Would you please rise for the reading of God's Word this evening. We will be looking in 1 Samuel 16. I know that your worship guide says verses 14 to 23, but I'd like to actually begin in verse 13. Hear now the reading of God's holy Word. Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him, that is David, in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. Then Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him. And Saul's servants said to him, Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you. Let our Lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre. And when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it and you will be well. So Saul said to his servants, provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me. One of the young men answered, Behold, I have a son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence. And the Lord is with him. Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, send me David your son, who is with the sheep. And Jesse took a donkey laden with bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them by David his son to Saul. And David came to Saul and entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. And Saul said to Jesse, saying, Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight. And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well in the harmful spirit departed from him. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the living God shall stand forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray together. Our God and our Father, we would pray as we would enter into your word. Perhaps the reminder, the call to Moses would help us. that You would take off the sandals of our heart, for this is holy ground. And so help us to hear the Word of God and to digest it. And all for Jesus' sake, we pray in His name. Amen. You may be seated. If you were with us last week, we began 1 Samuel 16, it was a bit of a challenge. It was the confrontation of the truth. In fact, we confessed it just a few moments ago as our memory verse. You remember verse 7, for the Lord sees not as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. It's this truth that Well, that human perception can often be unreliable. What you and I think is true, at times we learn, sadly enough, it's not true. It's we were looking at something perhaps with the eyes of men. I was reminded of that just a few weeks ago. We were playing golf. I strategically chose the people I played with. But at the end, we came together and I was sitting at a table with, I don't know, four to six people. And I was letting them know about how my golf game went that day. And I was saying it was the best golf that I have ever played. But I'm not a good golfer. But I have a goal every time I go to the golf course. It's really to look the part. Because if I look the part, then people don't question me. And I'm always wondering, is that successful? to which one of our very own, he will remain nameless, said to me, even after the story, oh, I thought you were really good at golf. And I thought, looks can be deceiving, but I appreciate it. It's something of that nature that we heard last week, but it's still very much right here. Looking and being are not the same thing. You can look and think you see something. It doesn't mean it, in fact, it truly is. And so our text is simply saying, you and I, Well, we need a biblical lens. We cannot look with human effort upon the Word of God and think that we will discern it. What we need are eyes of faith. We walk not by sight, but by faith. And so as we come even into our text, we need to be reminded, do not look as man looks, but ask, O God, might you show us Jesus? And so when we're confronted with what's taking place, what are we reminded of? Well, we are reminded that David, he was chosen by God. He has been anointed as king. And yet there's this bit of a surprise. He's been anointed as king, and yet, perhaps we might be thankful for it, leadership takes time. Character building takes time. You cannot learn leadership, you cannot build character in a day. You cannot learn patience in an hour. It's required through years of training, through opportunity. And so I think a part of what we have this night is it's David. He is the chosen king and he is a king in training. And so I want you to see two things about his life, about his time being trained. The King's power. You can see it in verses 13 to 18. And then the King's ministry. The King's power and the King's ministry. There's a bit of a connection between verses 13 and 14. I'm not saying it's a time connection. I don't know how long it took from verse 13 to verse 14. But what we see in verse 14 is now the Spirit of the Lord, it departed from Saul. Verse 13, we had learned that the Spirit of God rushed upon David. I do not think it meant simultaneously, but I do not know how long the time took. And so in verse 13, there's this language that shows up. It shouldn't be new to us. But what we read was, the Spirit of God rushed upon David. It's the same exact phrase, if you remember, when we were in the book of Judges. The Spirit of God rushed upon Samson. Actually, if you've been following closely along with us, in 1 Samuel, the Spirit of God has also rushed upon Saul himself. But the language It's significant when we read those words that the Spirit of God rushes upon. It's showing power. It's showing power and purpose. That the Spirit of God, who is God himself, rushes with power and has a purpose in mind. It's the Spirit of God who accomplishes the purposes of God. And so as he's rushing upon, what do we see? It's this sustenance, it's this strengthening to