Do I have to wear anything? That's it? That's it. Well, good morning everybody. I think you know how happy I
am to be here. I'm so glad to see you. I thank
the Lord for family. Don't you thank the Lord for
creating family in His family? I just thank the Lord for each
one of you. And I thank Brother Paul for
asking me to come. It doesn't matter if I'm his
son-in-law. This is a humbling thing to be asked to do. And
I'm honored, very honored to be here. Let's begin this with
a word of prayer. covenant of blood. We pray, Lord,
that You would cause us to truly glory in Christ our Savior. Truly, from the depths of our
hearts and souls, be so thankful for everything that You have
done in Him, through Him, and revealed to us by Your Spirit.
Lord, we pray that we might have a moment to sit at Your feet
and hear Your voice and feel Your touch Lord, would you please
come into this building and meet with us? We pray for every congregation
that is gathered right now. We pray for Brother Paul as he
stands in St. Croix. We pray for the ministry
there, Brother Dan and that congregation. We pray for our brethren in Kingsport
as they gather now. All of your men who stand on
this earth, wherever they are, those that we know of, those
that we don't know of, Lord, would you help them and strengthen
them and give Your Word much liberty and cause it to reach
the hearts of Your people. If You would be willing, Lord,
would You call out more sheep, many more sheep, give them a
knowledge of who You are and cause them to truly be set free
from the bondage of religion and the bondage of their sin.
Lord, if You have more sheep in this community, would You
bring them to a knowledge of Yourself and cause them to gather
into this fold? We pray, Lord, that You will
be with our children. Thank You for the teachers who
are downstairs. If You'd be willing, plant a seed in their hearts,
Lord. Cause them to bear the yoke in their youth. Cause them
to see that eternity in Christ is the only thing that matters.
Help us all and forgive us. We ask all these things in Christ's
name. Amen. Turn with me, if you would, to
1 Samuel chapter 7. 1 Samuel chapter 7. In our message in just a moment,
we're going to look at a particular story from 2 Samuel. And what I would like to do for
this Bible study is, I'd like for us to look at the history
that led up to that story. The events that transpired that
led up to that story. is going to be a background for
the message that we'll have in just a moment. And I pray this
will be clear and not overwhelming, but we're going to move through
1 Samuel. We're going to move kind of quickly,
so may the Lord help us. Samuel was God's prophet. God's prophet to His people.
God has a people. He has a chosen, elect people. And Hebrews 1 verse 1 says, God
spake in time past unto the fathers, to all of his people, by his
prophets. That's how he spoke in time past. He spoke through Moses. He spoke
through Joshua. In this particular book, he spoke
through Eli and now through Samuel. By the Spirit of God, Through
the leadership of His prophets, God led and fed and protected
and delivered His people time and time again. He was with His
people. He was their God. They were His
people. He fought for them. He delivered
them. How many times did He deliver them? He delivered them out of
the hand of the Egyptians. He delivered them through the
land of Canaan. He did it once again right here
in 1 Samuel 7, verse 10. It says, And Samuel was offering
up the burnt offering. As Samuel was offering up the
burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the Lord thundered with a
great thunder on that day upon the Philistines and discomfited
them, and they were smitten before Israel. And the men of Israel
went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and smote them
until they came under Vethkar. Then Samuel took a stone and
set it between Mizpah and Shinn and called the name of it Ebenezer,
saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." The psalm, Come Thou
Fount, says, Here I raise mine Ebenezer. Hither by thy help
I am come. He helped them. He delivered
them. But in chapter 8, Samuel appointed his sons to be priests
with him to judge the people, and they were not good. And the children of Israel used
that as an excuse. They did not want God to reign
over them anymore. They didn't want to be judged
in God's way anymore. And they said, we want a king
like all the other nations have. God spoke to them and ruled them
and delivered them through His prophet. And they said, we don't
want this anymore. We want a king just like everybody
else has. Chapter 8, verse 5, they said unto him, Behold, thou
art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways. Now make us a king
to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel
when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed
unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel,
Hearken unto the voice of the people and all that they say
unto thee. For they have not rejected thee,
but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.
God said, They haven't rejected you, Samuel. They've rejected
me. They don't want me to reign over
them anymore. So give them what they want.
