Let's look again tonight to 1
Samuel chapter 16. 1 Samuel chapter 16, and let's
begin our reading tonight in verse 14. But the spirit of the
Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord
troubled him. And Saul's servant said unto
him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee. Let
our Lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek
out a man who is a cunning player on an harp. And it shall come
to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he
shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well. And Saul
said unto his servants, provide me now a man that can play well
and bring him to me. Then answered one of the servants
and said, behold, I've seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite that
is cunning in playing and a mighty valiant man and a man of war
and prudent in matters and a comely person and the Lord is with him. Wherefore Saul sent messengers
unto Jesse and said, send me David thy son, which is with
the sheep. And Jesse took an ass laden with
bread and a bottle of wine and a kid and sent them by David
his son unto Saul. And David came to Saul and stood
before him and he loved him greatly. And he became his armor-bearer.
And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand
before me, for he hath found favor in my sight. And it came
to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that
David took a harp and played with his hand. So Saul was refreshed
and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him. Last Wednesday,
we looked at the first 13 verses in this chapter, and I pointed
out to us six things that are recorded there about David that
we could apply and did apply to David's son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. In this last half of the chapter,
As I read over it several times in preparing the notes for the
message tonight, the thing that especially stands out to me is
God's providence. God's providence. What is God's
providence? What is it? If you were asked
to define that term, providence, God's providence, that is, how
would you define it? Well, God's providence concerns
his preserving and governing his creation. That's what God's
providence is. God preserves and governs his
creation. Two verses of scripture that
speak of this, and I notice the word all in both of these verses. One is found in Hebrews. and
the others in Ephesians. But they speak, first of all,
the first verse of God preserving his creation. Why does God's
creation not just come apart? Why does it not just dismember
itself and burn up or whatever? Why doesn't some great hurricane
start out in the and the Atlantic and make its way across the ocean
to the Gulf of Mexico and just wipe Houston off the map. Why? Why? Because God preserves his creation. Why is it that man has continued
after the many wars over the years? Think of the thousands,
millions of men who've been destroyed in wars. And man's appetite for
war hasn't ceased. It hasn't diminished in any way.
We still live in days. I've read, I don't think there's
any real accurate number, but in the Ukraine war with Russia,
I've read as many as 500,000 people have died in that war
in the last two years. Half a million people, not soldiers
only, civilians as well. God preserves and God not only
preserves, but he governs his creation as to preserving in
Hebrews one in verse three, speaking of the Lord, upholding all things
by the word of his power, all things, not most things, not
most things, but he upholds all things by the word of his That
means from the smallest, most minute, whatever it may be, a
grain of sand, to the greatest, the universe, He upholds all
things by the word of His power. And as to governing in Ephesians
1 and verse 13, The purpose of him, that is of God, the purpose
of him who worketh all. Again, we see that word all.
Upholds all things, worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will. That's what I see. You might
see something else as you read through these verses. But that's
the way I'd like for us to think of them tonight. To consider
God's providence. and all of the happenings here
that we read about that are recorded for our learning. And I have
four points or four divisions to the message. First of all,
the condition of Saul. The condition of Saul in verse
14, but the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil
spirit from the Lord troubled him. Now we've seen this in previous
studies when When Saul was anointed by Samuel to be king, the spirit
of the Lord, we are told, came upon him, but he did not come
upon him as a spirit of regeneration or conversion. He came upon him,
enabling him to prophesy. Remember, he was found with the
prophets, and that was what the people asked, is Saul also among
the prophets? The Spirit of the Lord came upon
him, gave him the gift of prophecy, and not only the gift of prophecy,
but I pointed this out as well. Saul was a man who evidently
worked in his father's farm or ranch or whatever he had there.
