Alright, 1 Samuel 16. 1 Samuel
16. We're going to look at Saul and
David and our Lord Jesus Christ. We need to speak more of David
than Saul. We need to speak more of Christ
than we do David. And we don't need to look at
Saul and David too much, but we do need to look at and to
our Lord Jesus Christ. That's all and then all. We might
be filled with the fullness of Him that filleth all and in all. Now look with me again. I never
tire of thinking about this. I know you don't. I see God's
King hidden and then revealed in verse 1, the Lord said to
Samuel, how long without mourning for Saul, seeing I have rejected
him from reigning over Israel? Fill thine horn with oil. Go
and I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have
provided me a king among his sons. David was hidden for quite
a while, but David was God's King all along. And he would
have been revealed eventually, but the people couldn't wait.
They wanted a king, and they asked for a king, which Samuel
said was evil. But our Lord Jesus Christ has
been the king over his people from the beginning, long before
we knew him. But far long before we wanted
him, he reigned and ruled. And Psalm 2 says, The kings of
the earth set themselves, like Saul did. The rulers took counsel
together against the Lord. In fact, Saul turned against
David. Against his anointed, let us
break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us.
But he that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have
them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them
in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure, and say,
Yea, I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion, my son. He said, I'll give thee the heathen
for thine inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
And so he says, Be wise, O kings. Be instructed, ye judges of the
earth. Serve the Lord with fear. Rejoice with trembling. Kiss
the son. Lest ye be angry, and ye perish
from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. But
blessed are all they that put their trust in him. Blessed. So God's King, David, was hidden,
unknown, until God revealed him. In the fullness of time. And
that's what Galatians 4 says. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth His Son, made a woman, made under the law, to redeem
them. They were under the law. God's King. David. God's King. The Lord Jesus Christ is called
the Son of David. Then He was revealed. He was
revealed. And you remember who He called
to first reveal the Son to? David's brethren. David's brethren. He called them in to reveal who
their king was. And he called them in to come
to a sacrifice. Their king and a sacrifice. And that's why Christ came, didn't
He? To reign over His people and to offer that sacrifice of
Himself. To put away our sins. Alright? And that's our Lord
Jesus Christ. Alright? Hidden. revealed to
his people. You know, all Israel found out
eventually who David was. All Israel. In the end, the Lord
brought all Israel to David. And they all said, reign over
us. And all of God's people will
know and will come and will bow to the Lord Jesus Christ. And
then Samuel anointed David in the midst of his brethren, verses
12 and 13. He sent and brought him in. Don't you love that thought?
He brought him in, he was red in the face. So that's Isaiah
63, isn't it? Who is this coming from Bosworth,
his garments dyed red? Who is this? The Lord, mighty
to save, heaven's salvation. He was beautiful countenance.
A pair of eyes, it says. You can look in his eyes. Beautiful
eyes. That's what the Beloved said
of the king in the Song of Solomon. That's Dove's eyes. And it says
he was goodly to look to. He could look to this man for
help. He could look to this man. That's
our Lord Jesus Christ. We look to Him, don't we? When
He came as a man, there was no form or complex in Him. No beauty
that we should desire Him. And none of us in here desired
Him. That's perfect. Until God caused us to look to
Him. And we saw in Him the altogether
lovely One. Fairest of ten thousand. That's
what the family said of David. You're worth ten thousand of
that. We're not worth anything. They all looked to Him. Oh my,
that's our Lord Jesus Christ. Anointed, chosen among the people,
Psalm 89 says. And Samuel took that horn of
oil, verse 13, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren.
