If you will, turn back in your
Bibles to 1 Samuel 3. You will have to follow me in
your pastor's commentary as we will be covering within the scope
of this message three chapters. 1 Samuel 3. The title of our message
today as we move even more concretely towards the throne of David as
it was appointed by God for him, for God's glory and the security
of that seed that should come, who is Jesus Christ. The throne
upon which David will be here shortly demonstrating that God
has brought to pass in his life is underscored by the term that
I want you to allow to resonate in your thoughts. And that is
the idea to be established. What does it mean to be established?
Look with me at verse 1 of chapter 3. I want to make sure that we
get the practical implication of this out of the way while
we work through the historical narrative, understanding the
redemptive implications, the redemptive implications of the
gospel in our life. Chapter 3, verse 1 says, now
there was long war, long war. between the house of Saul and
the house of David. There was a long war. But David waxed stronger and
stronger and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker. Now the author of the text wants
you to get that. He wants you to get that David
is settling into his position as king, first in Judah and then
over all of Israel. And this statement is what we
call a compendium. It's a concise, very terse statement covering
a lot of information that will unfold itself over the process
of the next two chapters. Now the house of David and the
house of Saul were at war for how long? A long time. That's what he wants you to get.
Because what he wants you to appreciate is what it means to
be a mature Christian. He wants you to understand what
it means to grow up in Christ, to be established in the faith,
rooted and grounded in the gospel, and therefore not moved away
from the hope of the calling which you have in Christ. what
he wants you and I to derive from David's situated, settled
state in the kingdom of God. You remember the little boy David,
17 years old at most, called by God from the sheepfold, anointed,
and then led, as we have seen for weeks and months now, to
the very place that he is. You remember David going through
all of the resistance and opposition of his own brothers and his own
family, his own parents, and then his own king opposing him
and the nation of Israel hunting him down. From his call to the
throne, David has gone through real struggles, has he not? And the Lord wants you to understand
that this is exactly how we become rooted and grounded and settled
in Christ. And when it says, now there was
long war between the house of Saul and the house of David,
he wants you and I to know that you don't get settled in Christ
until after you have fought lots of battles, lots of battles. And you don't settle down in
the appreciation of what God has done for you in Christ. You
don't settle into the joy of the calling and the purpose and
the destiny that God has called you to in Christ until you reflect
upon how long God has been with your soul and bringing you through
all that he brought you through to set you where he told you
he was going to set you. And when you are where God wants
you to be, you realize that God has brought me a mighty long
way, a mighty long way. Now, when you get here, and what
I'm talking about is not a location. I'm talking about a condition.
I'm talking about an attitude of mind. I'm talking about a
maturity level that comes to the believer where he or she
They are now described in the Bible as strong in the Lord and
in the power of his might and are now Situated fully in their
calling as a believer and operating from that place of their calling
Knowing that God has done it. I want you to see this now chapter
5 verse 3 through 5 Chapter 5, 3 through 5. I'm laying a foundation. Mark how David observes this. I'm in chapter 3, 5, verse 3.
So all the elders of Israel came to the king of Hebron, and king
David made a league with them in Hebron before the Lord. And they anointed David king
over what? Now David was 30 years old when
he began to reign. David was 30 years old just 30
That means all this stuff we've been talking about David was
17 and 19 and 21 and 23 and 25 And we're not really here yet.
We got two chapters to get here So back in chapter 3 while the
house of Saul is waxing weaker and weaker And the house of David
is whacking waxing stronger and stronger. David is still some
27 or 28 years old He's in the middle of obtaining his status
as a mature believer. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? He's in the middle of it, but he can see God working.
He can see God bringing to pass God's will in his life, albeit
he's still in a battle. That's the life of the Christian.
The life of the Christian, the life of the true believer is
that he's still in a battle. He's still fighting battles with
the flesh. And this is remarkable because
King Saul is dead. But what is David having to deal
with now? The house of Saul. And you and I know that the enemy
has been crucified, he's been nailed to the cross, but the
residual effects of sin still reside with us, does it not?
Do we still not fight the battle of the flesh? Even though our
mortal enemy has been wounded to death by the crosswork of
Jesus Christ, does not the house of David and the house of Saul
constantly engage in the conflict yet and still? Now listen to
these words. David was 30 years old when he
began to reign. He was 40. He reigned 40 years. And the
text says, in Hebron, he reigned over Judah for seven years and
six months. And in Jerusalem, he reigned
30 and three years over all Israel and Judah. Situated, seated,
and established. And once the narrator gives us
this sort of conclusion to the conflict between the house of
Saul and the house of David, we read over in verse 12 these
words. I want you to get this down. And David perceived that
the Lord had established him King over Israel. Do you see
it? Now mark these words. David now sees that God has actually
done it. God has done everything he said
he was going to do. Now some of y'all were with me on Friday
night when we talked about what we go through to grow up in Christ. how long it takes for us to mature
in Christ, and how that sometimes we look up after many, many years
of the youthful lust of the flesh, and the bends and turns of life,
and the temptations that seek to throw us off course, and we
wake up one day realizing God has matured me in Christ. Can
I get a witness? Here's what you say. As much
as if God had told me what I was going to go through before I
went through it, I wouldn't have went. I would not have went.
But now that I'm here, in this place of settled maturity, clear
on the will of God. See, because when you grow up
in Christ, you learn what the good and acceptable and perfect
will of God is. You stop exploring with stupid
stuff. You stop engaging in those things
that do not make for the glory of God in your own edification.