He was a man of agriculture. He had no training, no skill,
no ability in governing a nation, a kingdom, and God gave him that,
gave him those gifts. That's what is meant by the Spirit
of the Lord coming upon Saul and he becoming another man. You say, well, can lost men prophesy? Absolutely, absolutely, and one
example, One glaring example is Judas Iscariot. Judas was
one of the 12, and obviously he had the gifts that the other
apostles had, the gifts of healing, the gifts of casting out demons,
the gift of prophecy, but he did not have the spirit of regeneration. Judas was never saved. And the
scriptures point that out to us when our Lord washed the disciples'
feet. Remember in John chapter 13 how
this is pointed out to us when the Lord said, ye are clean every
whit, but not all, but not all. Yes, there were 11 apostles there
who were cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ, but there was
one apostle there, Judas, who was not clean. He was not washed
in the blood of Christ. Saul disobeyed God. He disobeyed
God. If you look back in chapter 15,
in the matter of the Amalekites, in chapter 15, in verse 22, when
Samuel came to Saul, remember they still had the animals that
God had told Saul to destroy. And Saul makes an excuse saying,
well, we kept the best, we're going to sacrifice them unto
God. Sounded very plausible, but it was disobedience. It was
disobedience. And Samuel said, hath the Lord
his great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices and as in obeying
the voice of the Lord? Do you think, Saul? that the
Lord delights as much in these animals being sacrificed and
the fat being burned on the altar as much as he does in obedience? Hath the Lord as great delight
in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the
Lord? Behold, to obey is better than
sacrifice. and to hearken then the fight
of rams, for rebellion, and this is what disobedience was, it
was rebellion, is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness
is as iniquity and idolatry. Now notice this, because thou
hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee
from being king. Let me say this again and listen
carefully. Saul disobeyed God in the matter
of the Amlekites and, now listen, for his sin, for his sin, for
his disobedience, God rejected him from being king. Now we see that God allows an
evil spirit to trouble Saul. The writers, the men that I read,
the commentators, they, most of them live, you know, back
a couple of hundred years ago, and they call his condition one
of melancholy. I believe that today we would
say depression. Depression is what many of those
men refer to as melancholy. Saul, because of this evil spirit,
he lost his ability to govern. And he made foolish and he made
rash decisions because the spirit of the Lord had departed from
him. That spirit that had come upon him, giving him the ability
to govern, now he's lost that. And not only that, but these
men say he also lost the courage The courage that it took to be
the king, to lead the people, the nation of Israel. He became
fearful and he became suspicious. He became suspicious of others
and a spirit of despair came upon him. Psalm 75 and verse
seven says, but God is judge. He putteth down one and setteth
up another. And God is putting down Saul
at this time. Promotion cometh neither from
the north or from the south, but from the Lord. But God is
judge. He putteth down one and setteth
up another. You mentioned the sovereignty
of God a few minutes ago, Bill. God is sovereign in all things,
and remember how God taught King Nebuchadnezzar that lesson. He
sent him out to live like an animal for seven years, and then
when his reason returned to him, he confessed that God reigns
among the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay his hand. or say unto him, what doest
thou? So the condition of Saul, and
I believe, I don't wanna say much about this, but I believe
this will help us to understand something that we're going to
see, God willing, in chapter 17 after David kills the giant
Goliath and what Saul says there. I believe that will help us to
understand when we realize his mind, This evil spirit had come
upon him and the depression and the despair and everything that
went with it. The second thing we see here
is the advice of Saul's servants. Notice in verses 15 and 16. And
Saul's servants said unto him, Behold now, An evil spirit from
God troubleth thee. Let our Lord now command thy
servants which are before thee to seek out a man who is a cunning
player on an harp. And it shall come to pass when
the evil spirit from God is upon thee that he shall play with
his hand and thou shalt be well. This is where, to me, I especially
see the the providence of God beginning to come to the surface
here in this passage of scripture. God's providence in governing
His creation. The servants, here in verse 15,
some believe that these were physicians. Now, I don't know
what kind of physicians they may have had at that time, but
these men, if they were physicians, they recognized and they diagnosed
his problem as not being some physical malady, not being some
disease that had come upon him. They recognized that his symptoms
was an evil spirit, a mental thing, an evil spirit had come
upon him. And then second, notice their
advice in verse 16. If they were, there's obviously
