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.