That means you've grown up. You've learned that if you go
down some paths, you're going to get beat up real bad. Now
you might make it out, but you're going to only make it out by
the grace of God. And now that you've learned that
experience, you don't have to take that class over again. Now, I'm going to show you the
marvelous redemptive reality of Christ in the historical narrative
over a two-year gap from chapter 3 to 5, in fact, chapter 2 to
5, to show you how the dynamics work for the believer. You and
I are called and we are destined to reign with Christ, are we
not? We are called to be kings of God and queens of God and
princesses of God, ruling with Him. And in fact, in Christ,
we do rule. But he does talk about us having
to grow up, doesn't he? And so we read in the Bible,
1 Peter 5, verse 10, these words. And I want you to mark them because
they're very important to get. Peter is going to show us the
path to maturity in Christ. 1 Peter 5, verse 10. Are you there? Watch this. But
the God of all grace... Is He a God of all grace? ...who
hath called us unto His eternal glory. That's the Father. By
Jesus Christ, that's the Son. After that you have what? Suffered a while. Stop! Did he tell you how the course
runs? He says you gotta what? Suffer. You gotta struggle. You
gotta deal with the challenges and burdens of this reality that
you are weak in Christ. That early on in your walk, you're
gonna make serious mistakes and you're gonna suffer for it because
that's how you grow. So he's not letting us live under
an illusion that everywhere we go, we're gonna triumph. Every
course we take, we're gonna win. Every battle we fight, we're
gonna succeed. No, when you're young, you suffer. And sometimes
we suffer seriously because of both ignorance and incapacity. That is the inability to actually
overcome the trial. And because in our naivety, we
think we can actually sin against God and he'll just sweep it under
the rug. See, David's life is going to
teach us this. Now we watched David make a few mistakes, haven't
we? Just a few, just a few, but enough for him to learn. He would
never tell you that he got to the throne by his own strength.
He's there now, but not by his own strength. And see, when you
get to that mature state, you can be honest that within me,
there dwells no good thing. You can be honest that without
Christ, I can do nothing. You can be honest that it's God
that's working in me. willing to do of his good pleasure.
You can be honest that God must fulfill his will through me and
with me in order for me to do God's job. Mature believers know
how to talk like that because we realize that we must be constantly
tapped into the grace of God. And when we look around and we
see how good God is to us presently and that we are by God's grace,
will you hear me, smack dab in the middle of his will, we know
that's the grace of God. No man, no woman, no couple,
no family, no church finds themselves smack dab in the middle of God's
will apart from God's grace. And when you look up and say,
you know, the Lord has been good to me. He's been good to me. Then you perceive that God has
established his kingdom in your life. Now the kingdom of God
for believers is what? Righteousness, peace, and joy
in the Holy Ghost. When you are experiencing that
dynamic, God has brought you a mighty long way. Listen to
what Peter says, but the God of all grace, who has called
us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you
have suffered a while, make you what? The word perfect must be
understood as mature. Please understand it as mature,
because what he's saying is suffering matures us. Is that true? That's
Romans 5, 4, right? Tribulation, working patience,
patience, working hope, hope needing not to be ashamed because
of the love of God shed abroad in our hearts. Am I making some
sense? So suffering is a necessary, non-negotiable component that
God uses to change your character so you can start thinking like
God. If you're going to think like God, then you're going to
reign with God. Where you don't think like God, you can't reign
with God. And God is showing David this.
And then we see the next word. What is the next word? Established.
That's our ghetto term for established. I love the way the King James
did it. They frequently contract words. It means to be established. And the term means to be rooted
and grounded. And the metaphor is used by Jesus
in Matthew 7 when he says, I reckon the wise man who hears my words
and does them as an individual who builds his house upon a what? Rock. That foundation upon which
the house is built is in order that it might endure the storms
that are coming. What God says about that person
is he's a settled believer. He's an established believer.
He's a grounded believer. He's a mature believer. And he's
not easily moved away from the hope of the gospel. Now, it takes
a long time to get there. Am I telling the truth? It takes
a long time to get there. And I'm pressing this home so
that once we unpack the historical narrative, because you're going
to have to keep up with me, you can at least reach back to the
principle and say, you know what? I'll stay right here and I'll
ride this out. Because there are several things
for us to learn from our narrative around this particular principle,
that when we are established, we are then strengthened and
we are what? Settled. Isn't it wonderful when
the soul is settled in the grace of God and in the will of God,
and you are clear, I'm gonna say it again, clear on what God
has called you to do. There is nothing more satisfying
than to know that you are in the will of God. I don't know
who I'm talking to, but I'm here to tell you that until you find
out what God's will is for your life, you will never be satisfied.
It will never happen. You will never know the joy of
being in the bundle of life. As Abigail said about David,
boy, you are in the bundle of life. You are in the center of
God's will. You are highly favored and highly
blessed. Just recognize it. And now David's
recognizing it. When God brings us through trials
and we come to understand all that mess we went through is
in order to shape our character, to hone our attitude, to inform
our thinking so that we say yes to God's will, you are a happy
person in Christ. But there are four things in
our outline that I want us to see that transpired from chapter
3 to chapter 5 that was necessary for David to be able to say,
I perceive that God has established the kingdom. order that he might
exalt his kingdom for his people Israel's sake I hope to talk
about that more going back to chapter 3 with me I want to show
you something there four things I want to talk about now the
present historical account applies to you and me and the area of
our walk with Christ after we have come to accept and believe
and recognize our the absolute finished work of Christ on Calvary.
And that in this world, you and I will still always have to deal
with the flesh. Here's the proposition I want
to lay out to you as I shared it with our men last night. There
is a great error in our churches where there is an over-realized
eschatology and a faulty confession around this notion that I'm perfect
in Christ, I'm the righteousness of God in Christ, and therefore
I am no longer a sinner. That's so absolutely asinine
that I don't really think I give it dignity to talk about. But
it prevails everywhere that men and women are ignorant of their
true nature. It prevails everywhere where
men and women do not understand that God intentionally has left
you and me in ourselves unperfect. in order that we might learn
how to trust him so that every good thing that's done in our
life, we will quickly give God the glory for it. So that we
stop talking about us being something in ourselves that we are not. And that we only boast in the
grace of God that's working in us to do it. Now there is a major
chasm between the two camps. The one camp is a humanistic
camp where they focus on themselves. The other camp recognizes all
good and perfect gifts come from God. Are you guys following the
logic? We frame our lips in a gospel
church to say that it is from God, it is through God, and it
is to God. Anything that I do that's right
is only by the grace of God. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? And this is critical to the honor of the gospel and
the clarity of the believer. The other reason why what I'm
going to talk to you about now and show you through the narrative
is critically important is that in reality, most of us who know
God and have walked with God for a long time, we know you
still struggle with sin even though you pretend you don't.