And John said this. John said, I didn't know him
until God said, when you see the Spirit of God descend upon
him as a dove, the Spirit of God said, this is him. The same
way with us. The Holy Spirit takes the things
of Christ and shows them to us. This is Him. And in John chapter
3, John was preaching, and lo, Christ came, and John said, This
is He. Everybody, this is He. The One
we've been looking for. Our Lord, our King, and our Savior,
our Lamb. Alright? So, God's King was hidden. God's King is revealed. God's
King is anointed in the midst of his brethren. The Spirit of
the Lord descended upon him. It says the Spirit of the Lord
came upon David from that day forward. He never left David. David was filled with the Spirit
of God, led by the Spirit of God, spake by the Spirit of God,
led his people by the Spirit of God, and the Spirit never
departed from him. Nor does he depart from God's
people ever, ever. He that hath the Spirit of God,
he that hath not the Spirit of God is none of him. But they
that are led by the Spirit of God, they belong to him. They
are God's son. And so was David. But the Spirit
of the Lord departed from Saul. Look at verse 14. The Spirit
of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord
troubled him. Now this was man's king. This was man's king. And the Spirit of God departed
from him. And there's some lessons we need
to learn from Saul. I don't want to spend too much
time here. And I'm sure your curiosity and your confusion
if you've read the life of Saul. But if you read carefully, Saul
was an evil man from the beginning. Spirit, Scripture says that he
was a goodly person, goodlier than others, but it goes on to
say because he was taller than anybody else. In other words,
he was a fine specimen of a man that people would look at, admire,
and follow. People of Israel had to follow
this man. The Lord made Saul tall and handsome
and all of this. And the people looked at him
and thought he was a fine man and they're going to have to
follow this man. And they did. They admired him. They followed
him. But he was an evil man. And we'll see that in a minute.
And Saul represents three would-be or want-to-be kings. He represents
Satan who said, I will be king. He represents Adam, who was a
king, but God removed him, didn't He? Psalm 8 says, Thou madest
him a little lower than the angels, didn't He? That's speaking of
Adam. And yet, it's speaking of Christ. In Hebrews 2, it goes on to say,
He was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death. But Adam was a king, as it were. He failed and he
rebelled when Satan said, you'll be like God. Adam said, I like
that. I want to be my own king. So
Adam fell miserably. God removed him. Satan said,
I will. God removed him. There's an old
man in us. that wants the rule and the reign.
God's got to remove him. People wanted a king. Go back
to chapter 12. Let me try to say a few things about Saul that
we need to learn. People wanted a king. Chapter
12, verse 17. begged for Samuel to be a king,
but Samuel was their king, you know that? Samuel was their prophet,
Samuel was their priest, and he led them like a king. He didn't
have the title, but he was, God used him, and David was waiting.
It just remained, just the time for David to turn 30, he was
going to reign, no matter what. People said, no, we want a king
like the rest of the nation. We want a man to reign over us. Well, they had God reigning over
them. They had His prophet to lead
them. And they wasn't good enough. Now look at this, verse 17. Samuel
said, Sweet harvest I'll call upon the Lord. He shall send
thunder and rain that you may perceive and see that your wickedness
is a great that you've done in the sight of the Lord and asking
you a king. This is evil. You have a king. It's God. But you're not listening to him,
you're not following him. And I'm his representative. Samuel
went on to say, I've led you all these years, what evil have
you found in me? Why do you need somebody else?
So God chose their king. God sets up every person in authority,
you know that? Every person in authority, God
elects them. We don't elect our rulers, God
does. Go back to chapter 8 real quick. Chapter 8. The Lord said to Samuel. You have it? Chapter 8. They
said in verse 6, Give us a king to judge us. Samuel prayed unto
the Lord, and the Lord said to Samuel, verse 7, Hearken unto
the voice of the people and all that they say unto thee. They
have not rejected thee, they have rejected me, that I shall
not reign over them. According to all the works which
they have done since the day I brought them out of Egypt.