Chapter 10, if you look with me at chapter 10. Chapter 10, verse 17, and Samuel
called the people together unto the Lord to Mizpah and said unto
the children of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
I brought up Israel out of Egypt and delivered you out of the
hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all kingdoms and
of them that oppressed you. And you have this day rejected
your God, who Himself saved you out of all your adversities and
your tribulations. And you have said unto Him, Nay,
but set a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves
before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands. And when
Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe
of Benjamin was taken. And when He caused the tribe
of Benjamin to come near by their families, the family of Matriah
was taken, and Saul, the son of Kish, was taken. And the end
of verse 24 says, all the people shouted and said, God saved the
king. Saul was given to the people
to be their king. And he was a wicked king. Such
a wicked king. He represents all of mankind
by nature. He represents you and me. All
the children of Israel represent you and me. And Saul represents
you and me. He was not a man that naturally
bowed himself before the Lord. He did not humble himself before
the Lord. He was lifted up with his own
pride, lifted up with his own worth, lifted up with his own
self-righteousness, And that is every man and woman in our
natural condition. We have to face the facts. That's
all of us by nature. In chapter 13, if you look with
me there, the Philistines gathered themselves together to go to
war with Israel. Here come the Philistines again.
And Samuel, God's prophet, He told Saul to wait seven days
before he went to fight. Samuel said, I'm going to come
and offer sacrifices before the Lord. I'll offer a burnt offering.
I'll offer peace offerings. We are going to seek Him first. Don't do anything until we seek
Him first. Saul got tired of waiting and
he said, bring me some animals. I'll make the sacrifices myself.
And that's what man, in his own self-righteousness, thinks he's
able to do. That's what people all over this city, all over
this world, believe that they're able to do. I don't need the
sacrifice of Christ. I'll make my own sacrifice. God
will accept me. This is what men and women believe.
If He'll accept him, He'll accept me. I don't need someone to make
intercession for me. My works and my deeds are worthy
enough. I'm just going to bring my own
sacrifice. That's the mistake that Cain
made. Abel said, Cain, God has told us that He will only accept
the sacrifice of the blood of the Lamb. That's it. Only the sacrifice
of the Lamb that He has provided. Cain said, no, I have another
sacrifice that I'm going to make. I have a better one. And that's
what men and women believe. I have a better one. The sacrifice of the fruit of
my labor, not God's, mine. I'll just bring my own sacrifice.
That's what he said, and God rejected him. Saul did the same
thing. He said, I'm going to make my
own sacrifice, and God rejected him. man or woman, every sinner who
tries to do the same thing, come before God any other way than
through the blood of Christ the Lamb. God will reject him. Chapter 13, verse 9, Saul said,
Bring hither a burnt offering to me and peace offerings. And
he offered the burnt offering. And it came to pass that as soon
as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel
came. He got tired of waiting and he
said, Bring him to me, I'll offer him." And as soon as he was finished,
Samuel walked up. Saul went out to meet him, that
he might salute him. And Samuel said, What hast thou
done? And Saul said, Because I saw
that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest
not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered
themselves together at Michmash, therefore said I, The Philistines
will come down now upon me to Gilgal, And I've not made supplication
unto the Lord. I forced myself, therefore, and
offered the burnt offering. I didn't want to, but I just
had to do it. And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly. Thou hast not kept the commandment
of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee. For now would
the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever,
but now thy kingdom shall not continue. The Lord hath sought
him a man after his own heart. And the Lord hath commanded him
to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that
which the Lord commanded thee." He said, you've done wickedly.