We know you do. And we know that the ground of
your struggle is your fallen nature. We know that. We know
that your problem is not your atmosphere, is not your society,
is not the fact that you don't have a job, is not the fact that
you grew up in a very bad neighborhood, is not your parents, is not your
husband, is not your wife, is not your children. It's your
sin nature. We know that. We know that your
job is to sue for mercy daily. to ask God to give you grace
which he only gives to those for whom he has died. We have
access to the Father by the Holy Ghost because of Christ to get
strength to do God's will. Are you guys hearing me? And
see, what I'm getting ready to help you do is stop lying to
yourself and stop lying to other Christians that you are more
than what you really are. See, because what the gospel
must do, it must demolish all false boasting. about your own
strength and your own abilities and your own successes. You have
none. You had no strength. You had
no successes but that which God has done. Now conversely, we
will say that all grace is available to achieve the will of God in
your life. But true Christians need to be biblical about this
tension. Some days, I'm the old man. And some days the grace
of God raises me so high, I'm ready to leave this world and
go to glory. Watch this. Some days. Point number one. Show you what I'm talking about.
Point number one in our outline. And I hope you get this because
lying Christians bear no fruit. And some of them are going to
hell, lying on Jesus about being in a place that they really are
not, which is reserved for us in glory. And while down here,
he would have you more identified with the struggles of hell bound
sinners in order that you might be a good mediator, a kind mediator,
a real helpful person, a reconciler, someone who knows how to legitimately
stand in the gap with people who struggle because you struggle
too. Am I making some sense? all this stuff about having the
world by the tail on a downhill slide. All you got to do is pray
in Jesus name and you can have it all. Listen, don't lie on
God. Don't lie on God. Don't lie. Tell that other needy hell bound
sinner that you are a leper by nature who has received healing
from Christ and you're being healed every day. Tell the truth. Tell the truth.
Well, Pastor, but that don't make me feel good. It's not about
you. It's about him. It's not about you. It's about him. See, this is
what David meant when he said in verse five, if you were to
go back there in your own time, he perceived that God had established
the kingdom, but God didn't do it for David. He did it for Israel's
sake and for God's own glory. Now, this is a mature believer.
He knows that this is not about him. So your job is not to build
your resume to the clouds. is to build his resume to the
clouds. Point number one. The residual
effects of the old man, the flesh. The residual effects. The old
man, the flesh. Does anyone know what I'm talking
about? That stuff that when you woke up after the day of the
honeymoon. You said what? What is what is this? I thought that thing was dead. And it's still just rising up
over the back of your head. And this is where faith overcomes
the world, by learning how to operate in the spirit, and affirming
your identity in Jesus, and going to war against the residual that
God leaves there to humble you. Am I making some sense? Let's
go to work. Chapter 3, verse 1, part A says, now there was
long war. Do you see it? Is the believer
in a warfare? Are we not fighting against the
flesh? Against sin? Against the devil? The hordes
of hell? There's long war between the house of Saul and the house
of David. Four sub points I want you to consider. The penalty
of sin was removed at the cross, was it not? That's the whole
treatment of Romans chapter 6 verses 1 through 11, right? Know ye
not that as many of you have been baptized, you've been baptized
in the Christ death. For when Christ died, you died.
And when you died in Christ, you died to sin because sin died
in him. The death of sin in the death
of Christ is your hope as a believer. Is that true? When Christ died
for me, he put away all my sin, past, present and future. But
now if I believe that, what do I mean by that is that he put
it away judicially. That the legal legal right of
sin to claim me to send me to hell no longer is valid in God's
sight Because Christ now has justified me freely by his death
so that I stand before God legally without sin But God is under
no illusions and Christian ought not be either that while the
penalty of eternal damnation is completely eradicated by Christ
at the cross The presence of sin is still with me. Is that
true? See, that's one of the classes you learn after about
a week or two in your honeymoon phase with Jesus. Once he starts
taking you to the class of Christ, you realize you still got that
stuff on the inside that you've got to deal with. Can I get a
witness? The penalty of sin is removed
at the cross. That's Romans 6 verse 12. And
I want to remind you of it so that we can see these principles
of the New Testament running through the Old Testament with
King David. Romans chapter 6 verse 12 says
this. Here it is. Let not sin therefore
reign in your mortal bodies. How come? Verse 10, for in that
he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he lives
unto God. And likewise, you are to reckon yourselves to be what?
Dead indeed to sin, but alive unto God through our Lord Jesus
Christ. And verse 12 says, now here is
your ethic. Do not let sin, what? in your mortal body that you
should obey the lust thereof. And when you see in 1 Samuel
3, one long war between the house of Saul and David is because
the house of David is seeking to obey God in spite of the battle
of the house of Saul seeking to defy God. That's where you
and I at some point be. Satan's power is limited by the
cross, is it not? Love the way the Hebrew writer
puts it in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14 I want you to see this Hebrews
chapter 2 verse 14 for some of us who read our Bibles consistently
These are common things, but they are glorious things as well
and you need to know them Here's what happened when Christ died
for us on the cross For then as much as the children are partakers
of flesh and blood is speaking to the incarnation of our Savior
He also himself likewise took part of the same didn't he? In
a couple of weeks, we will celebrate on Friday, what I call Awful
Friday. You know, most churches call
it Good Friday. I call it Awful Friday. And then we'll deal with
Resurrection Sunday. It's Awful Friday. Because on
that day, God poured his wrath on his son. And this is an area
of doctrinal truth that sinners don't get. It was awful for Christ. It was awful for Christ. My God,
my God, why have you forsaken me? That's awful. That was an
awful day. And it would remain awful for
you and me if there wasn't a Sunday. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. See, we got to get our theology
right, don't we? We got to get our theology. When
God forsakes a thing, that thing is awful. Am I telling the truth? When God turns his back on a
thing, that thing is awful. And you and I by nature are awful.
