Go with me, if you would, back
to first Samuel chapter 16. All things are of the Lord. All things are of the Lord. And
I truly believe one of the reasons that he put us in a position
of having to stream our services like we did. is because it made
me want to very simply tell you some stories. I was thinking
about this from your point of view. It's difficult. I know
it's difficult to really, maybe if you don't have little
ones, it's better. But nonetheless, there are just
many distractions from home. And I felt led to just tell some
stories and the Lord ended up blessing the stories to me so
much and made me so interested in these accounts of David. It just made me want to go back
and see the beginning where it all started. So that's what we're
going to do tonight. This is the beginning of the
story of David. Now, obviously the Lord used
David to be a very important character and figure and type
in the scripture. He used this man, David, um,
to be a type of Christ. The Lord ended this whole book
in revelation 22 by announcing, he said, I am the root and the
offspring of David. That's how he, that's the ending
announcement of the book. So clearly David is a very important
type of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is where his story begins.
If you look with me at first Samuel 16, verse one says, and
the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul,
seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Israel
rejected the Lord's leadership of them by using a prophet. The Lord led his people through
prophets. And Israel didn't want that. They said all the other nations
have kings. Give us a king. We want a king.
And they chose Saul to be their king. And he was a wicked king. And the Lord announced, I reject
him. He's not going to reign over
my people. I reject him. And being devastated and being
disappointed in Saul and being sad over how everything went
down. Samuel loved the Lord. He loved the Lord's people. And
just because this is how everything went, he mourned over the whole
thing. And verse one, the Lord said
unto Samuel, how long wilt thou mourn for Saul seeing I have
rejected him from reigning over Israel. fill thine horn with
oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite." Who
was Jesse the Bethlehemite? Turn with me back one book, go
to Genesis one book to the book of Ruth, Ruth chapter four. Ruth chapter four, let me summarize
this This book here, a man and his wife who were from Bethlehem
moved to the country of Moab and Moab that people, they were
the enemies of God. They were the enemies of Israel.
And this man and woman from Bethlehem moved to Moab and. Both of their
sons married women from Moab. One of them was named Ruth. She
was a Moabitess. And after some time went on,
everybody died. This man, the two sons, everybody
died. One sister-in-law left and it
was just Ruth and Naomi, her mother-in-law. They're the only
ones left and they became so poor. They had to go back to
Bethlehem to be beggars, begging for food. And when they got there,
Ruth went out to beg and it just so happens that she went to the
field of the only man who had the right to pay off all of their
debts. and to buy them and own them,
take ownership of them, to take care of them and provide for
them as servants in the family. The man's name was Boaz. So Ruth wanted this purchase
from him. And one night she went to Boaz
and she told him, I'm a homeless beggar. Would you please buy
me to be a servant in your house? And Boaz said, Ruth, you don't
know this, but I love you. And I won't just buy you, I'll
marry you. So he made a covenant before
a nearer kinsman. All right, look at Ruth 4, verse
9. And Boaz said unto the elders
and unto all the people, you are witnesses this day that I
have bought all that was Elimelech's and all that was Kylion's and
Mahlon's of the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth, the Moabitess,
the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife. to raise up the
name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be
not cut off from among his brethren and from the gate of his place.
You are witnesses this day." And all the people that were
in the gate and the elders said, we are witnesses. The Lord make
the woman that has come into thine house like Rachel and Leah,
which too did build the house of Israel, and do thou worthily
in Ephrata, and be famous in Bethlehem. And let thy house
be like the house of Phares, whom Tamar barren to Judah, and
the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman.
So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife, And when he went in
unto her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son. And the women
said unto Naomi, Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee
this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. And he shall be unto thee a restorer
of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age. For thy daughter-in-law,
which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath
borne him. And Naomi took the child, and
laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it. And the women,
her neighbors, gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to
Naomi, and they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse,
the father of David." Now these are the generations of Phares,
Phares begat Hezron and Hezron begat Ram and Ram begat Amenadab
and Amenadab begat Nashon and Nashon begat Salmon and Salmon
begat Boaz and Boaz begat Obed and Obed begat Jesse and Jesse
begat David. That's how God ordained for David
to come into this world. All of that happened for David
to come into this world. and the son of David to come
into this world. This particular man that the
Lord brought, he came through this glorious work and love of
a kinsman redeemer. So Jesse was the grandson of
Ruth and David was the great grandson of Ruth. All right,
go with me back to first Samuel 16. Verse 1 says, And the Lord said
unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have
rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill thine horn with
oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for
I have provided me a king among his sons. I have provided me. a king. He said, you go to Jesse
the Bethlehemite because Jehovah Jireh. That's why you go to him. I have provided. That is the
gospel. That's the gospel. We're going
to keep going. But when I was studying this, I thought we could
stay in verse one for who knows how long. This is the gospel. When God told Abraham to take
his son Isaac to the top of Mount Moriah and sacrifice him as a
sin offering to God. When they were headed up, Isaac
said, father, I see the fire and I see the wood, but where
is the lamb? And Abraham said, my son, God
will provide himself a lamb. God will provide himself a lamb
and he did, he provided himself a lamb for a burnt offering.