They haven't changed. Hearken unto their voice, how
be it, he said, verse 9. God is saying that. Protest solemnly
unto them. Show them what manner of king
that shall reign over them. Show them what kind of man it's
going to be that's going to have them under his rule. And they'll
be calling on God when it's over. And Samuel told the words to
all the people, and he said in verse 11, this will be the manner
of king that shall reign over you. your sons for his. Verse 12, he'll appoint him captains
over a thousand, then captains over, appoint for himself. to
reap His harvest, to make His instruments. Verse 13, He'll
take your daughters to be His cooks. Verse 14, He'll take your
fields. Verse 15, He'll take the tenth
of your seed. Verse 16, He'll take your menservants. Verse 17, He'll take the tenth
of your sheep for Himself. And you'll cry out, verse 18,
in the day, because of your King that you have chosen. And the
Lord's not going to hear you. That's man. That's our evil selves. I want
to reign and rule. No, you don't either. And you
sure don't want evil men to reign over you. But God chose Saul,
and God has put evil men in charge as a judgment against the people
of sin. Do you know that every single
king of Israel after Solomon was evil? Every single king of
Israel was an idolater and evil. Many of the kings of Judah, remember
they were a divided nation, Israel and Judah, all right? Some of
the kings of Judah were fine men, wonderful men by the mercy
of God, but some of them were bad men. But all of Israel's
kings were evil men, all of them, and yet, God protected that nation. He
sent these evil men as judgments against the sin, the rebellion,
the unbelief of the nation, and yet God had a remnant. God had
people in there. God had His true Israel in the
midst of it, and nobody's going to destroy that nation and those
people, although evil men reigned over them. That's the United
States of America. I can't recall ever being a godly
man in the office of the President of the United States. Do you
know of any? You may say George, maybe George Washington, I don't
know. Maybe Abraham Lincoln, I don't know. But since then,
it, can you think of one? They say that, that was his name,
Herbert, not Herbert Hoover, Calvin Coolidge was a Presbyterian
and it was, What was his name? He was a Calvinist. I don't know.
But sure hadn't been one in the last 50 or 60 years. Ungodly
man. But God. He has a remnant, he
said. And he raised up Saul to be a
warrior. and to fight battles and all
that. But you know who was really fighting
Israel's battles? You know who was really fighting
for Israel? David. Saul was scared to death
of Goliath in that Sunday's message. Saul was just a man, all right? But David And from then on, David secretly
was fighting the battles for Israel. That's what they said.
When they finally found out, David was their king. And they
said in 2 Samuel 5, he said, you're the one, all this time,
you are the one going in and out before Israel and fighting
our battles. And Jonathan. Jonathan was right
there beside him. And Saul hated both of them.
Tried to kill both of them. Saul would have killed Samuel.
Saul tried to kill David, tried to kill Jonathan. Saul killed
80 priests for harboring David and giving David something to
eat. Bad man. Bad man. So don't be confused about Saul.
And God didn't give him... Here's the point I want you to
understand. God can and does change men for purposes, for
his own purposes. Alright? It doesn't mean he saves
them. It says that God gave him a change
of heart. It doesn't mean he saved him.
It doesn't mean he was regenerated. It means he turned his heart.
from his own evil self to do what God would have him do for
his people. All right? See, the king's heart, Proverbs
22.1, the king's heart is in the hands of the Lord, like the
rivers of water he turneth whistling everywhere. I am so glad that
the Lord restrains the evil hearts and intentions of men in power,
or else we'd really be in trouble. Right? The wrath of man shall
praise him, Scripture said, but the remainder of wrath God will
restrain. Thank God. Men cannot do what
they will. They do what God allows them
to do. That's our comfort. And no matter
how bad a man is, we don't have to worry. Our king's running
this thing. You understand? So that's good
to know, isn't it? Good to know. And these things
about Saul, don't be confused. I had a man get mad at me over
there. I thought, you need to read Scripture. Saul never called
on the Lord. He didn't listen to Samuel. He
lied to Samuel. He called for the ark one time
when the enemy was coming. He called for the ark. When he
found out the enemy had turned, he said, send it back. We don't
need it. Like a rabbit's foot. He lied to Samuel. He wanted
to save faith, so he asked Samuel to save his reputation in front
of Israel. That's all he was interested
in, saving faith. And that's religious man. That's
religious man. And as I said, he tried to kill
them all. And that's man at his best state. And that's why it
reads, the Lord took the spirit from Saul. All right, now we're
going to change the whole thing right here, okay? I can do that.
I've got that liberty here. Why did the Lord put this story
in here of Saul being tormented by an evil spirit and David coming
to soothe him in the heart? Why? Because this is a picture. And
we looked at this many years ago, many years ago. But this
is such a good picture of how God's people are plagued by evil
within. And only one man can subdue that
evil. And the Father sent the Son.
I want to tell you again from the beginning. The Father sent
the Son to soothe a sinner. All right, let's look at it,
verse by verse. A man was sought to subdue the evil within. An
evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. Now brethren, nothing and
no one, we are hedged about. You understand? Like Job. Satan
desired Job, didn't he? He desired Job. And he couldn't
get to him. And God loved the way God mocked
him. He said, where hast thou been?