And that's why a whole lot of people are going to hell who
do not find Christ as a substitute. Because there's a day when God
is going to show how awful we are by nature. When he turns
his back on us and allows us to perish in a godless hell. That's an awful day. It only
became good on Sunday. Listen to what the Hebrew writer
says. He partook of the same that through death he might destroy
him that had the what? Christ's death on the cross did
destroy the legal right of the devil to damn men and women that
had the power of death. That is the devil. Look at verse
14 again. I just wanted to show you how the New Testament church
early on understood this. They understood the implications
of the cross work of Christ so fully. Are you ready? That they
love not their lives unto the death. When they understood the
implications of Christ's death on Calvary, you know what they
were liberated from? Dying. You know what that means? They were ready to face death
because they knew that they had a master that would receive them
into their arms immediately. Remember Stephan? Do you remember
Stephan? Do you see how God opened the
heavens and showed him his position in Christ? gave him such great
comfort that when he died he'd go to glory that that brother
was able to forgive his enemies while dying. That's called taking
the power of death away from the devil. Do you hear that?
That's called taking the power of death away from the devil.
Now for every believer in Christ, death is nothing but a passport
into your inheritance. I only got a few claps because
only a few people believe that. Only a few people believe that.
That's how bad we are in the Western Church. Our Middle Eastern
brethren understand this. So point B, Satan's power limited
by the cross. In Revelation chapter 20 verse
1, we have a picturesque description of Satan being bound. And I saw
an angel come down from heaven with a gold, with a long chain.
Listen to it. And I saw an angel come down
from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great
chain in his hand. Verse two, watch this. And he
laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil
and Satan and did what to him? For how long? What we say in
New Testament theology, rich, rich with our understanding of
the implications and consequences of the cross of Christ is that
if Satan were loosed, Over the last 2,000 years up to now, virtually
none of us would believe the gospel and there would be no
gospel church. Do you hear what I just said?
Satan is the great deceiver of the whole world. And in God binding
him, he moved his ability out of the way of keeping us deceived.
because prior to our salvation we were deceived worshiping idols
we were in spiritual darkness we had a veil over our eyes and
the devil was able to keep us blinded from the glory of God
in Christ but thank God through the power of the gospel he was
able to penetrate our hearts and open up the veil and show
us the glory of Christ and set us free from the bondage and
tyranny of the devil is that true The devil has been bound
for 2000 years. And thus you have had a church
with church history serving the cause of Christ up to this very
moment. There's a day coming. If it's
not already here, those of you who love to argue prophecy, you
might admit it. The devil is loosed again. I'm
not going to argue with you on that. He may very well be loosed. Here's what I do know. For those
who are faithful in the cause of the gospel, we are still seeing
sinners saved. And as long as we are still seeing
sinners saved, there's a good chance he's still bound. Are
you hearing what I'm saying? It's very important for you to
get that. And so while we admit, while we admit we have to deal
with the residual effects of sin, the penalty is removed.
Satan is limited. Although you and I have to deal
with the what? Inward sin, which remains a struggle
for us. Can I get a witness? Romans 7
verse 22 and 23. I'll lay this down and then we'll
be able to run quickly through the narrative and you'll pick
up on these points as well. This is what we call the ABCs
of sanctification, the reality of what a Christian is and what
a Christian is not. In Romans 7 verse 22, Paul stated
it this way, for I delight in the law of God after the what?
Can I make a comment on this right quick? This is how you
can tell the difference between phony Christians and real believers. This is what amazes me today. You got all kinds of phony Christians
saying they believe on Jesus and love God and despise his
word. Do you hear these weirdos who
say, I'm a Christian, but I actually do not believe the Bible is the
infallible, inerrant word of God. I believe it's the word
of men. I believe men wrote the Bible,
but I'm a Christian. How are you a Christian? When
the Christ that's supposed to have saved you, he himself believed
in every jot and tittle of the law of God. But you don't? You
see the cognitive disconnect that goes on with folks? I'm
warning you, child of God, there are a whole lot of people who
really have not made their calling in election sure. This is very,
very alarming in our present generation. True believers delight
in God's law, do you? Do you delight in righteousness?
Do you delight in holiness? Have you learned by the grace
of God that God is right in his thoughts? He's right in his ways.
His word is holy. His word is right. And you know,
we've been messing it up. Not God. Have we been messing
it up? Not God. And then sometimes we
have this twisted view of not being under the law. The problem
with us and the law is not the law. It's us. But here's what
God said. He didn't get rid of the law.
He actually wrote it on my heart. He gave me a new heart and he
wrote his law on my heart. And from the inward man, I delight
in God's law. Do you? I delight in God's law. Now watch
out. Watch out. This is how I delight in it.
Are you ready? I am so thankful that God has revealed his law
to me because it teaches me of his character. Now I can tell
people the truth about God. See, in our generation, people
don't believe in holiness. They don't believe in obedience.
But I'm here to tell you, without holiness, you will not see the
Lord. You won't see him. You won't
see him. You won't see him. And the law
of God tells me all that Jesus had to do in his passive and
active obedience to save me, and it makes me love him more.
And because I am a child of the gospel, my relationship with
the law is not one of debt. I don't owe the law anything.
That's a wonderful relationship, isn't it? That means I can engage
the law with God's grace to obey it, without any sense of being
indebted to that law. This is God's wisdom for us.
His children obey Him, do they not? They seek to obey Him, honor
Him, and do His will. We're not threatened by God's
law. It no longer has authority over us in that sense. Christ
is our Lord, is that true? And that's my point. Now let's
move on to our subsequent point. Even though we have a delight
in the law of God in the inward man, the reality is in verse
23. Here it is, verse 23. But I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind. Now see, these are two
laws. We can call them principles.
Here's the principle. Sin will tell you you're right when you're
wrong. Sin will tell you if it feels
good, do it. Sin will tell you, I feel that
this is right. But the new man will say, let
me go check with God's word. Watch this, watch this, watch
this. Because we've been hearing many songs for the last 50 years. If loving you is wrong, I don't
want to do right. Am I telling the truth? But that
kind of ethic is going to send you to hell. Because our whole world system
is defining ethical norms and moralities based on this feeling.