I love this. Isaac was tied up. Abraham's knife was raised and
God cried, Abraham, behold, the Ram, behold, the lamb. the lamb that I have provided
to deliver you and your son from his awful condition. And with thankful joy, Abraham
cried, Jehovah Jireh, my God has supplied, my God has provided. So verse 1, the Lord said unto
Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected
him from reigning over Israel? Fill thine horn with oil, and
go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have
provided me a king among his sons. And Samuel said, How can
I go? If Saul hear it, he will kill
me. And the Lord said, take and heifer
with thee and say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord. Everything
that God has done for sinners revolves around, points to, and
is because of the sacrifice. Everything. Everything. If God is gonna do anything for
sinners, there has to be a sacrifice.
There has to be a sacrifice to satisfy God and to pay our sin
debt before Him. Verse 2, Samuel said, How can
I go? If Saul hear it, he will kill
me. And the Lord said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I
am come to sacrifice to the Lord. And call Jesse to the sacrifice,
and I will show thee what thou shalt do. And thou shalt anoint
unto me him whom I name unto thee, whom I name. He said, I
will do this. Samuel, you're not gonna do this.
That's important. It's important for the messenger
to know that. You're not gonna do this. You
know, we want God's people to be saved. We want God's people
to be called out. But nobody does that but God.
And that's what he told Samuel, I will name whom I'm choosing. I will call them out. This is
going to be by my will. This is going to be my choosing
verse four. And Samuel did that, which the
Lord spake and came to Bethlehem and the elders of the town trembled
at his coming and said, come as thou peaceably. The gospel begins with the fear
of the Lord. The gospel begins with the fear
of the Lord. Samuel was about to bring them
good news. He was, but they knew that his
coming was from God and they feared it. Where the spirit and
the presence of God is, there is a reverent fear. There is a reverent fear. I was
in a building recently that holds so-called worship services. And
as I sat in that building, I thought, I'm so glad I don't have to come
back to this place. I'm so glad I don't sit here.
I'm so glad I don't try to worship God here. It was written on all
the walls, no fear, no fear. Where the spirit and the presence
of God is, there is a reverent fear there. When his spirit is
not there, When God is not there and His blessing is not there,
there is no fear. That's how you can tell. And
it just, it's sickening. It's just sickening. Oh, my God,
give us a reverent fear for who he is, what he's done for us.
Worship, a fear, a reverent fear, not afraid to worship, but a
reverent fear in our worship. This is God. This is God. Verse four. And Samuel did that
which the Lord spake and came to Bethlehem. And the elders
of the town trembled at his coming and said, comest thou peaceably? And he said peaceably, I am come
to sacrifice unto the Lord. Sanctify yourselves and come
with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his
sons and called them to the sacrifice. The word sanctified means to
set apart. That's what it means. He specifically,
purposefully, particularly, chose, called out the very ones that
He came for. And that's what God does for
all of His chosen, called, singled out people. He sanctifies them.
He sets them apart. Verse 6. And it came to pass
when they were calm that he looked on Eliab and said, surely the
Lord's anointed is before him. Eliab was the oldest of Jesse's
eight sons. And Samuel looked at him and
he said, surely this is the one that God's going to anoint. Verse six came to pass when they
were come that he looked on Eliab and said, surely the Lord's anointed
is before him. But the Lord said unto Samuel,
look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature,
because I have refused him for the Lord seeth not as man seeth
for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh
on the heart. That's how it is in salvation.