He said, running around like a chicken with my head cut off.
He said, have you considered my servant Job? There's nothing
like him at all. He's just. He's upright. He feareth
the Lord. Satan said, yeah, but you've got him hedged about.
He wouldn't believe you. He wouldn't bother you if you
took that hedge down. Let me have him. See, he couldn't touch
him. That's such good news, isn't
it? Our Lord reigns over good and evil. Yes, He does. Well, God allowed
Satan to send these, you know, these enemies to come and do... It was awful what happened to
Job, wasn't it? What happened? What Job said. The Lord did this. Job didn't blame anybody. Didn't blame the whirlwind, didn't
blame the enemy, didn't blame man, didn't blame... He said,
the Lord did this. The Lord gave, the Lord take
away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And all this Job sinned
not with his lips, or charged God foolishly. That's why God
sins things. It's a test of faith. Give Him
all the glory and all the honor. In a day of prosperity, consider,
or rejoin. In a day of adversity, consider
that God has set the one over against the other. To this end,
we're not going to find anything after. Job said, naked I came
into this world, naked shall I return. Though he slay me,
I'll trust him. Well, but the Lord, so the Lord
allows He said that to Peter, didn't he? Satan had desired
you to sift you like wheat. And I'm going to let him have
you. Didn't I? I'm going to let him
have you, briefly. But he can't kill you. He doesn't
have complete control. I'll never allow that. So an
evil spirit from the Lord troubles us. It's called an old man inside
of them. He's an evil felon. That's what
the Lord said to His disciples. If you be an evil, wait a minute. These are righteous men. These
are just men. These are followers of the Lord.
These are sons of God, born of God, led by Spirit. Yes, they
are, but they got an old man in there and he'll never go away
until they die. He'll be with them. And the Lord
allows this. Don't you say all the time, if
you just remove this old fella in me, would you please get rid
of him? He's going to. But it's good
for us right now. Why? Oh, send somebody. Saul said, send somebody to help
me. Verse 15, Saul's servant said,
An evil spirit from God troubleth thee. Let our Lord now command
thy servants which are before thee to seek out a man. Let's
seek a man who's a cunning player on a harp. And it come to pass
when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play
with his hand. This man will take his hand and
do something for you before God, and you'll be well. He'll subdue this evil within
you. So I'll say, oh, provide me that. Don't we say, oh, send
thy spirit, Lord. Send a man that can play well
and bring him to me. Even me, even me. Let thy blessing
fall on me. Is there such a man? Is there
a man? Oh, please send a man, send someone
that can play well, that can speak well, that something that
will touch my heart, touch my troubled soul, sweet music, songs,
songs from the Lord that will soothe my troubled mind. Drive
away the lust of the flesh, so do my sinful will. Give me peace,
give me comfort, give me joy. Restore unto me the joy of the
Lord. Oh, this evil that plagues my
soul. Please send a man to help me. Someone to say, finally, it is
well with thyself. And one of the servants said,
I've seen one. Verse 18, look at this description. One of the servants, and here's
what I'm trying to tell you, you people that are plagued.
I've seen a son. I've seen the son of Jesse. Remember that means existent.
The son of I Am. The great son of I Am. The Lord
Jesus Christ. The Bethlehemite. House of bread. Christ our bread. He's cunning
and plain. The word cunning means able. This man said, I've seen such
a one. He's able to play and sing. I've
heard him play. I've heard him sing. And I just
felt peace come over my soul. Didn't want to leave. Oh, my.
