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Well, it's good to be here this
morning. How are you guys doing? Are you sure? All right, good. Let's try that again. How are
you all doing today? All right. Well, we're getting a little
better. All right. Very good. Let's go to first Samuel chapter number
24. And I want to thank Dr. Bill
for his kind invitation to be with you. And. We've been praying for Dr. Bill
and. Thankful for the Lord's protection.
and a blessing on him. And I understand why his mother
wouldn't let him go out and play much when he was a kid. Tell
his wife she needs to buckle down on him. But we've been praying
for him and I appreciate his friendship. Of course, Dr. Spencer
is someone that we love at Tabernacle and someone that I love and respect.
and appreciate his friendship to me, his leadership during
his time with us at Tabernacle before I came. And only heaven
will reveal how impactful that was. But I know in my heart that
God used him in a great way and has continued to use him. helping
churches prepare for pastors and What a great ministry that
is I'm telling you the devil hates the local church and the
work of God is done through the local church and The devil hates
it and he's doing all he can to attack it in this hour and
so I'm grateful for that emphasis. I'm grateful for what you're
taught here about that and How that you are serving in local
churches under the authority of pastors, and I hope you will
take advantage of that. There are many, many lessons
to learn in Bible college. The classroom is a very valuable
lesson that has very valuable lessons for you. But some of
the most valuable lessons you will learn, you will learn outside
the classroom. And part of the lesson you learn
is just being a student in a Bible college and learning to trust
God and learning to submit to authority. And I want to speak
to you on that subject this morning, a lesson in submission, learning
to respect spiritual authority, a lesson in submission, learning
to respect spiritual authority and we find it in 1st Samuel
chapter number 24 and we're going to read verses 1 through 8 then
God willing we are going to look at the remainder of this chapter
when we think about David's great victories we think about when
he was taking care of the sheep and he slew the lion and he slew
the bear any of you guys done that yet Okay. I haven't either. So that's a
pretty great victory, isn't it? Slaying the lion and the bear
and then going down into the Valley of Elah and slaying the
giant Goliath. There wasn't a man in the army
who had the courage to face him. And yet David went down as a
young man and fought with a giant and slew him. But that wasn't
his greatest victory. The greatest victory wasn't one
on the battlefield leading Israel against the Philistines or any
of the foes that they face. But I believe one of the great
victories that David won in his life. He won right here in first
Samuel, chapter number 24. Let's look at it together. The
Bible says, and he came to pass when Saul was returned from following
the Philistines, that it was told him saying, behold, David
is in the wilderness of in Getty. Then Saul took 3,000 chosen men
out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men upon the
rocks of the wild goats. And he came to the sheep coats
by the way where was a cave and Saul went in to cover his feet
and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave. The
men of David said unto him, behold, the day of which the Lord said
unto thee, behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand that
thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David
arose and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily. And it came
to pass afterward that David's heart smote him because he had
cut off Saul's skirt. And he said unto his men, the
Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the
Lord's anointed. to stretch forth mine hand against
him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord. So David stayed
his servants with these words and suffered them not to rise
up against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave
and went on his way. David also rose afterward and
went out of the cave and cried after Saul, saying, my Lord,
the king. And when Saul looked behind him,
David stooped with his face to the earth and bowed himself. Here we find that David who is
on the run from Saul, you remember that David was Saul's servant. Uh, David went down into the
valley and he fought Goliath. And when he won the victory,
he delivered, uh, by the hand of God, the armies, uh, the army
of Israel from the army of the Philistines. You'll remember
that he captained many of Saul's conquests and he fought valiantly
for Saul. He was a friend of Jonathan.
He was a loyal servant to his king. Not only that, he ministered
to Saul when Saul rebelled against the Lord and an evil spirit came
to vex Saul. It was David who was brought
in to play and to encourage Saul and to soothe him as he was confronted
with that evil spirit. David was a faithful servant.