The kingdom is not going to continue. The Lord hath sought him a man
after his own heart. And who's that? David. He represents the Lord Jesus
Christ. You've ruined everything. You've
just done wickedly. But God has selected him a man
after His own heart, and He's going to come and restore everything
that you lost. David was born in a town called
Bethlehem. As he grew, everything about
his life revealed the fact that he would be the deliverer and
restorer of his people. Look with me at chapter 17. Chapter 17, verse 1, Now the
Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were
gathered together at Shoko which belongeth to Judah, and pitched
between Shoko and Ezekiah in Ephesdamim. And Saul and the
men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of
Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. And
the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, And Israel stood
on a mountain on the other side, and there was a valley between
them. And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines
named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span,
nine and a half feet tall. And he had a helmet of brass
upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the
weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass, And he had
greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between
his shoulders, and the staff of his spear was like a weaver's
beam. And his spearhead weighed six
hundred shekels of iron, and one bearing a shield went before
him. And he stood and cried unto the
armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are you come out to
set your battle in array? Am not I of Philistine, and you
servants of Saul? Choose you a man for you and
let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me
and to kill me, then will we be your servants. But if I prevail
against him and kill him, then shall you be our servants. If
he kills me, we'll be your slaves. If I kill him, you'll be our
slaves. Verse 10, And the Philistines
said, I defy the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man that
we may fight together." When Saul and all Israel heard those
words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid."
David was not old enough to fight in the battle. He was a young
boy. And he wasn't old enough to fight,
but he brought food to his brothers who were on the battlefield.
And when he got there, he heard what Goliath had said. Verse
32. And David said to Saul, Let no
man's heart fail because of him. Thy servant will go and fight
with this Philistine. He said, I'll go. Christ said,
Lo, I come. In the volume of the book, it
is written of me to do thy will. Verse 33, And Saul said to David,
Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with
him, for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his
youth. And David said unto Saul, Thy
servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion and a bear
and took a lamb out of the flock. And I went out after him and
smote him and delivered it out of his mouth. And when he arose
against me, I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew
him. Thy servant slew both the lion
and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of
them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. David
said, Moreover, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of
the lion and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me
out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go,
the Lord be with thee. He said, My father put all of
his sheep into my hands. And I've lost none. None of them
have lost. They never will be. Verse 45, Then said David to the Philistine,
Thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with a shield,
but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God
of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will
the Lord deliver thee into my hand, And I will smite thee and
take thine head from thee, and I will give the carcass of the
host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air
and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may
know that there is a God in Israel." What he's saying is, I'm about
to finish this. My face is set like a flint. This battle is about to be over.
I'm going to crush your head. That's what he's telling me.
I'm about to crush your head. I'm going to finish this today.
Verse 49, And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a
stone, and slang it, and smote the philistine in his forehead,
that the stone sunk into his forehead. And he fell upon his
face to the earth, So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling
and with a stone, and smote the Philistine and slew him, but
there was no sword in the hand of David. Verse 55, And when
Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unto
Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this you? And Abner said, As thy soul liveth,
O king, I cannot tell. And the king said, Inquire thou
whose son the stripling is, And as David returned from the slaughter
of the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul
with the head of the Philistine in his hand. And Saul said to
him, Whose son art thou, thou young man? And David answered,
I am the son of thy servant Jesse, the Bethlehemite. God the Father
said through the prophet Isaiah, There shall come forth a rod
out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his
roots, He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and
with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked." Who is this? Christ Jesus, my Son. Behold,
my servant, He shall not fail. Where did Christ accomplish this
victory for His people? On the cross of Calvary. He crushed the head of the enemy.
Chapter 18, verse 1. And it came to pass when he had
made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan,
Saul had a son, a young son named Jonathan. And here he is listening
to all this, watching all this, and he sees David, this boy,
walk out and slay the enemy. By the sacrifice of himself,
he slayed the whole enemy. One offering. Everybody. And
he comes walking back up with the head of this Philistine in
his hand. And there he is talking to Saul,
his father. And it says in verse 1, It came
to pass, when David had made an end of speaking unto Saul,
that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David.
And Jonathan loved him as he loved his own soul. He saw his
Deliverer. He saw his King. And Saul took him that day, took
David that day, and would let him go no more home to his father's
house. Then Jonathan and David made
a covenant because he loved him as he loved his own soul. And
Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him and
gave it to David and his garments, even to his sword and to his
bow and to his girdle. He said, this belongs to you. He stripped Himself of everything. And He ascribed it all to David. All honor. All glory. All worth. It goes to you. When
David returned from defeating Goliath, everyone started shouting,
Saul has slain his thousands. David his ten thousands. And
that made Saul mad. Very mad. He didn't want David
to have the glory. He didn't want David to share
any of the glory. And is that not man's natural
response to Christ accomplishing all the victory alone? Alone? The flesh says, now wait a minute,
I had a role in this too. He didn't accomplish this alone.