But God has warned that the heart is deceitful and desperately
wicked above everything. Yours too, Christian. Yours too. Yours too. And so now you have
a war. You have a war between the law of sin in your members
and the law of God in your mind. How are you going to obey the
right one? You see the battle? Do you see
the battle? See, honest Christians know it's
a battle. Honest Christians know it. Final sub-point, so I can
move to my second point. The dominion is the believers
through Christ. Is that true? So I do experience
the struggle, but I also experience the victory. Can I get a witness
on that? So 1st John chapter 3 verse 8 says it like this 1st
John 3 here's the rule 1st John 3 says to every believer Concerning
every believer. This is the state of believers
in Christ in 1st John chapter 3 verse 8 he that is continually
committing sin is of the devil Got that? This is the reason
why people don't like God's law. Let me help you. See, when the
Christian said, but the book says, and you go, stop judging
me. You're a legalist. Now what we're
saying is, no, if you're actually born again, you're going down
another course. And you're not living out the
same old pagan, Saul-like, sinful, Adamic life that you used to
live. That's all he's saying here. When a man is truly born
again, he's made a U-turn in the other direction. Am I making
some sense? That's all I say. He that is
continually practicing sin is of the devil. Just get that right
now. Get that right. For all these Christians that
are continually practicing sin, they're of the devil. I know
that's oxymoronic, but at some point we got a clean house, don't
we? Watch this now. For the devil sinneth from the
beginning. Child of God, you don't want
to have nothing to do with him. And yet the text is telling us
this is his marquee. This is his calling card. All
he does is sin against God. For this purpose, the Son of
God was manifested that he might destroy the what of the devil?
works of the devil now chapter 4 verse 4 puts it like this 1st
John 4 4 tells us a very radical truth in relationship to our
first point and it's critical for us to get as well you've
heard this principle before you've heard it before here it is you
are of what that's what we call an indicative an indicative is
the assessment of a person's status before God you are of
God now watch this little children you have what overcome them because
greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world
is that first Samuel 3 1 Go back there then let's go to work.
Here it is Now there was long war between the house of Saul
and the house of David But David waxed stronger and stronger and
the house of Saul waxed what weaker and weaker Isn't that
amazing? All right, this is the expectation
of the believer when he walks with Christ. Point number two. The defiance of the flesh to
submit to the Spirit. For those of you who don't understand
the connection that I'm developing between New Testament Christianity
experience and the Old Testament narrative, it's this. We have
understood the model between the old and the new. The Old
Testament contains the new. The New Testament explains the
old. The literal battles that Israel was going through in the
Old Testament are spiritual battles that we go through. David is
a type of Christ, but he's an actual believer. The conflict
between the house of Saul and the house of David is a type
of the battle of the flesh in the spirit that all believers
deal with. You guys got that paradigm, right? Here now we
are moving into the narrative explaining to us how difficult
it is for the flesh to submit to the fact that God has set
David up as king. Are you ready? Watch it. Point
number two, the defiance of the flesh to submit to the spirit.
First Samuel chapter 2 verse 7 through 10 shows us something
very interesting. You know what it shows us? That
even while, even though while David is now clearly and evidently
set up by God, and though Saul and Jonathan has died, we learned
that, right? Do you know Saul still had a son, Ish-veshet? And then he also had a servant,
Abner? that when it became clear that David was being exalted
by God what Abner did was took Ishmael and set him up over the
house of Gilead and made him king over all Israel in open
defiance of the will of God and watch what it says in verse 7
1st Samuel 2nd Samuel chapter 2 verse 7 2nd Samuel 2 verse
7 which is where our text is listen to what it says 2nd Samuel chapter 2 verse 7
through 10. Are we there? Therefore now let
your hands be strengthened and be you valiant for your master
Saul is dead and also the house of Judah have anointed me king
over over them. This is David talking to the
Gileadites who had taken Saul and Jonathan's body back. Verse
8 gives us the drama. It starts with what we call a
contrasting conjunction but Abner, the son of Ner, captain of Saul's
host, took Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, and brought him over
to Manahem, and made him king over Gilead, and over the Asherites,
and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and what?
Over all Israel. Do you see the move of Saul's
servant to set Ishbosheth up? You know what he was saying?
I defy David. Verse 10. Ishbosheth, Saul's
son, was 40 years old when he began to reign over Israel. And
he reigned how many years? But the house of Judah did what?
It's a division in the land, isn't it? Do you see the division?
Point number two, then, the defiance of the flesh to submit to the
Spirit. You would agree with me, would you not, that your
fallen nature never ever will give in to Christ apart from
the grace of the Spirit to subdue it. This is quite interesting.
This is a caveat for you. The name Ishbosheth, Saul's final
son, The one that's going to die in a minute, I'm going to
show you him dying because he was never king. His name means
man of shame. Man of shame. And is that not
what the flesh is? Is not the devil the man of iniquity,
the man of sin? Does not sin bring shame? Is
not the house of Saul the flesh? Is not the flesh condemned to
shame on that last day? Ish-bosheth's name is the man
of shame and Abner has raised him up to defy David and that's
because the defiance of the flesh to submit the spirit is the battle
you and I will fight all of our days. All right, here's four
points under that to consider. The authority of the flesh is
false and what? That's a promise, ladies and
gentlemen. The authority of the flesh is what? False and what?
That's good. That's good. It's not only a
promise but it's a comfort watch this watch this It's not only
a promise is a cover the brother told me this morning And I'm
not gonna tell you his name cuz he might get mad at me, but he
said he was struggling with some dreams that he had Have you ever
struggled with dreams? Have you ever had nightmares?
I mean that crazy stuff That you were thankful that you woke
up out of Have you and you go? I'm still alive It was it was
just a dream And you went to worship in God because you knew
it was just a dream. Are you with me? And yet you
still had to struggle with the reality that deep down in your
psyche and in your fallen nature, your sinful nature, your sinful
nature, you may have inadvertently engaged in over preoccupied yourself
with thoughts on a particular topic or subject that followed
you into your sleep. Oh, some of y'all get that. Watch
this. And therefore, you were actually
Tempted to sin in your sleep. Can I get a witness because the
church folk don't want to be honest Church folk don't want
to be honest if you have a bad day where you are operating in
the flesh and you open yourself up to crazy talk crazy ideas
crazy images things that you should not be engaged in be careful
little eyes what you see be careful little ears what you hear and
Your hands and your feet also, they may take you to the wrong
place. And then when you go to sleep, it comes in to take control
of you, because in your sleep state, you know how you're moving
real slow, trying to run away from that enemy, right? And sometimes you fall in your
sleep, don't you? Watch this. And your only hope when you wake
up is that you know your real identity is in Christ, not in
your fallen nature. Your only hope is that you know
your real identity is in Jesus, not your fallen nature. So that
you say what my brother said to me when he woke up, he says,
you know what, Lord, that wasn't me. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. That's how you overcome
the flesh. That was not me. That's what
Paul says. He says, now I know that that
which in me was sin working in me, working against me. And I'm trying to help you understand
the parallels here, that the authority of the flesh is false
and short-lived on a practical application. When you sin, if
you're a child of God, you have but one thing to do. Repent,
go to the labor, wash, confessing your sin, believing God is already
forgiving you, and keep moving. That means the flesh, its authority,
was short-lived. Short-lived! Every day the believer
gets to rise up and triumph in Christ, declaring that the authority
of the flesh is short-lived. And the reason I make that statement
is because in our text, we are told in verse 10, these words.