accomplish that which God has set out. And so as you think about Samson and Saul, Well, when the Spirit of God rushed upon them, you were clear it was something outside of themselves. Samson is a very clear example, isn't it? The Spirit of God rushes upon him and gives him strength. Not strength that Samson has, but it's the strength of God for the task that God had put before Samson. The same thing is true in Saul. There's this emphasis on some kind of external reality. In Samson it's strength, in Saul there's anger, there's prophecy. But what's the point? The point is, the Spirit of God rushes upon them to meet the need of the hour. But by meeting the need of the hour, what are we saying? It's to meet the work that God has chosen to do. And it is the power of God that in fact accomplishes it. It's God's power. It's God's provision to accomplish God's purpose. But when we read in verse 13 that the Spirit of God rushes upon David, it is slightly different. The phrase that the Spirit of God rushes upon is the same. But what do we see that is very different in David that we cannot say about Samson and we cannot say about Saul because it's not stated? Well, in verse 13, it says, and the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. There's something different about this, King. It's not a task-oriented thing. It's not a temporary-oriented thing. It's a permanent thing. The Spirit of God is coming with a purpose, and it's not going to leave. It's going to be with David for the rest of his life. And it's because God has said, I have provided for myself a king, and this king is different. I think he's simply saying, it's the spirit of God that makes all the difference. It's the difference maker, but you can't see that if only you are looking through the eyes of men. Why do I say that? Because I want you to consider what happened for David when he was anointed. There was just a few people. There was no congratulations, King of 2024. There was no banner. There was no newspaper article. There was no reception. There was just a small band of people who were right there. And yet the Spirit of God came with power and with purpose. But I think that puts the temptation before us, doesn't it? Because we might be tempted to think, but did it really matter? Does it really matter that the Spirit of God rushed upon David? Does it really matter that the Spirit of God has departed from Saul? He's still king. David might've been chosen, he might've been anointed, and yet he doesn't sleep in the palace. He has no crown, as it were. Saul is king. And I think we're tempted to think spiritual matters aren't that very important. They have less influence. They have less importance in our life. It's the physical reality that is most important. And yet I think our text is saying something entirely different. No, it's a reversal. It's the spiritual matters that are, in fact, of what is most important. It's the spiritual matters that define the physical reality because God will always accomplish His purpose in His time. And I want you to see what that looks like. The Spirit of God has rushed upon David, but it has departed from Saul. And there are two effects, you might say. There are two results that come about because the Spirit of God has left Saul. I've already told you that I really do believe that the Spirit of God makes all the difference. And I want you to see, why is that true? How can you understand that? Well, look at what happens to Saul. There's two effects when the Spirit of God departs. Or you might say there are two effects when God rejects Saul as king. The first is the Spirit of God departs from him. Now to be clear, this is not saying Saul was running the race and he lost his way. That he has somehow managed to fall out of the kingdom of God. He has lost his salvation. No, I don't think that's what the text is saying at all. The text is being very clear. No, when the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul, it did so with a purpose. And that purpose has ended. And therefore, the Spirit of God has left. You and I, if you are in Christ Jesus, you cannot lose your salvation. This is not a text saying, be careful, because you can lose what Christ has purchased for you. That's not at all what he is saying. You cannot lose. your salvation. But I do think verse 14 serves as a very strong warning to Christians. What do we see? There's a very big blessing that you receive in the gospel, the Spirit of God. Think about what Paul says in Ephesians chapter 1. I often think about it because I don't know if I entirely understand the scope of what he's saying. He says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Don't you love it? And yet, aren't you scratching your head? What does it mean that you've blessed us with every spiritual blessing? What's the order? What's the priority? How do we understand all of those blessings? I don't know. That's part of the Christian life, is you investigating the rewards of what it means to know Christ Jesus. But I think what Paul is saying, if you keep reading in Ephesians chapter 1, do you want to know how you receive such blessing? It's because you have first been blessed by the Spirit of God in you. What does Paul say in Ephesians 1 to tell us of the vitality and the importance of the Spirit of God? Well, it's the Spirit of God that is the guarantee of your inheritance, being a Christian. It's the Spirit of God who proclaims that you are a child of God. It is the Spirit of God that tells us we have been forgiven. that we have been bought and sealed by God. And so I put before you, what greater blessing as a Christian could you ask for than the presence of God himself and that of the Holy Spirit? Do you remember Luke? Luke says something like that, doesn't he? In Luke chapter 11, we probably remember Matthew's version better than Luke, perhaps because you like it better. What is Matthew saying? Well, he's talking about how good God is to you. And he compares your heavenly father with earthly fathers. Your earthly fathers who do not give you a stone when you ask for bread or a scorpion when you ask for an egg. If your earthly father does that, how much better does your heavenly father give to those who ask him? Luke, I think, says something far more significant. What does Luke say? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? Did you see the blessing of what it means to have the Spirit of God in you? It's the Spirit of God that moves your heart to faith and repentance. The Spirit of God that would sustain you and strengthen you. And it is true for any and all who put their faith in Christ. Every believer has the exact same blessing of the Spirit of God. but it's not simply true of just every individual believer. It is the same truth that is applied to the church, to the corporate gathering of the saints, that the Spirit of God that dwells within each believer has also promised himself at the worship of Almighty God. Without his power, without his presence, what are we doing? Sometimes we talk about that 30 to 45 minute window on Wednesday nights. It's a power hour, isn't it? To beg God to work in the lives of those in our church, to beg God to work around the world. We're asking for the power of God's spirit to be at work. We as a church and all of our ministries need the presence and the power of God's spirit. We can have the best plans. We can have the best people. We can have the best provisions. And yet we need to be reminded what Jesus says, apart from me. You can do nothing. You can do nothing. We as Christians are in desperate need of the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. I think that's what the Scriptures are testifying to, so much so that I don't think you or I could measure the blessings of the Spirit within us. There's no way for us to plumb its depths. We cannot see how important the Spirit of God is to your life and to mine. And Saul has lost that presence. He has lost that power. He's lost the Spirit of God. God has departed. God's Spirit has departed from Saul, but he does something else. He has sent a harmful spirit to torment him. It's challenging to read, isn't it? That the spirit of God has departed from Saul and a harmful spirit from the Lord is there to torment him. I'm reading from the ESV. And it says, and a harmful spirit. Some of you perhaps are using a different translation and you might even see the word instead of harmful, it might even say the word evil. What do you make of that? Is God joining forces with evil to bring about his way on his enemies? Is he teaming up with the devil as it were to bring about what he so desires? There are a host of opinions on that verse. And I would say most of them, please don't read. Most of them are dead wrong. The reason why your ESV says harmful is because it's writing it in context. What it's saying is it's not talking about a moral sense. This is not harmful or evil in some kind of moral sense. It's so in a judgment. It is God's judgment against Saul. It's harmful because it's God judging Saul for his disobedience. And it's not accidental. Where is it coming from? You read it very carefully. You saw it. And a harmful spirit from the Lord. Yes, it is God who sent this harmful spirit. Some people have tried to say, well, Saul just went crazy. He's lost his mind. This is mental illness. This is some kind of psychiatric issue. I'm not saying that there aren't such things. There are. This is not one of them. This is not a psychiatric issue. This is a theological issue. God is judging Saul for Saul's leadership, Saul's life. And he has sent a harmful spirit to judge him. And I think it's easy for us. Well, it's easy for us to say God is sovereign. And sometimes it's easy for us to say that when things are going well. Yeah, God is sovereign. and we can find comfort in it, and we should. But sometimes the sovereignty of God isn't all about comfort. Sometimes it's about calamity. Sometimes he sends forth his judgment, even as a means of grace at times, in your life and in mine. And then in others, it's simply to judge the impenitent, those who will not repent. And that is what is going on here. And so I think you and I need to be willing to say, yes, we believe in the sovereignty of God. And at the same time, we ought to be able to confess, we just don't know a whole lot about the sovereignty of God. It is so vast. Yes, we know He's good. Yes, we know He's righteous. Yes, we know He's holy. And yes, we don't know all of what even that means, that He is good, righteous, and holy. And yet it should not lead you nor me to some kind of embrace of a partial sovereign God. No, you cast yourselves upon him and say, hold me, keep me, teach me. And so this harmful spirit that was upon Saul, it was obvious, not simply to Saul, but it was obvious to everyone else around him. His servants pick up and notice that his servants are even saying the same thing as verse 14. Yes, there's a harmful spirit from God. We are clear. You're not going crazy. This is from the Lord. They have a right understanding of the situation. They even have a right description. They recognize this harmful spirit But in their right description, they give the wrong prescription. What should we do for Saul, who has this harmful spirit? They say you have this spirit, and so, well, we need to get you some