But there came a day when David and Saul came down into the streets
of the cities of Israel, and the women gathered outside and
said, Saul has slain his thousands, and David has slain his ten thousands.
And Saul became filled with envy and jealousy. He had been rejected
by the Lord. David had been anointed by Samuel
the prophet under the direction of the Lord to be the king. And
so Saul began to be very envious and very jealous, and he decided
that he was going to kill David. In fact, he attempted twice in
the palace to murder David. And David was falsely accused
of treason against Saul, and David had to flee. And he fled,
and Saul's chasing after him. David, in the meantime, gathers
a group of men who are displaced and men who are discouraged and
they become David's men. And here they are out in the
mountains hiding from Saul and they have an opportunity to end
it all. They have an opportunity to do
away with Saul and his unjust leadership. But we find when
David is given that opportunity, he does not take that opportunity,
but he submits. He learns the lesson of respecting
authority. Now, you think we're in a Bible
college and we would never have a problem with that. Well, let
me ask you a question. How many of you have had attitudes
after exams when you thought there was an unfair question?
How many of you have had attitudes about the rules? How many of
you have gotten aggravated with your pastor or your song leader
or someone who is in authority in your life and you have developed
a murmuring complaining spirit and you've been tempted to say
some things that you shouldn't say and develop an attitude that
you should not have and you have not learned the lesson of respecting
spiritual authority? David becomes a lesson for us.
And I want us to note three things this morning as we think about
learning to respect spiritual authority. And by the way, this
is not just a message for students. This is a message for staff.
I served as a staff member in a Baptist church and at a Bible
college, and I understand all the ins and outs of that kind
of ministry and the day-to-day things that you deal with. Decisions
have to be made and policies have to be implemented. And,
uh, I've seen time and time again, people develop bad attitudes,
good people, gifted people, people that were godly people who developed
a bad attitude, a rebellious spirit. And because of that,
they were not able to be used to the Lord. I want to tell you,
if you've got a rebellious spirit, you're going to hinder the work
of God in your life. Now I want you to note three things with
me as we look at this passage together. First of all, if you
write it down, please. Number one, David learned to
recognize authority. David learned to recognize authority. The Bible says in verse number
five, and he came to pass afterward that David's heart smote him
because he had cut off Saul's skirt. And he said unto his men,
the Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master.
The Lord's anointed to stretch forth mine hand against him,
seeing he is the anointed of the Lord. So David stayed his
servants with these words and suffered them not to rise against
Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave
and went on his way. The Bible says that David's heart
smote him. The Bible says in verse six,
the Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master.
We find here that David learned to recognize authority. Now,
I want you to understand, just as David understood, and I hope
you'll write this down, all authority is established by the Lord. All
authority is established by the Lord. You see, David recognized
something about Saul. Though Saul had unjustly accused
him, Saul was the king. Notice the term that David uses
concerning Saul in verse number six. He said unto his men, the
Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the
Lord's anointed. He called Saul his master. Saul
was his king. In other words, Saul was the
ruler of the nation of Israel as it was appointed by the people
who desired to have a king. And as God anointed him, through
Samuel's hand to be the king, he was the king of Israel. He was his master. He was to
be a servant to Saul. That was the lot in which he
was given. Not only was he his master, but he was the Lord's
anointed. Where was Saul's authority resting
in? It was resting in the fact that
God had anointed Saul as the king of Israel. He was the Lord's
anointed. And we find in our lives that
God has established the home. God has established human government. God has established the local
church. And in all three of those institutions,
God has assigned authority. God is a God of order. God is
a God of authority. Do you know without authority,
what you'll have? You'll have anarchy, by the way. We see it in our nation right
now. People on the streets protesting the police with uprisings and
entertainers in Hollywood and the music moguls of our day calling
for an uprising against the police and then our police being murdered
in cold blood as they sit in patrol cars and people celebrating
that. This is a day of anarchy in our
land. Because when you lose respect for authority, when there is
no authority, there will be anarchy. When there is no order, there
will be chaos and our nation is falling apart and our world
is falling apart because there is a lack of submission. There
is a lack of recognition of authority. And David realized that rebellion
against God anointed and God appointed authority is ultimately
rebellion against God. Can I tell you when you have
that attitude with Dr. Bill or with Dr. Spencer or with
any other staff member here, when you take an attitude against