here, when you look at this passage, there are two sets of servants. And these first servants, they're
the ones who speak in verses 15 and 16. But look at their
advice in verse 16. And this is typical advice of
lost men. It really is. Let our Lord now command thy
servants which are before thee to seek out a man who is a cunning
player on an harp. And it shall come to pass when
the evil spirit from God is upon thee that he shall play with
his hand and thou shalt be well. This is typical advice of lost
men. Better advice. Better advice. to Saul at this point in his
life would have been humble yourself. Humble yourself and seek God. Seek God's forgiveness. He's
rebelled. He sinned against God. Better
advice would have been call for Samuel. Call for Samuel and let's
have a prayer meeting here. And let's see if God will not
answer our prayers and intervene on your behalf and take away
this evil spirit. Now, I said this is typical advice
because, you know, sometimes a person, a lost man or woman,
young man or woman, boy or girl, they'll have some concern. Their conscience is troubled
about eternity. about their sins, and someone
tells them, well, you just need to go out and have fun. That's
advice that is given. I remember a case like that,
and the woman who was in trouble, who was in problems, her mother
gave her that type of advice. You just need to forget about
all that stuff and go out partying. Go out to the clubs on Friday
and have fun. Get that out of your mind. You know, the scripture speaks
of physicians of no value. They advise a person to get out,
forget your troubles, eat, drink, and be merry. Don't listen to
that old preacher. Don't pay attention to the word
of God. God's not like that anyway. We
know he's just love. That's all. You know, in the
book of Jeremiah, I've been reading through that book this week,
and God complained of those who, he said, have healed the hurt
of the daughter of my people slightly. slightly, saying, peace,
peace. Well, there is no peace. The
only way anyone, only way you, myself, or anyone else will have
peace with God is through Christ our Lord. By his stripes, we
are healed. Having said that, look at how
in God's providence now, Their advice, the advice that these
people gave, depicted David. I mean, they
just drew an outline of David in what they said. A man, a cunning
player on an harp. Who is that? We all know, don't
we? Well now third, look at the command
that Saul gives in verses 17 and 18. And Saul said unto his
servants, provide me now a man that can play well and bring
him to me. The king's heart is in the hand
of the Lord. As the rivers of water he turneth
it, whithersoever he will. Saul listened to that advice
and Saul acted upon it. They advised him, find a man
who's cunning and playing a harp. And so he says, provide me now
such a man. He's the king, he commands. But notice this, secondly, the
knowledge of one of his servants. Now, he just happens to be here,
this servant. He just happens in God's providence
I know a man, I crossed the path with a man one time that will
be perfect to fit this job, to do this job. He noticed five
things about this man. First of all, he was the son
of Jesse. Now how many Jesses do you imagine
may have been in Israel at that time? But he's specific, isn't
he? He's the son of Jesse the Bethlehemite. In other words, I know where
he lives. I know where he lives. And the second thing, he was
cunning. He's skillful. He's skillful
in playing the harp. I've heard him. And oh, the heavenly
music that comes from the harp when he touches it. The touch
of the master's hand. And number three, he's a valiant
man. Evidently, when we read this,
evidently, remember David later told Saul that he had by himself
killed a bear and a lion. Now, that kind of heroic deeds
gets out on a person. So this man somehow had heard
what David no doubt had done concerning the bear and the lion.
He's a, he's a valiant man. He didn't just turn and run when
that lion came to take one of his father's sheep. Oh no. He
took care of that lion and the same with the bear. And he's
comely. He's a nice looking young man.
And we saw this last week. He was goodly to look to. His appearance. And lastly, the
Lord was with him. This man knew that. To me, I
see God's providence. And this man, whoever he was,
being at the right place at the right time. First of all, and
meeting and knowing and learning about David and then being here
in the presence of the king when they're going to search out a
man, this man says, I know exactly the man. I know. That wasn't an accident, was
it? That he was there and he could
speak to the king like that? That he knew this man, knew exactly
where he was? No, that was all part of God's
providence. God's plan. He's going to bring
David to the court of Saul. And then the last thing we see
here in these last verses is that David is sent to Saul. Some of the writers believe that
Jesse was afraid that Saul had sent for his son to kill him,
to hurt him, because they assumed that maybe Saul had heard that
Samuel had anointed David with oil. And now he sins for him. And so Jesse loads up a donkey
with bread and wine and a goat and sends it to him to appease
him. I don't believe that's it. I
don't believe that's true at all. I believe that Jesse sent
and gives to Saul out of respect. because Saul was his king. He was his king, and he respected
his authority, his office. But we see God's providence.