This was a cooperative effort. Chapter 18, verse 9, it says,
Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him. And he
said, they described unto David ten thousands, and to me they
described but thousands. And what can he have more but
the kingdom? What does he want? The kingdom?
Does he want to be king? And Saul eyed David from that
day forward. And for the rest of the book
of 1 Samuel, Saul is trying to kill David. For the rest of the book, he's
trying to kill David. He is the sworn enemy of David. And that's the flesh of man against
Christ. Naturally, we are all at enmity
against him, saying, I will not have that man reign over me.
I will reign over him, but he's not going to reign over me. But the truth is, every knee
is going to bow. Because no matter what man thinks,
Christ is King. And as a picture of that, God
said, David is going to be King. And Jonathan knew that. So in
chapter 20, I'll try to wrap this up. In chapter 20, Jonathan told David, there's
a feast coming. And you're supposed to be there.
And he said, if my father is planning on killing you, I'll
let you know so that you can flee forever. But he said, I
want you to make a covenant with me. Chapter 20, verse 14, thou
shalt not only while yet I live, show me the kindness of the Lord
that I die not. But also thou shalt not cut off
thy kindness from mine house forever. No, not when the Lord
had cut off the enemies of David, every one from the face of the
earth. So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David saying,
let the Lord even require it at the hand of David's enemies.
And Jonathan caused David to swear again because he loved
him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul. Jonathan said,
promise me that you will have mercy on me and on my house. And David said, I swear. I swear. So this is what Jonathan did.
He said, don't show up to the feast. You're supposed to be
there. Don't come. I want you to wait
out in the field. And when my father notices that
your seat is empty, if he's fine with it, then I'll know he means
you no harm. And I'll come out to the field
and I'll shoot an arrow and I've got a young lad with me who retrieves
my arrows. When he starts running out, I'll
say to him, are not the arrows this side of thee, are not the
arrows this side of me?" What that means is, all is well. Come
on in. But he said, if my father is
angry over the fact that you're missing, then I'll know that
his intent is to kill you. And when I shoot the arrows,
I'll say to the lad, are not the arrows beyond thee? And that
means you better go and don't come back. Run for your life
and don't come back. So David went out into the field.
And when Saul saw that he was missing, he asked Jonathan, where's
David? And Jonathan said, I let him
go home to his family for a few days. They were offering a sacrifice
as a family and he wanted to be a part of it, so I let him
go. And Saul was so furious, he picked up a javelin and threw
it at Jonathan, trying to kill his own son. So Jonathan knew
what his intent was. And Jonathan went out to the
field, and he shot his arrow, and he hollered to the lad, Are
not the arrows beyond thee? Be swift, make haste, go. And the lad gathered up the arrows,
and it says he knew nothing about it, only David and Jonathan knew.
And he sent the lad back to the city, and David came out of hiding,
and they hugged each other, they fell on each other's neck, they
kissed each other, and they went their separate ways. And Jonathan,
over the course of his life, continued to get word to David.
He kept coming to David. He came to him in the woods and
he said, my father doesn't know where you are. And he said, you're
safe here. And he said, you're going to
be king. I know you're going to be king and I'm going to be
your right hand man. And this continued until chapter 31. All
right. Go with me. We'll close with
this. Go with me to chapter 31. Chapter 31, verse 1 says, Now
the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel
fled from before the Philistines and fell down slain in Mount
Gilboa. And the Philistines followed
hard upon Saul and upon his sons, and the Philistines slew Jonathan. And Abinadab and Malchushua,
Saul's sons, And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers
hit him, and he was sore wounded of the archers. Verse 6, So Saul
died, and his three sons, and his armor-bearer, and all his
men that same day together." Saul and Jonathan were both killed.
And the book of 2 Samuel begins with David finding out the news
that Jonathan has died. That's how it begins. And in
just a moment, we're going to pick up right there and we're
going to see the relationship between God the Father and God
the Son. And a covenant they made. And what that covenant means
for us. Sinners like us. Thank you.