Able to play and sing. I love the thoughts of our Lord
singing, don't you? The enemy came to take him, and
they were so mesmerized, so smitten, just smitten by his voice, they
went back and said, no man speaks like this man. We couldn't take
him. We had to sit and listen. And our Lord sang. He's the one
who taught David to sing. He's the one who gave David all
those songs. Scripture says that Solomon wrote
how many songs? 700 songs and 3,000 proverbs
or something like that. Well, our Lord's the one who
gave all those to him. Wouldn't you have loved to have
heard David sing, play and sing? There's probably never been a
man to play an instrument like David did, except The one who
made them. Oh, how he must have sung. When
they sang that hymn after eating, taking the table and went out,
he was headed to the cross. Oh, my. I bet the birds hushed
their singing. The trees were silent. The wind
stopped blowing. I hear him saying, Abel. He's Abel. Our Lord Jesus Christ
is able to drive away all our troubles, to speak peace to our
hearts. He's the only one. The only one. Our Lord is able
to speak peace. Like He did that raging ocean,
you know, when the disciples all thought they were all doomed,
they were all going down. And our Lord went out on the
bow of that ship and said, Peace, be still. And the wind stopped
and the waves obeyed His voice. And there was silence for 30
minutes and that boat went. And their hearts were still too.
And that raging, that turmoil within, only if Christ speaks
to us will that go away. Be still. Our Lord said to that
woman who was plagued by that evil spirit, He turned to her
in one line, in one phrase, He said unto her, Thy sins be forgiven. She'd never felt like that in
all her life. I believe a smile came on her
face. Joy came in her heart. And no man could take it away.
Thy sins be forgiven. Listen to this. Sins shall not
have dominion over you. You're not under the law. You're
under the grace of Jesus Christ. And He knows you. He knows your
frame. Peace, be still. Isn't it so if the Lord speaks
to us? And through the Psalms, what
did David sing? How many Psalms? How many has
he written up to this point? Oh, he's able. He's able. He's
cunning in play. He's a mighty, valiant man. You
need someone not only who's able to speak peace to your heart,
but you need a man who's mighty and valiant. Mighty means powerful. Able to do what he sets out to
do. A man of virtue and valor and
strength. Able to do anything that he's
called to do. This servant said, I've seen
such a man. He's able. to save. To the uttermost. When I saw him, I heard that he went
out after a bear and a lion with his bare hands to save one little lamb. These false prophets, this
is how you know them. When they say, He can save if
you let Him. And He's not a savior if you
have to let Him. This is a mighty man, valiant
man. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, All
power is given unto me in heaven and earth. He said unto the Father,
Father, as Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He
should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given death.
And he said there in the Gospel of John, he said, I give unto
them my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish, and
no man will ever pluck them out of my hand. That's the Jesus
Christ I need, don't you? That's the Jesus Christ I need. You can have this other Jesus.
I've told people before, you know, if Jesus is standing outside
your heart store, don't let him in. Turn him away. You call on the Lord. is the
door, who reaches his hand through the door like the Shulamite maiden.
And you'll know he'd been there, and you'll cry out for him to
save you. Mighty, valiant man. It says
in verse 18, and this man, this man I've seen, this son of Jesse,
he's a man of war. He's a man of war. We need a
man of war, don't we? Don't we, Stephen? We need somebody
to fight our battles for. And that's what Isaiah 42 says.
He said, speak comfortably, my people. Tell them their iniquity
is pardoned. The warfare is accomplished. We might look at Abigail being
taken captive by the Malachites, was it? She knew. She knew. You've taken the wrong
man's wife. He's coming after me. No, I'm
not staying here. He's coming after me. And if
y'all will lay down your arms right now. Because he's a man
of war. And he takes what's his. Remember
when David came? David, we're getting way ahead
of ourselves. This might be my last message.
Brother Scott used to say, don't tell everything you know in one
message. Well, I'm trying. But it can't
help it. But when David came and Jerusalem
was inhabited by the Jebusites, they had all these idols on their
wall to protect them. And they said, David can't come
in here. And the very next verse says, David took it. And it was his city from then
on. As long as he reigned and ruled, nobody could enter those
gates. Nobody could touch any one of
them. That's our Lord Jesus Christ. He's a man of war. You see, we've
got an enemy, an adversary that's more powerful than all the people
in this world put together. In fact, He has them captive
at His will. We need a stronger than He, don't
we? We don't seek some weak Jesus that can't do anything unless
we let Him, that loves us all so much and just standing by,
hoping everybody just let Him be Lord. No, we need one who's
in charge of this whole thing. A man of war. Someone who won't lose. They said, I know a man who's
prudent in matters. He's prudent. He's wise. He's
just. Oh, my. Our Lord is wisdom itself. He's made unto us wisdom. I'm
a fool. I need wisdom, don't you? I'm
a sinner. I need righteousness. Sanctification
or redemption. Christ has made all those things
that are prudent in matter, prudent in speech, comely. They said
He's comely in His person, and the Lord's with Him. So Saul, verse 19, sent unto
Jesse and said, Send me David thy son, which is with the sheep.