Let's read that verse 19. Wherefore Saul sent messengers
unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son, which is with
the sheep. And Jesse took an ass laden with
bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David
his son unto Saul. And David came to Saul and stood
before him. And he, that is Saul, Saul loved
him greatly. Again, we see the heart of the
king is in the hand of the Lord. And Saul, when he saw David,
he saw him being the young man that he was. And immediately,
he loved him. He cared for him. And it says
he became his armor bearer. We don't know. The scriptures
do not tell us any time that David actually was an armor bearer
for Saul, but maybe it was an honorary position that he was
given. Maybe Saul had many armor bearers
and David was immediately in that class. And Saul sent to
Jesse saying, let David, I pray they stand before me. For he
hath found favor in my sight. Found grace. Found grace. That's what favor is, isn't it?
Unmerited favor. Unmerited favor. For by grace
are you saved. Unmerited favor. And oh, what
favor. Oh, what favor to save us. To save a sinner. Saul said he's
found favor in my sight. And if you're saved here tonight,
you found favor. You found grace, just like Noah. The description of mankind before
the flood was every man, every evil imagination of a man's heart,
men were guilty of. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. That could be said about you
if you're one of his children, about me, about every child of
God. You found grace in the eyes of,
you didn't deserve it. If you deserved it, it wouldn't
be grace. You found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. That last verse said, it came
to pass when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul that David
took a harp and played with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and
was well, and the evil spirit departed from him. Now you and
I know that music, music can serve, it can touch our spirits. We have one example, if you look
in Second Kings when, when, Three kings came to Elisha, and they
asked for his prayer and his help, 2 Kings chapter three. And the only reason Elisha said
he would even speak to these three kings, not because of the
king of Israel, but the king of Judah, but look here in chapter
three, verse 10. And the king of Israel said,
alas, that the Lord hath called these three kings together to
deliver them into the hand of Moab. But Jehoshaphat said, is
there not here a prophet of the Lord that we may inquire of the
Lord by him? And one of the king of Israel's
servants answered and said, here's Elisha, the son of Shaphat, which
poured water on the hands of Elijah. Didn't thank much of
him, did he? There's Elisha. He used to pour
water on Elijah's hands when he washed his hands. But who
is he? He's not anything much. Oh yeah, oh yeah. And Jehoshaphat said the word
of the Lord is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat
and the king of Edom went down to him and Elisha said unto the
king of Israel, what have I to do with thee? Get thee to the
prophets of thy father and to the prophets of thy mother, false
prophets. King of Israel said unto him,
nay, for the Lord hath called these three kings together to
deliver them into the hand of Moab. And Elisha said, As the
Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it
not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah,
I would not look toward thee, nor see thee. And now," now notice,
and now, bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass when the
minstrel played that the hand of the Lord came upon him. And he said, thus saith the Lord.
And of course the Lord delivered those three kings miraculously. But the point I'm making is that's
the only example we have in the scripture where a musician, his
music refreshed a prophet. But we do know tonight that music
does touch our spirits. In our text here back in 1 Samuel,
it was surely God, it wasn't the music that David played that
caused the evil spirit from the Lord to depart. It was God. It was God, now he used the music,
there's no doubt about that. But it was not the music itself,
it was God. Saul was refreshed and was well,
and the evil spirit departed from him. You know in the new
birth, and I'll close with this, when God saves a sinner, he delivers
that sinner from the power of the air, the spirit who works
in the children of disobedience. That is Satan. Delivers them
so that they can never take possession of them again. The devil, all
of us when we come into this world, we're in the kingdom of
Satan, kingdom of darkness. But you hath he quickened who
were dead in sins and trespasses. In the new birth, God delivers
a man from the power of Satan. Now, Satan can harass a believer,
and the scripture says, resist him. Speaking to a child of God,
resist him, and he will flee from thee. But God's the only
one who can deliver a man or a woman from an evil spirit. Well, I pray that the Lord would
bless His word to all of us here this evening and teach us more
about Him.