your pastor or you take an attitude of rebellion against your parents,
let me tell you ultimately who you are rebelling against. You
are rebelling against God. Because God has designed and
God has placed those people in the position of authority in
your life. You say, well, this is an Old
Testament story that you're giving us, but I want you to know that
this is a New Testament principle. I want you to go with me to Ephesians
chapter number 5. Ephesians chapter number 5, and
we find here the New Testament principle concerning this truth
of the submission and learning to recognize authority. Ephesians
chapter 5 it begins in the home by the way I mentioned that God
instituted the home he instituted human government and he instituted
the church and in all three in the New Testament God speaks
to us about learning to recognize and learning to submit to authority
Ephesians chapter 5 verse number 21 in the context of the home
The Lord says submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of
God. Wives submit yourselves under
your own husbands as under the Lord. I want to tell you that
the Bible says that a wife is to submit to the leadership of
her husband. But I also want you to understand
that the Bible says in verse 21 that you are to submit yourselves
one to another in the fear of God. If you think you're going
to run your home your way, sir, you've got some trouble headed
for you. You're going to have to submit as a leader to the
needs of your wife and to the needs of your children. You're
going to have to learn the principle of submission. And dear lady,
if you're going to be married and you have a rebellious spirit
and nobody can tell you what to do, you're heading for trouble
in your home and in your marriage. This is a New Testament principle.
Ephesians chapter six, verse number one concerning the relationship
of children to adults. Children obey your parents in
the Lord for this is right. Honor thy father and thy mother,
which is the first commandment with promise that it may be well
with thee and that thou mayest live long on the earth. In the
relationship between a child and a parent, there is to be
obedience and there is to be honor. Don't talk about your
parents. Don't talk to your parents as
if they don't know what's going on, as if they're in the dark
and you're in the light and you know more than they do. You are
to obey them and you are to honor them all the days of your life.
Now, obviously, there's going to come a time when you leave
father and mother and you cleave under your wife and you become
one flesh. and you're not under their authority as you once were,
but you are always to honor your parents in the Lord. Romans chapter
13, in the context of civil government. Paul writes in Romans chapter
13 in verse number one let every soul be subject under the higher
powers For there is no power, but of God the powers that be
are ordained of God whosoever therefore resisteth the power
resisteth the ordinance of God and and they that resist shall
receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to
good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid
of the power? Do that which is good, and thou
shalt have praise of the same." Verse number four, for he is
the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which
is evil, be afraid for he beareth not the sword in vain, for he
is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that
doeth evil. Wherefore, verse number five,
he must needs be subject not only for wrath, but also for
conscience sake. Now, obviously, the context of
the scripture tells us that we are to submit to our leadership
in civil government. We are to respect the authority
of the law enforcement officers. in our state and in our community.
We are to submit and respect the authority of our elected
officials. Now, that doesn't mean that when
they tell us to violate the scripture that we're to violate the scripture,
because there's a clear principle that Peter gave. He said, ought
we to obey God, or excuse me, man rather than God? And when
he was told not to preach the gospel, what did he do? He continued
to preach the gospel. But we are to be good citizens.
The Lord Jesus said, render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's.
We are to submit to the leadership of civil government. We are to
submit in the context of the home. We are to submit in the
context of government, and we are to submit to spiritual authority
in the church go with me to Hebrews chapter number 13 if you would
please Hebrews chapter number 13 and verse number 17 Hebrews
chapter number 13 in verse number 17 and we begin reading here we're going
to read the one verse he said obey them that have the rule
over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls,
as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy
and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you." There's
a clear teaching here in the scripture that if there's a spiritual
authority in your life, you are to obey those who have the rule
over you. I'm not talking or advocating dictatorial leadership
like so many of us have heard about and read about. I'm talking
about spirit-filled, God-anointed, God-appointed men who love God,
who understand that they are accountable to God and accountable
to their congregation and want to lead them to serve the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, your preacher is not going
to be perfect no matter where you go. And all of you are preparing,
I imagine, for ministry. And you're thinking about the
day when some church is going to be blessed by your presence.