Ishvosheth, Saul's son, was 40 years old when he began to reign
over Israel. And he reigned how long? That's all. That's all. the final defiance of the flesh.
When daddy was dead and brother was dead and Captain Adner is
gonna raise him up so all Israel is still looking at the house
of Saul as the place where the throne is occupied. That's only
gonna last two years. Do you know why? Because we're
gonna finally get to chapter 5 verse 3 through 10. And what's
gonna happen between chapter 2 and chapter 5 is the lesson
for us today. Our first lesson was sin remains. Our second lesson is sin is defiant. Our sub points are the authority
of the flesh is false and short-lived. Point number B, the attempt at
controlling the kingdom is what? The attempt at controlling the
kingdom is futile. Why? In chapter 3, verse 30 and
31, I want you to see it. Chapter 3, mark these words.
This is absolutely amazing. In chapter 3, we are told in
verse 30 these words. So Joab and Abishai, his brother,
slew Abner because he had slain their brother Asahel at Gibeah
in the battle. Do you understand that? And here
we have a major recognition that now David's men are going to
war against Abner's men, or Ishbosheth's men, and killing now the power
behind Ishbosheth. And this text is describing for
us, it actually describes for us in chapter 4, the murder of
Ishbosheth. How that the Ishbosheths, the
Benjamites, are now killing Ishbosheth. In chapter 4, mark it in verses
2 and following. Here's the words. And Saul's
son had two men that were captains of the bands. The name of the
one was Baena, and the name of the other, Recap, the sons of
Remon, a Berethite of the children of Benjamin. These are all Benjamites.
Verse 3. And the Berethites fled to Gideon,
where they were sojourners unto this day. And Jonathan, Saul's
son, He had a son that was lame at his feet. That is the other,
that is the other, nope, it goes on to say it. It tells us there,
here it is, starting at verse five. And the sons of Riman,
the Barathite, Rechab and Baena went and came about in the heat
of the day to the house of who? Who lay on a bed at noon. He
was secure in his kingdom, sleeping because it's hot, right? and
they came hither or thither into the midst of the house as though
they would have fetched some wheat. And they smote him under
the fifth rib and Rechab and Baena, his brother escaped. For
when they came into the house, he lay on his bed in his bedchamber
and they smote him and slew him and beheaded him and took his
head and got them away to the plain all night. And they brought
the head of Ishmael unto David, to Hebron, and said to the king,
Behold the head of Ishmael, the son of Saul, thine enemy, which
what? Sought thy life. And the Lord
hath avenged my lord the king this day of Saul and of his seed."
Stop right there. Short-lived. Short-lived. That's a promise to you and me.
That the remaining flesh that comes after us to trouble us
in our walk is short-lived. And if I were to develop this
more fully, this is an interesting thing that happened. Saul and
Jonathan and Ishmael are what are called Benjamites. Are they
not? Benjamite are warrior tribes. In fact, they were grievous wolves
of which the prophecy of Jacob was, son, you are like a ravening
wolf. You can't be controlled. You
are hostile. You violate war rules. And this
is why even Saul, who became the apostle Paul, was so notorious
a persecutor of the church until God had saved him because the
Benjamites were hostile. Now look at what's going on here.
A Benjamite is killing a Benjamite. The flesh is killing the flesh.
Do you guys see that? Galatians chapter 5 verse 15,
where Paul is talking to the church at Galatia and says this.
You guys, if you continue arguing and fighting and operating after
the flesh, you will devour one another. You will bite one another.
You will consume one another. Because when you operate in the
flesh, are you hearing me? All you do is consume one another. And here we're seeing Saul's
own household destroying itself, turning in on itself. Why? Because David ultimately must
what? He must rule. It was ordained for him to rule.
So it's a warning to you and me not to give into the flesh,
because if you do, the flesh is short-lived. The flesh will
die. And it will be evident for you
that if you're operating by the flesh, because you will be seeking
to consume and bite one another and destroy one another. Subpoint
three then, subpoint three. The false king exposed to have
had no power. Now why is Ish-bosheth, who is
the false king on the side of Saul, exposed to have no power? Because he was raised up by Abner.
Abner's his captain. Abner's like a general in the
army. Martha's now when Abner saw that Saul was dead and Jonathan
was dead Abner said to himself. Hmm. I know how to put myself
in a position This is all politics. I'm gonna take his son. It's
Michelle. And by the way, it's Michelle didn't want the job
I'm here to tell you now. He did not want the job He didn't
like David, but he didn't want the job But when Abner the general
raises him up and now all Israel is looking to him He's like what
we call in our government a puppet president You know what that
means? You have authority in name only. But the real power
is the generals behind it. And I want you to see how this
works, because this is so very important for you to comprehend
this. The false king exposed to have no power. 1 Samuel 3,
7 through 11. And we saw this a bit. Here is
what Here is what Abner did. Then was Abner very wrought. 1 Samuel 3, 7 through 11. I want
to make sure I'm in the right chapter. Here it is. Verse 8.