music, some musical therapy to calm you down, a solution to merely fix surface-y issues. Now, don't get me wrong. We love Mr. Bino. Music does calm us, doesn't it? But it calms our minds. It doesn't fix matters of the heart. And so these servants are saying, we need to provide music for Saul when they should have been saying, Saul, you need to repent. You need to repent to the Lord. You need to turn from your ways. It should be a warning to us. You and I should not be satisfied with short fixes to deeper issues when things are going on, because what is happening? Everyone knows that there's a problem with Saul, and no one says, confess your sin to the Lord. They merely say, let's see if we can calm your anxieties. I think God at times uses physical discomfort to get your attention in mind. Do you remember David in Psalm 32? When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all the day long. Not confessing sin, not repenting, it doesn't solve any problem. Running from it doesn't solve it. Diversions can be deadly. Seeking to find a way to minimize the effects, and to be sure you and I can use surface-oriented things and they will succeed, but they will wear off. They might calm your heart. You might get better sleep, but make no mistake, the heart issue is still there, and it will, in fact, come back. And so when we don't face sin, when we don't turn from sin, when we don't confess it and repent of it, while we're doing exactly what the Bible says. If you don't repent and you don't confess, then you suppress. And that's what's happening. There's no repentance of sin. It's a suppression of truth. Instead of calling Saul to repent, they offer him a way to calm his anxious mind. And so Saul agrees and he says, give me one of those. Find me someone who can help. And you kind of get the sense that one of those servants, they were already thinking of David. They had his name ready. And they say, well, we found one. And he does way more than just play the music. And there's quite the description. You can see it in verse 18. And where we are in 1 Samuel, we don't necessarily know, how did they get such a description of him? We know that we will begin to see those things played out, especially in 1 Samuel 17. That's of David and Goliath. But where did this description come from? Well, I'm not sure, but it is one that you and I ought to desire for ourself and certainly for our children. What does the servant say of David? He says he's a man of valor, a man of war. Yes, David and Goliath, but you remember he says, before that I was a man of war. I killed a lion and I killed a bear. And now I'm here to fight for the honor and glory of God. Don't you want young children like that? Who have such a desire to fight spiritual battles. young boys and girls who are full of conviction of what is true, who are willing to fight the battle of holiness, to fight the battle against the enemy and sharing the gospel. It's a profound description that doesn't have to only be said of David. It could be said of our children. Might we pray to that end? Make our children spiritually fit to fight the fight of faith. David, he's not just a man of valor, a man of war, he's prudent in speech. Many of you love the book of Proverbs. Sometimes I wonder, where did Solomon get all that? Maybe it was from his dad. David, Solomon who would say, you need to guard your heart. It's the wellspring of of life. If we want speech change, we have to seek heart change. Jesus said, out of the overflow of the heart, mouth speaks. He's a man prudent in speech. David, the Psalms will say he's the sweet psalmist of Israel. He's going to say, well, in Psalm 19, Let the words of my heart or mouth, meditation of my heart, be honoring in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. A man of prudent speech and good presence. Yes, David was probably attractive physically. But I don't simply think that's what they're saying. I don't think it's just saying this is an attractive man, some natural beauty. I think it's saying godliness is beautiful. Godliness is attractive. And that's what's going on with David. He lives out the gospel. But I want you to recognize just that description, you could simply say the same thing of Saul. It's the last one in the description that makes all the difference. What's the final descriptor of David? The Lord is with him. And that's not even David's self-evaluation. That is the servants who see David and who see his life and say, there's something different about David. And it is the Lord. What makes the difference? What is the power of the king? It's the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit of God that is rushed upon him. It brings about this fruit in his life. You have the King's power. It's the Spirit of God. But then you have the King's ministry. Saul hears this description, and he says to Jesse, all right, I want David. It's a bit of an ironic situation, isn't it? Go get David. And notice what he says. Send me David, your son, who is with the sheep. Actually, before that, he's going to tell his servants, provide for me a man. Doesn't it echo what the Lord has already said about David? I have provided for myself. And now you have God who has provided a man, and Saul is seeking the same man and doesn't even know that it is God's provision. And so David comes The chosen king is now about to serve the rejected king. And David immediately becomes a means of grace. He plays the liar, and it calms Saul's mind. The harmful spirit would come and go as David would play. That's what verse 23 tells us. And I just wonder, in David's training, in his serving of Saul, seeing the effects Does David learn what