And you've got all these ideas about how things are going to
go. And you're going to go in and you're going to say to the
preacher, I'm telling you, this is what I've learned and this is
what I think we ought to do. And you're going to expect him to
get in line with you. You need to learn that you're there to
help him. You're there under his authority. And just because
some Johnny-come-lately has come into the building doesn't mean
that God has appointed or God has anointed you as a leader.
That's why God put a pastor in that church. You see, if we believe
the Bible, we understand that God places pastors in churches. Churches don't hire pastors.
God calls pastors. God places pastors in those local
assemblies. God prepares them, and God gives
them wisdom, and God gives them ability, and God directs them,
and God leads them so that they can lead the sheep of God, so
that they can lead the flock of God. And you are going into
that local church to serve at the pastor's behest, to be a
help and a blessing as he leads the people. But sometimes we
find that people develop attitudes and it becomes about them. You've
heard of, in the Bible, Paul writes of Diotrephes, he says,
he loveth to have the preeminence. He loveth to have, in other words,
Diotrephes was the kind of guy he wanted to be singing every
service. He wanted to be acknowledged. He wanted to help make the announcements.
He wanted to get to preach every so often. That's the kind of
guy, it wasn't about the Lord. It wasn't about the church. It
wasn't about serving God in humility. It was all about him. He loved
to have the preeminence. But he failed to submit to scriptural
authority and spiritual authority. And so we find here that all
authority is established by the Lord. We find here that submission,
this principle of submission was demonstrated by the son of
God. I want to tell you, if the Lord
Jesus could submit and respect authority, I don't think it's
too much to ask you and I to do the same. Luke chapter 2 and
verse 51, the Bible said, he went down with them, speaking
of his parents and came to Nazareth and was subject unto them. But
his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. That means Jesus
Christ was submissive. He subjected himself to the authority
of his parents. Do you think he knew more than
his parents? He's the son of God. Absolutely. but he submitted
himself to them. Philippians chapter 2 and verse
number 5, the Bible said, let this mind be in you which was
also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it
not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. I want to tell you, take that
on as a life verse. He made himself of no reputation. Why don't we
go about to make ourselves of no reputation? Why don't we become
like John who said, he must increase but I must decrease. He made himself of no reputation
and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the
likeness of men. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. I want to tell you Jesus Christ
is our example. The Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated
submission to you and I. All authority is given by God
submission. It's demonstrated by the Lord
Jesus Christ. And let me give you this rebellion
is of the devil. Rebellion is of the devil. Isaiah
chapter 14 verses 12 to 16. How art thou fallen from heaven?
Oh, Lucifer, son of the morning. How art there cut down to the
ground, which this weakened the nations. For thou has said in
thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne
above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the Mount
of the congregation in the sides of the North. I will ascend above
the heights of the cloud. I will be like the most high
yet. I'll should be brought down to
hell to the sides of the pit. They that see these shall narrowly
look upon thee and consider thee saying, is this the man that
made the earth to tremble? That did shake kingdoms. You
see the ultimate rebel is the devil and all rebellion is of
the devil. And every one of you from the
nicest, sweetest young lady on this campus to the most outstanding
young man, every one of you have rebellion in your heart. Every
one of us, the preacher standing before you this morning, has
a heart full of rebellion. And we have to learn to recognize
authority. And David did such. Why was Saul
rejected as king? Because he failed to recognize
God's authority. He gave in to the wishes of the
people. He spared Agag and he spared the sheep. And Samuel
the prophet said, God has rejected you from being king. Why? Because
he had a rebellious heart. I want to tell you something.
