
find a king out of these people, don't you think that there'd
be a mixing of humility and hopefulness in David? Ooh, I love the Lord. Maybe he'll use me. And then
you wake up that morning, and I don't know, I'm supposing here,
but you get excited. Maybe God will work in my life. Maybe he'll use me to do great
things. I don't know. And then Jesse goes, okay, you,
you, you, you, you, you, you, let's line you up over here.
Hey, David, while we're finding our king, why don't you go out
and tend to the sheep? That could be a discouragement
to David. But you know, when he's out there
tending to those sheep, it doesn't have any account of him murmuring,
or backbiting, or thoughts of quitting, or thoughts of running
out on God. No, he just was tending to the sheep, and then what ends
up happening is he gets called to the front of the line, and
he's the one with the oil poured on him, and he's the one that's
going to become the king. But before he worked there, he
worked in Jesse. Before he worked in Jesse, he
worked in Samuel. He's working in other areas of
your life that you have no idea about and you have to learn to
be patient and recognize God is always at work. That's why
prayer is so important. That's why trust is so important. You have to trust that God is
always working on behalf of what is good and right. It's us that
needs to change our view of what good and what right is to line
up with his word. He is always working. Number
three, we see the Lord is in control. We see the Lord is always
working. Number three, we see the Lord
uses people others will overlook. In 1 Samuel, chapter 16, verses
6 and 7, I'll remind you, it says, And it came to pass when
they were come that he looked on Eliab and said, Surely the
Lord's anointed is before him. But the Lord said unto Samuel,
look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature,
because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth not as man
seeth. For man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord
looketh on the heart." Saul was choice, he was impressive, he
was intelligent, he was athletic, he was strong, and God rejected
him. The same thing for Jesse's son here. God rejected him. David was ruddy, he was reddish,
he was small, he was unimpressive. Now, he said he had a beautiful
countenance. I guess he was a pretty man,
I suppose, but that's what it says there. But he was not generally
the impressive one in the bunch. He was not the choice one based
on human patterns of decision. But he was put to the front of
the lineup. Now, why? Because God chose the one who
chose him. He looks on the heart. And get
this, he uses base people to do great things. Go with me to
1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. First Corinthians 1 verse 26,
For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God
hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty, and base things of the world,
and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things
which are not to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh
should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. The Lord uses people that others
overlook. The Bible teaches that His strength
is made perfect in weakness. He uses the basest of people
to accomplish the greatest of things because that is the best
way for Him to get glory, which is the whole point anyway. How
does it give God any glory if Saul, the choicest of people,
goes out there and absolutely kills it at being king? That's
what he was supposed to do. You say, well, what about Solomon?
Solomon was the wisest person in the world. You know why Solomon
was the wisest person in the world? Because God gave him a
choice of what to have and he chose wisdom because he knew
he needed what God had to do what God needed him to do. He uses people, others overlooked. And you know, maybe you're a
person that in other categories of your life, you are overlooked.
But friend, let me tell you something, and it's straight from the word
of God here, that if you would sacrifice, if you would give
your heart to the Lord, if you would choose Him, He will choose
you for a work to do. He will. David was a shepherd
boy thousands of years ago who was insignificant, but God saw
that he had the heart for him, so God made him the king. There's
54 chapters, some 1,000 verses later, and most of the Psalms,
and we see one of the most significant characters in the Bible. in my
opinion, one of the best characters of leadership in the Bible from
this little, ruddy teenager who could not have amounted to much
in his own strength. But God wanted to use him. And God wants
to use you. But he wants you to choose him
so that he can choose you. Saul chose himself. God gave
him exactly what he wanted. You have you. If you don't want
me, you can have you. That's fine. I want somebody
who wants me. And that's what God said and
that's what he saw in David. If he sees it in you, he'll give
you work to do too. You don't have to be impressive.
You don't have to be somebody that people view as important.
You just have to be willing to serve the Lord and he will use
you. He uses people that others overlook. So by way of conclusion, Here's the whole thing wrapped
up in a nutshell. When things do not go the way that we expect,
plan, or desire, we need to remember that God is in control. Now Samuel
had a lot he could fret about, you remember. His sons, the people,
failed king. But God was working. God was
in control. God was constantly at work. God
found David in the field to accomplish what only God can. And we can
trust him to work in our lives as well. I can't.
God Found His Man
Series The Life of David - Part 1
| Sermon ID | 1111240722292 |
| Duration | 35:25 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday School |
| Language | English |
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