That's how it is in salvation. Everybody is looking on the outward
appearance. Everybody's trying to, that's
how it is with the law. Everybody's trying to fix the
outward appearance, but God looks on the heart and concerning every
soul born on this earth. All he sees is something that
is desperately wicked. The Lord's ways are not our ways
and his thoughts are not our thoughts. That's how it is in
whom he chooses to save. That's how it is in everything
that he purposes to do. Everything. His purposes are
not always understood by us. Samuel thought that has to be
him. His purposes are not always understood,
but we understand that he knows what he's doing. and His purposes
are always right. He is perfect and cannot do wrong. His decision and His will is
never wrong, never. And he told Samuel, Eliab is
not the one. I'm not looking on outward things,
I'm looking on the heart. So Samuel, trusting, believing
God, he moved on. Verse 8, then Jesse called Abinadab
and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, neither hath the
Lord chosen this. Then Jesse made Shammah to pass
by. And he said, neither hath the
Lord chosen this. Again, Jesse made seven of his
sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, the
Lord hath not chosen these. Everyone who seemed suitable
was called in. And Samuel said, the Lord has
chosen none of them. He said, do you have any sons
who seem in your eyes to be unsuitable? You wouldn't happen to have a
seemingly unsuitable son, would you? Verse 11. And Samuel said unto
Jesse, are here all thy children? And he said, there remaineth
yet the youngest. And behold, he keepeth the sheep." As though it dawned on him. Behold,
he keepeth the sheep. He said, I have one more son
and he is the keeper of the sheep. I've titled this message, The
King Who Keeps His Sheep. That's who David was. David was a shepherd and a king who said, the king
is my shepherd. The King of kings is my shepherd. In the same way that I keep my
sheep, he keeps me. Verse 11, Samuel said unto Jesse,
are here all thy children? And he said, there remaineth
yet the youngest and behold, he keepeth the sheep. Now ask the Lord to let you enter
into this. All right. How did Christ keep His sheep? How did Christ keep His sheep? Here's the answer. He became their Lamb. How did Christ keep His sheep? He did it by becoming their Lamb. Think about this. Think about
this. All right. God's people are called
the sheep. We are the sheep out of a whole
fold of sheep. Can you picture a fold of sheep? One lamb was taken out of the
fold. And sacrifice to God for the
sin of the people. One lamb was taken out and the
rest of the sheep were spared. How did Christ keep his sheep?
By becoming their lamb. One would be taken so the rest
could be left alone. One would be sacrificed so the
rest could live. Isaiah 53 says, just like David,
it says, our Lord was written off. not considered in any way
to be worthy of being God's king and deliverer as a root out of
dry ground, no form nor comeliness. Can't you see this illustration
of him coming to us? Picture a sheepfold. Can't you
see him coming to us as one of us? Where we were, what we were,
sheep in a fold. And He made Himself to be in
our likeness, a sheep with us. And as the priest, as the upholder
of God's law comes to take one from the fold for a sacrifice
for sin, we all run. Christ stays. We all turn our back on Him.
He sets His face to the judgment. When they take him, we all watch
him as he is led as a lamb to the slaughter, knowing in our
hearts that it's because of his stripes that we're healed. Because he was taken, because
that happened to him, we're spared. We're delivered from judgment
and we're kept safe right here in this fold. Verse 11 says,
Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said,
There remaineth yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send
and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he come hither.
And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and with
all of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to, And the
Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of
oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren." He anointed
him in the midst of his brethren. And what that means is Samuel
poured the oil on him and acknowledged him before everybody. And that's
exactly what God the Father did from heaven. to His own Son,
His Lamb, who was born King, Jesus the Christ, He poured His
Spirit on Him. The Spirit descended from heaven
like a dove and landed on the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Father
said, Arise, this is He. My Son, in whom I am well pleased,
crown Him with many crowns. Bow down and worship him because
his throne is forever. His kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom. And of his reign, there'll be
no end. Verse 13, then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed
him in the midst of his brethren. And the spirit of the Lord came
upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to
Ramah. That's how God anointed his King. That's how he named the King
that he had provided David. who would illustrate time and
time again the salvation that God has provided for His people
through their King, Christ Jesus the Lord. In closing, turn with
me to 2 Samuel chapter 5. 2 Samuel chapter 5. 2 Samuel 5 verse 4 says, David was 30 years old when he
began to reign. Now God anointed him at a young
age, younger age, wasn't a child, but He anointed him and then
in time he began to reign." He acknowledged who it was and then
in time he began to reign. Verse 4, David was 30 years old
when he began to reign and he reigned 40 years. In Hebron he reigned over Judah
seven years and six months. And in Jerusalem, he reigned
30 and three years over all Israel and Judah. He reigned 40 years. The number 40 in the scripture
is usually associated with enduring a trial, enduring a judgment
of something or a trial of something. 40 days and 40 nights, God reigned
down from heaven. Forty years the children of Israel
wandered in wilderness. The Lord was tempted forty days. David endured the trial of being
king for forty years and our king most definitely endured
the trial for us. David was 30 years old when he
began to reign, and he reigned 40 years. In Hebron, he reigned
over Judah, seven years and six months. And in Jerusalem, he
reigned 30 and three years over all Israel and Judah. He reigned over Israel. He reigned over Jacob, the sinner. And that's who our king reigns
over, the sinner. He is the sinner's king. He's
the sinner's king. Thank God. If you're a sinner,
you'll thank God. That's the sinner's king. All
right, let's all stand together.