If you ever want to lead, if you ever want to lead, you better
learn how to follow. You better learn how to follow.
Every criticism you lodge against the staff and the faculty, every
criticism you lodge against the pastor, I want to tell you, you're
going to reap everything you sow, friend. With rebellious
church members who won't listen to you, with teenagers who will
sit and look at the floor and you'll wonder, why aren't they
listening to me? Don't they realize I'm God's greatest gift to the
ministry? It's going to be time to wake up one day. You better
learn this lesson. Now learn to recognize authority.
Number two, learn to respect authority, learn to respect authority. Look at verse number eight, back
in our texts for Samuel chapter 24. David also arose afterward
and went out of the cave and cried after Saul saying, my Lord,
the King. And when Saul looked behind him,
David stooped with his face to the earth and bowed himself.
And David said to Saul, wherefore hearst thou men's word saying,
behold, David seeketh I heard. Behold, this day, thine eyes
have seen how that the Lord had delivered thee today into mine
hand in the cave. And some bade me kill thee, but
mine eyes spared thee. And I said, I will not put forth
mine hand against my Lord, for he is the Lord's anointed. Moreover,
my father, see, yea, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand,
for that I cut off the skirt of thy robe and killed thee not.
Know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression
in my hand, and I have not sinned against thee, yet thou huntest
my soul to take it. The Lord judged between me and
thee. and the Lord avenge me of thee, but mine hand shall
not be upon thee, as saith the proverb of the ancients. Wickedness
proceedeth from the wicked, but mine hand shall not be upon thee.
After whom is the king of Israel come out? After whom dost thou
pursue? After a dead dog, after a flea. Here, David says, I want you
to know that my men have told me to kill you and lay my lay
a hand upon you. And in fact, Saul, I have not
sinned against you. You have unjustly accused me. And humanly speaking, I perhaps
had every right to put my hand upon you, but I failed to do
it. I would not do it because I learned
to respect authority. Notice if you would please the
way in which he addresses Saul here in verse number eight, my
Lord, the king. Uh, then again, if you look,
please, in verse number 10, at the very close of the verse,
he said, and, and, and I said, I will not put my four. I will
not put forth my hand against my Lord. Then again, in verse
number 11, he addresses him tenderly. Moreover, my father, he addresses
him with respect. He addresses him with respect.
One of the characteristics of this generation is a disrespect
for authority. It is a disrespect for their
fathers and forefathers. So many young people today want
to criticize, especially within Christianity and within the church
today. There's such a spirit of criticism
against the men of the past. And I want to tell you that's
an unhealthy thing to have. It's it's rebellion. And may
God help us. Now, God addresses undeserving,
unworthy authority. He addresses that because there's
always the question, what about unworthy authority? And I want
you to go with me to first Peter, chapter number two, first Peter,
chapter number two. And we're talking about unworthy
authority. Now, if there ever was someone who was in authority,
who was unworthy of it at this time, it was the king, King Saul. And, uh, in first Peter, chapter
number two, uh, Peter speaking on this subject concerning unworthy
authority. First of all, in verse number
13, he says, submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for
the Lord's sake. Whether it be to King as Supreme
or under governors or as under them that are sent by him for
the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that
do well notice verse 15 for, so is the will of God. that with
well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. as free, not using your liberty
for a cloak of militias, but as servants of God. Honor all
men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. He said
when it comes to godless government, here's your responsibility, it
is to submit. Now I do not agree with any policy
I don't believe, with any policy that our current president has
as far as I know. There may be some policy that
he and I might find common ground on, but for the most part, there's
very little things that he and I agree upon. But I want to tell
you that he does occupy the office of the President of the United
States, and he should be addressed and treated with respect. Now, we might disdain his policies,
and we certainly do, but we cannot lose respect and honor in this
country. So what about godless government?