Then was Abner wrought. For the words know I better start
back at verse 7. And Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizpah,
the daughter of Ahaiah. And Ish-peh-set said to Abner,
wherefore have you gone into my what? Father's concubine. Now what's going on here? The
general who has set the king up Feels like he's free to do
whatever he want to. Ass works in politics. Now what
he has done here is expose his hand. Because when you take the
king's concubines, what you are saying is you have authority
with the king. And what Ispachet knew was if
Abner would have gotten away with taking his father's concubine,
everybody in the kingdom would have looked to Abner and not
Ispachet. But see what Ispachet did not
want to acknowledge was that he had no authority at all. It's
like a puppet ruler telling a mad pit bull, a mad rottweiler, a
mad dog what to do. Now watch the next words here.
This is strategic in showing you and I how that in verse 1
of chapter 3, Saul's house had war with David's house and Saul's
house waxed weaker and weaker and weaker. And that's what we're
describing here. The weakness of the flesh. Are
you hearing? Now watch how this goes down. Watch how it goes.
Here's Abner's response. Verse 8. Then was Abner very
angry of his words. And he said, Am I a dog's head?
Yeah. But now watch how he puts up
his good works to Ishebosheth. Which against Judah do show kindness
this day unto the house of Saul your father. What does he mean
by that? He means that he actually had the power to help Ishmael
be king and that he was doing what he did for Saul's house
and not for Ishmael. Ishmael now is really struggling
because he knew intuitively that this man actually had the power.
Here's what he says now. Here it is. Wherefore have you
gone into I'm sorry the latter part and then he says to his
brethren and to his friend Friends and have not delivered you into
the hand of David in other words I raised you up and I did it
against Judah and I have not delivered you into the hand of
David That you charge me this day with the fault concerning
this woman ladies and gentlemen. Are you following the logic?
Here's what's going on in the house of the flesh. There's always
conflict and In the house of the flesh, there's always biting
and devouring. In the house of the carnal system,
there's always the crab mentality of pulling people down. Remember
what I shared with you last week? The ethic of David was to love
the children of God. to pray for the children of God,
not to touch God's anointing, not to throw the people of God
under the bus. This is what we talk about when we talk about
spiritual ethics in the kingdom of God. The reason why God loved
David with all his faults was that David loved God and David
loved Israel. What we have over here in the
realm of the flesh is the biting and the devouring and the consuming
of one another. And it sounds just like politics
today, doesn't it? All around the world. all around
the world. But I want you to see what's
going to happen here. Watch this. Here's what it says. Then he
says, so do God to Abner. He's speaking to himself in the
third person. And more so except as the Lord has sworn to David,
even so I do to him. Did Abner know that God has sworn
the kingdom to David? Verse 10, to translate the kingdom
from the house of Saul and to set up the throne of David over
Israel and over Judah from Dan even to Beersheba. Whoa! He had
such clarity of the authority and the promise of David that
he throws it back in the king's face. And here's the next word. And Ishmael could not answer
Abner a word because he what? Feared him. He's an empty suit. He has no authority. Abner is
the one with the authority. Our second point says the defiance
of the flesh to submit to the Spirit. Subpoint A, the authority
of the flesh is false and short-lived. The attempt at controlling the
kingdom is futile. The false king exposed to have no power.
And now watch what David does in our same chapter. David want
his wife back. I love this. I ain't gonna be
much longer with you. I'll pick up the next one. David now says
to Abner, because Abner comes to David, and says to David,
I'm ready to give you the kingdom. Didn't he just tell Ishmael that
he was going to do that? And you know what David said to Abner?
Because David knows wicked sons of Belial. He said, now before
you even come up here, boy, go get my wife. Now for those of you who are
in women's theology class, you guys, we're getting ready to
get into some sticky stuff. Around being drawn into the circle
of David. Okay, we can really learn some
stuff But I just want you to know right now ain't nothing
new under the Sun what's going on in Davis days with all these
women Going on today Going on in the church Right now are you
hearing me and some of y'all are victims of it? Because culture
when it's not subdued by the spirit will always lead a person's
life. I David says go get my wife Micah. Why is David doing that? Because
David now wants all of Israel and all of Judah to know he is
the rightful king. He's also saying go get my wife
Micah because he killed a hundred Philistines for that chick, didn't
he? That's what he says in the text. He said, Abner, if you
want to help me, you want to bring Israel to me, first go
get my wife. Go get Saul's daughter and bring
her here. And you know what happens? Ish-bosheth
has to be the one that does it. That's what the latter text says.
And Ishmushef went and got. I want you to see this pathetic
story here. Just show you this. I want you to see this pathetic
story here. And so it says in the same chapter here, in these,
in David sent messengers, verse 14, and David sent messengers
to Ishmushef, Saul's son, saying, deliver me my wife Michael. which
I espoused to me for 104 skins of the Philistines. And Ispachet
did what? Sent and took her from her husband,
even from Phaltiel, the son of Laish. And her husband went with
her along, weeping and crying. I want you, honey. Then Abner
told him to turn it. Boy, you better leave. You better
go. And he left. Do you see it? And now Abner
is getting ready to negotiate with David, because David has
his wife back. Let me make a word about, uh,
let me make a word about this system, Micah, and I'm going
to shut it down here and pick it up next week so that you guys
can digest this drama. This, I told you, this is, this,
this is Dallas and everything else, but I want you to understand
how the kingdom has worked the same way from the beginning of
time to now. If you live after the flesh,
you will die. Do you hear me? You will die.
That's a principle that doesn't change. You can call yourself
Christian, but if you're dominated by a fleshly, selfish agenda
and not the will of God, you and I will never overthrow the
will of God. We're seeing that now, right?
For 20 years, Saul defied God. For 20 years, he tried to keep
the kingdom. He died. Jonathan died. Ishmael dies. Abner's gonna die. All of David's enemies are gonna
die. Do you hear me? All of David's enemies are gonna
die. Why? Because Christ will have the victory, will he not?
Christ is Lord, is he not? Will not every knee bow, every
tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the
Father? And the flesh will be subdued, won't it? Okay, so here's
what we call in narrative theology in narrative theology. We call
this a micro story There's several of them Abner and Joab is a micro
story. We'll deal with that later Micah
is an as a micro story and you've got to be able to learn these
lessons because just like you guys have learned the two husband
model in the scripture where the woman marries a wicked husband
like Nabal and then God blesses her with a good man like David
and But in converse, the believing man will also have two women,
two wives, one bad, one good. Sarah Hagar, here David has been
married into the family of the king by a woman who says she
loves David. That's first Samuel 18, remember?