he will later confess? Your memory commits that sin with Bathsheba. It's part of his confession in Psalm 51. Do not cast me from your presence. Do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Seeing a man who's had the Spirit of God depart, and David is serving him, will later confess, O Lord, in my sin, do not cast me from your presence, and do not take your Spirit from me. But you see the grace of God here. David enters in, and he serves. He's not just growing in what it means to do gospel ministry, what it means to serve. He's seeing the effects of the Spirit of God in his life. He's seeing the effects of the Spirit of God through his life. As he would serve Saul, Saul would be calmed. Saul was calmed by David's playing. A grace of God, one that was so effective. What happens in verse 21? He goes from playing a liar to now being the armor bearer of Saul. And what would that have meant? Well, clearly David would have been armed with a sword, with a shield. Saul's not armed. You have a chosen king armed, protecting a rejected king. And the great irony is David will never turn against Saul. and yet how frequently Saul will turn against David. And David serves Saul all the days of Saul's life, and yet Saul still rejects the gospel. And yet here, you see something of what the gospel does in the lives of Christians. It serves. It draws out calmness, wholeness, even affection. Saul, yes, it shortly lived, but he will say, I love him greatly. The gospel is attractive in many ways. Don't be fooled into thinking the gospel is offensive. There are moments of offensiveness to the gospel. That's because you're a sinner, I'm a sinner, and so is the world. The gospel is very attractive. The glory of God is beautiful. It's majestic. And you're seeing some of that in the life of David. And David can serve. Because David was out with the sheep while all of his brothers had a chance. He was nowhere to be found. He recognized he has received grace. And he comes in and he doesn't say, Well, I'm not serving Saul. I'm the king. Why would I do that? And I'm not playing a liar when he's going nuts. Why would I do that? This is entirely beneath me. Doesn't he know who I am? No, David, he enters in and he serves because I don't think he looks on the outward appearance as man does. He has a biblical lens to say, what is God doing? God makes all the difference, doesn't he? When God shows up, the goodness and the gospel show up. You have a king, a chosen king, and yet there's a greater king. And you recognize his name, don't you? Don't make any mistake about it. Verse 13 matters. Jesus in his first sermon, what is he going to preach on? Isaiah chapter 61. And what is he going to say? The year of the Lord's favor, yes, and the spirit of the Lord is upon me. He's going to begin his preaching ministry by saying, the spirit of God is upon me. the Lord who said, I will provide myself a king. He does temporarily with David, but he will eternally in the Lord Jesus Christ, who's going to take on human flesh. Yes, David is a chosen king. Yes, David has an understanding of grace and can serve. Yes, David has skill to calm the mind of Saul. But Jesus has more in mind than calming your mind. or soothing your mind. Jesus has come to save your soul, not simply to settle your thinking. Yes, David is all about song. And yet, how much greater the song with Jesus. When Jesus would enter the world, how much greater the song of the angels, glory to God. You remember it in Luke chapter two? Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased. Jesus sang songs, did you know it? What would be the song of Jesus? How should you wrestle this night? If you're troubled or anxious, if you're worried, you're carrying guilt, How do you understand the song of Jesus? Well, Jesus has a song. It goes like this. The Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. The right hand of the Lord exalts. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. I shall not die, but I shall live and recount the deeds of the Lord. Open to me the gates of righteousness that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord. The righteous shall enter through it I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. That's a part of Psalm 118. It's Jesus who's going to say in John chapter 6, the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. The song that Jesus sings, it changes you. It changes me because they're words of life. Just before he says that in John 6, he says in John 5, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. David is a king in training, but you have a triumphant king in Christ who sings songs of life. and gives His Spirit to you, because it makes all the difference. And the Spirit of God doesn't just bring life into you, it gives you the opportunity to serve, and to serve any and all, and all for the sake of your great King. And He does it not just one day, He does it all your days. And so as we come to the table, I want you to remember those words of Jesus, the words I've spoken to you, their spirit and their life. Let's pray to that end. Our God and our Father, we thank you. It's your word that tells us where the spirit of God is. There is freedom. There is power. and there is life. Might you grant your servants this day a real understanding of the presence and power of your spirit in their life. And for those who do not know you, oh, send forth your spirit and make your home within them, that they might hear your word and believe them, believe in you. And therefore they would not come into judgment, but would have passed, even this night, from death and into life. And we praise you for it. In Jesus' name, amen.