Where was David? Where was David all the time?
Waitin' to be king. Where was he? Keepin' the sheep.
What was our Lord doing for 30 years prior to when He appeared
publicly? Keepin' the sheep. Where was
He before that? Keepin' the sheep. Because the
Lord is our shepherd. Now, fear no evil, because He's
with us. He's keepin' the sheep. Faithful shepherd. Good shepherd.
Chief shepherd. So Jesse, look at what the father did. He sent
for the shepherd of the sheep, the good shepherd, the great
shepherd, the shepherd who never lost a sheep. And the father
took an ass with bread and wine and a lamb. Are you with me? Why don't you
jump a little bit? He put David on the foal of an
ass, riding into town with bread and wine and a lamp. Who is this?" This is the one able to say it,
only able to say it. And it came to Saul. And oh,
when the Lord God with the Father sends Christ to us, and we see
Him before us, He stood before him. And he loved him greatly. And
he became his armor-bearer. Now, you know who that's talking
about? It's talking about David loved
Saul. Not Saul loved David. Do you
understand? That's where people get confused
on it. It doesn't say that Saul loved David. Did he love David? If it seems like he did, it just
seems like he did, because he didn't. Two chapters later, he
says he eyed him from that day forward. No, no, no, no. Do we love Christ first? Do we love God first? Does he
love us first? We love him because he loved
us, okay? David loved Saul and became his
armor bearer. David agreed to become his armor-bearer. And our Lord loves us, and He
is our shield and our salvation. But yes, when we see our Lord
and Savior, when God sets Him before us, when He lifts Him
up before us, oh, we love Him greatly. Yes, we do. And we want Him to be our armor-bearer.
And Saul said to Jesse, verse 22, say, Let David, I pray thee,
stand before me, for he hath found favor in my sight. Our
Lord Jesus Christ grew in wisdom and stature and favor with God
and men. Everybody. In fact, they all
put him on a... They all, when he came into town,
said, Hosanna to the king. What were they doing a little
while later? Crucify. So he was in favor. He had to
be. No fault in it. But when they found out, like
Saul, he's your king. Oh no, no, no, no. We have no
king but Caesar. That's what Saul did. But now
Saul is right here for our purpose. He's us. And oh my, we find favor
in God's sight. through our Lord Jesus Christ,
and He is our Lord and our Savior. And it came to pass, and I close,
when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took
a harp and played with his hand, and I believe he sang too, don't
you? So Saul was refreshed and was well, and an evil spirit
departed from him. In closing, turn to 2 Samuel
23. 2 Samuel 23. In closing. Alright? You'll love this. 2 Samuel 23. You know, the Lord
wrote these psalms for us. Had David write them. And they
were to be sung. We sing many psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, and don't they do us well? Don't they? That's why Paul said, sing unto
yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody
in your hearts unto the Lord. Sing. It'll do you good. When
you're sad, sing. When you're sad, sing. Oh, have
mercy, Lord. Have mercy, Lord. When you're
mad, sing. Rock of Ages, collect for me. When you're lonely, sing. Abide with me, fast falls in. I need thee, blessed Lord. When
you're feeling sinful, sing. Search me, O God, and know my
heart today. Try me, O Savior. Sing. Sing this song. When you're fearful, sing, the
Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 2 Samuel 23 says, this is a gorgeous,
gorgeous, gorgeous picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now these
be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said,
the man who's raised up on high, This is Christ. Anointed in the
God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel said, The Spirit of
the Lord spake by me. His Word was in my tongue. The
God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spake to me. He that
ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And
he shall be as the light of the morning when the sun riseth. even a morning without clouds,
as tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining
after rain. Although my house be not so with
God." You know, his house was in shambles
when he came. That's it. Yet he made with me
an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, this
is all my salvation, this is all our salvation, all our desire,
although you make it not to grow. Our Lord is the sweet psalmist,
isn't he? And we need to speak peace to
our troubled hearts. Okay, stand with me.