And Micah loved David. But did she really love David?
Is love a equivocal thing? Or is love something that is
defined by its context, its circumstances, and modified based upon the context? Is love always a pure thing? Or can love be selfish? Can a
person who says they love you really only love you for other
reasons? And I submit to you that was
the case for Micah. That was the case for Micah. Why do I
say that? Micah was married off to this guy, Phaltiel, by her
dad, when in fact, she was lawfully David's wife. Is that true? Now,
if 1 Samuel 18 is correct, that she loved David, wouldn't that
woman fight like, I don't know what, to be with her man? If
you love your man, won't you fight to be with him? Whoa. I'm
going to show you a truth. I'm going to let you go. Getting
ready to show you the gospel when we're going home. This is why in our hermeneutics
class, the first thing I say to you is observe the text. Because
the Spirit of God is speaking to our life every day through
scripture. I submit to you that Micah's love for David was her
love for her own self. And it was a love of convenience.
Here David was the hottest thing on planet earth, was he not?
In the days of King Saul. He had a number one hit record.
Didn't he have a number one hit record? Saul had slain his thousand
David, his ten thousands! Plus, he was cute, right? Hot,
rolling, all the women loved him. And Micah loved him too.
But her love, I submit to you, was a selfish love predicated
upon the assumption that she's the king's daughter. And now
that the king has brought David in the household, she hoping
to hook up with him. Now, I know y'all don't think
like that. Ladies, I know that. So what does Saul do? He marries
Micah off to David because he knows she's a hot mess, doesn't
he? she will be a snare to him. Isn't that what the text said?
Somebody help me. Those of y'all who read your
Bible once a year. Is that what the text says? Watch this now. Watch this
now. Watch this. Follow this now. So David goes
out and kills 200 Philistines, gets all their foreskins. That
means David died for her. Did he die for her? Because it's
a model of Christ. The true church is bought by
the blood of Christ. King Saul was trying to kill
David when he sent him out there, hoping the Philistines would
kill him while David is trying to purchase his bride. David
wins. More than a conqueror. Not 104
skins, 204 skins. Dropped him at Saul's feet and
said, give me my bride. By the way, you and I are formally
of the house of Saul. And God loved us enough in David
to die for us to purchase us. Can I get a witness? Now watch
this. Watch this now. Here's the warning. Here's the warning. You better
love him in sincerity. You better quit playing church.
Because here's what happened. Micah was brought nigh to David
as sinners are brought near to Christ through the gospel. Sinners hear about the sacrifice
of Jesus, the atoning of Jesus, the coming from glory of Jesus,
the condescension of Jesus, the enormity of his sacrifice for
you, sinners. And then they only come to Christ
because it's convenient, like Micah did. You hear me? And then
when things get shaky, will you follow me? Once the winds turn
against David, politics in Israel now is hostile towards David
and David is now ridiculed and David is mocked and David is
now a criminal and David is a fugitive and David is running where's
David's wife she hanging out with a brother down the hill
because it's safe are you hearing me and these are the folks who
only come to Jesus when it's convenient when it's popular
when you get something out of it Now watch this. Okay, here's
David back up on top now. David rolling now. Is he rolling?
Is David rolling? And so David goes and calls Micah.
What does she do? She quickly leave that knucklehead,
jump on her horse and start running after David. Do you see it? Do
you guys see what I'm talking about? I'm so glad that God gives
me grace to patiently unpack the scriptures so you can see
them. I'm so glad. I'm so glad. So no here's and
here's the reason why here's the reason why because we teach
and preach here at grace line upon line Line upon line and
we tell you the gospel is in these texts And we tell you that
god's word is rich Every word of god is pure try in a furnace
of fire seven times. Not one of god's word is invalid
or irrelevant It's applicable all the days of our life This
chick jumps up on our hearts and leaves this dude and we got
to send this guy running with his tail between his legs. But
you know what she's doing? She's an opportunist. She's gonna
roll back up with David because David's on top. But now I'll
give you three more chapters from where we are. And when David
is worshiping his God, wide open worship. Wide open worship. Hallelujah! The ark of the covenant
of God is with David. And he's shouting and praising
God, singing hallelujah. His wife, who is so narcissistically
bent on her own agenda, the text says she despised him. Is that
what the text is? Can I tell you what David said?
And I'm closing. You can read it for yourself. I'm going to
tempt you to read your Bible once this week. I'm not going to even
take you there. I'm not going to even take you
there. I'm just going to quote it. You know what David said to that
woman? He says, uh, let me let you know something. I'm happy
because the Lord has accepted me. I'm happy because the Lord
chose me over your daddy. Oh, he played the dozens. Yes,
he did. He played the dozens. Stay with me. He played the dozens.
God chose me over your daddy. to rule over the house of Israel. That's why I'm happy. I'm happy
because he chose me in Christ before the foundation of the
world. When I didn't have anything in me worthy of him choosing
me, he raised me up to be king in Israel. That's why I'm happy. And from here on out, you ain't
sleeping in my bed. And he put her away. Now watch
this, because I teach you guys this in the scriptures all the
time. Romans 7 tells us about being married to the law versus
married to Christ. And when you're married to the
law, you never bear fruit. Micah remained barren all her
days. You got that? Because she was
a type of a false Christian who was brought near to Jesus, even
so near as to have his name. And David tried. Will you hear
me? David tried. She was his wife. That means he went into her from
time to time. For y'all grown folks, y'all
know what that means, right? Watch it, watch it. And nothing happened. And then she exposed her heart
and David knew why. God kept her from being productive
so that she wouldn't reproduce more souls. and god put her away. God put
her away because if you don't get me, you better get me. This is about the house of David
leading to Jesus. This is why women like Abigail
and women like Bathsheba as we're learning were such highly esteemed
women because they knew that this was not about them. This
was about the glory of god. So, y'all getting some of y'all
Wednesday studying right now. Do you because she was a hot mess. And
I would say to you and me, make your calling and election sure.
Quit playing with Christ. Make sure you're the legitimate
bride of Christ. Amen.