He says submit. What about bad bosses? Look at
verse 18. Servants, be subject to your
masters with all fear, not only to God, excuse me, not only to
the good and the gentle. Everybody likes a good boss,
don't you? Everybody likes a sweet teacher. Oh, listen, you didn't
get that homework done, that's okay. I understand. You could
just turn it in later. That's everybody's favorite teacher,
isn't it? But the hardliner and the disciplined guy, Oh, my goodness,
we get attitudes about him and attitudes about those rough,
tough bosses. But notice what the Bible says
here. He said not only to the good and gentle, but also to
the forward for this is thank worthy. If a man for conscience
toward God endure what grief. Suffering wrongfully for what
glory is it? If when you be buffeted for your
faults, you shall take it patiently, but If when you do well and suffer
for it, you take it patiently. This is acceptable with God. I mean, you've got an unreasonable
boss. He says, just take it, endure it for the Lord's sake.
And God will be pleased with that. Do you know what I want
to do when that happens? I want to whine. I want to complain. I want to murmur. I want to get
everybody on my side. But the Lord says, endure it.
Notice verse 21, for even here unto where ye called what? What? I was called to this. Yes, that's what he says. You
were called. Why? Because Christ also suffered
for us, leaving us an example that we should follow his steps.
Verse 22. How did he react? He did no sin. Neither was guile found in his
mouth, who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered,
he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously,
who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree,
that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness by whose
stripes you were healed. For you were a sheep going astray,
but are now returning to the shepherd and bishop of your soul. He said, there's going to be
unworthy authorities in your life. Chapter 3, verses 1, he
deals, verses 1 through 7, he deals with mean mates, and there
may be times when your husband and your wife, your future wife
and your future husband isn't all that you expect them to be,
but you have to learn to submit to authority. That's what God
has said. That principle would apply to
perturbed parents, troubling teachers, and problematic professors. It applies to all spiritual authority.
Now, David didn't lay down and let Saul kill him, but he recognized
authority and he respected authority. What did David do? Well, first
of all, he showed reverence here. He showed reverence. We talked
about his tender expressions. We talked about the fact that
he bowed himself into the ground. He showed reverence. We should
always show reverence. Listen, we live in an age where
people are so critical, even among independent Baptists. May God in heaven help us. We
attack people. We attack one another. We may
have disagreements, but there's no reason for that kind of spirit
in the church of God. The disciples said, Lord, they
wouldn't have us. Should we call down fire from
heaven and destroy them? That's the attitude of some of
us sometimes. They wouldn't listen to my sermon. Let's call down
fire from heaven and destroy them. We get to thinking that
way every once in a while. Brother so-and-so he doesn't
agree with me on this and so let's call fire down from heaven
and destroy Well, we wouldn't do that, but we'd call four or
five of our friends and destroy him He was reverent He showed reason
not only did he show reverence he showed reason he reasoned
with Saul here He said Saul I have not sinned against you Yet you're
seeking after me. Who am I? I'm a dead dog. I'm a flea. You're talking about
humility. Well, that's something that's
missing often in our movement at times. I use the word movement. We're not a part of a movement.
We're a part of the church of Jesus Christ. Old habits are
hard to break, aren't they? What did David do? He chose to
trust God. He asked God to take the matter
into his hands. Notice verse 12, the Lord judged
between me and thee, and the Lord avenged me of thee, but
mine hand shall not be upon thee. Hey, when that unfair question
comes or when that assignment shouldn't have been counted an
F, but it was, or when the pastor made a decision that you didn't
like, or when your boss said that you got to work Saturday,
I know you want to go to the Valentine's banquet, but you got to work.
Listen, whatever it is, you give it to the Lord. You give it to
God. Proverbs 1632, he that is slow
to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit
than he that taketh the city. Proverbs 15, one, a soft answer
turneth away wrath, a soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous
words stir up anger. What do you do when you face
unworthy authority? You don't develop a rebellious
attitude, you show respect, you respond to authority with a submissive
spirit. What did David do? David learned
to recognize authority. David learned to respect authority. Finally, if you look with me.
We're going to see that David learned to rest in authority.
David learned to rest in authority. Notice verse 15. He said, the
Lord, therefore, be judge. And judge between me and D. And
C. and plead my cause and deliver
me out of thine hand. What you and I like to do when
we feel like we've been unjustly dealt with is we like to talk
about it to our friends. In fact, it dominates our conversation. And we like to call people up
and and we tell them our side of the story. And it's like we
find some type of comfort in getting them on our team. But
the Bible said that when that happened, what did David do?
He gave it to the Lord and he learned to rest in authority. He said, Saul, I want you to
understand, I haven't done the things you've accused me of.
I had an opportunity to end this thing, but I chose not to. I
learned to recognize your authority and I learned to respect your
authority. And now I'm going to rest in authority. I'm going
to rest in it. I'm going to trust God to take
care of it. I know that God has a purpose
in my life. I know that God is working through the adversities.
I know that God is working through me in this stage of my life,
having to run and live out in the mountains and in the caves
and being on the run. I know that God is preparing
me. I know that God has anointed me. I know that God has called
me and I'm learning to rest in the fact that God will take up
my cause. Exodus chapter 14 and verse number
14, he said, ye shall hold your peace and the Lord shall fight
for you. Do you know it's not our place
to become the judge of those who are in authority in our lives?
Oftentimes when I tell my children to do something, one of the first
questions that come out of their mouth is this, why? Maybe when
you look at the rule book at ambassador, you might say, why,
what's that for? When a teacher says we're going
to do this, you might say, why? And what you're doing is you're
setting yourself up as the judge. You're setting yourself up as
the authority. And you want the authorities
in your life to become accountable to you. You want to be the inspector
of every decision that they make. Davidson, I'm not going to do
that. I'm going to recognize authority. I'm going to respect
it. I'm going to rest in it. I'm going to understand that
God has established it, that God has ordered it, and that
my responsibility is not to call into question everything that
I've been asked to do. My responsibility under God in heaven is to submit
to the authority that God has placed in my life. David obeyed the Lord. He submitted
to his will and he rested in him. David recognized the fact
that he was going to be the king someday. And he thought if I
raised my hand against the king as a subject, what kind of king
am I going to be? So he left it to the Lord. The
Lord will take up my cause. Proverbs 21 in verse number one,
the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of
water. He turneth it with us whoever he will. Proverbs 16
and verse seven, when a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh
even his enemies to be at peace with him. You see, sometimes
we lose sight of what we're really supposed to do. We think that
guy's on my nerves, that teacher's after me, my parents won't get
off my back, my pastor's making all kinds of crazy decisions
and I don't like them. And what God is really trying
to teach us is to submit and to rest in him. Listen, when your pastor makes
a decision. I want you to understand that
there's a whole lot of things that go into that decision that
you don't know about. Are you listening? When he establishes a program
or institutes a policy or says, we're going to do this or we're
going to do that. Do you understand that that pastor
has been appointed there by God? God has given him a vision. God
wants to lead that congregation through his leadership. And if
all you can do is walk around and question every decision that
he makes, I'm going to tell you, you're going to have a hard time
when you try to go out and do the same thing. If you cannot
learn to submit to spiritual leadership, you are not going
to be able to be used to the Lord in the ministry and the
work of God. That's a New Testament principle,
friend. And so David learned to rest in authority. Number
one, learn to recognize authority. All authority is ordained of
God. The Lord Jesus is our example. All rebellions of the devil.
Number two, learn to respect authority. You'll never be over
until you learn to be under. Number three, learn to rest in
authority. Remember what the Lord expects of you rest in him
and he will lead you. Let's pray together. Father,
thank you for your word. Thank you for these students.
I pray you'll work in their heart through this message and help
them all to learn to submit to you in Jesus name. Amen.
A Lesson In Submission
Series Spring Semester 2015
| Sermon ID | 8172153277012 |
| Duration | 42:30 |
| Date | |
| Category | Chapel Service |
| Bible Text | 1 Samuel 24 |
| Language | English |
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