That's one of my favorite hymns.
I love that hymn. As we're so apt to forget, the
Lord never forgets. He remembers His people. He remembers
His Son and what He did for His people. And that's our hope,
isn't it? That's our foundation. Now, let's
turn back to 1 Samuel 16. Now, tonight's message is a continuation
of what I preached Wednesday night, but this message will
stand on its own, so if you did not hear the message Wednesday
night, you won't be lost in the truth that's taught here concerning
this subject, God's Providence and Salvation. That's what the
title is. This is part two. But it's amazing,
it's an amazing thing, as I said last time, as we look through
this historical recording or record of the life of David,
how we see so much of God's providence shining through to accomplish
His purpose of the salvation of His chosen people in and by
the Lord Jesus Christ. Because everything that's taking
place right here in the past, as recorded in 1 Samuel 16, has
its ultimate goal and fulfillment in the covenant that God made
with His Son before the foundation of the world, in which we see
everything working out, God working all things after the counsel
of His own will in the fulfillment of these things throughout time.
I don't know, I'm not going to go back over the psalm that Brother
Ron read, but that's what that psalm is about. That's why I
had him read that. Because you notice he mentioned
David in there several times in that psalm. And there are
applications to King David of Israel of old. But the ultimate
application and the eternal and spiritual application is in David's
greater son, the son of David. our great King, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he said in that Psalm, Psalm
89, justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before
thy face. That's fulfilled ultimately for
the people of God in Christ and by Christ. That's the cross. God the Son incarnate dying for
our sins. satisfying the justice of God,
paying our debt to God's law and justice, establishing righteousness,
making an end of sin, finishing the transgression, all that he
was sent to do. Now, in order for that to be
a reality, all of this history from Genesis all the way up to
the time of the Messiah's coming, is worked out by the hand of
Almighty God. And that's what providence is
all about. When we say providence, we're not talking about a town.
We're talking about God's government of things. He's in control. He's
on the throne. Now, let's go to 1 Samuel 16. I want to go through the rest
of these verses. There are several significant things here in the
life of David. For example, David had been anointed
as king. Saul has been rejected as king. David had been out with the sheepfold
in the pasture. That's what he was. He was a
shepherd. And as I've said many times, that's a great picture
of our Lord, who was first a shepherd and then a king. Now, our Lord
was not actually a shepherd in the field physically, but he
is the great shepherd. He said that. He said he's the
good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. John chapter 10. And the king
of kings has the heart of a shepherd, just like David. All the time
that he was anointed as king, but he was still out in the sheepfold,
he was being prepared by God to reign in Israel, to reign
on a throne. He was given that heart. He was
a man after God's own heart. So the first thing that's significant
here, I mentioned this last time, but I want to say a little bit
more about it. Look at verse 14. The Spirit
of the Lord departed from Saul. It says, but the Spirit of the
Lord, that's the Holy Spirit, departed from Saul, and an evil
spirit from the Lord troubled him, or terrified him. Now, the
Spirit of the Lord departing from Saul, as I said, it means
that Saul is now totally on his own. He is totally without any
help, or any wisdom, or any knowledge, or guidance from God to perform
the duties of a king. And the reason is, is because
he has been taken out of that office by God, even though he
still occupied the throne at this time. God's working out
in his providence the time that Saul's going to be totally removed,
and David will take his place. But Saul had been rejected. Now,
a lot of people have problems with this verse, as I said. For
example, the Holy Spirit. We often think of the Holy Spirit
as only doing one thing, and that is the new birth, regeneration
and conversion. But the Holy Spirit is just as
active in providence as the Father and the Son. As I pointed out
last time, He moved upon the face of the waters in creation.
He was just as active. All three persons of the triune
Godhead are active in providence. And the Holy Spirit, God the
Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, co-equal with
the Father and the Son in every attribute of deity, He is active
in a lot of things, a lot of areas that do not necessarily
work out to the new birth. Now, that is His great work.
That is the most powerful work that He does, regenerate, giving
spiritual life to dead sinners from Christ. That's his marvelous
work, that's his highest work, because that's the highest glory
of the Godhead, convincing us of sin and driving us to Christ
for salvation. But he also works providentially
in the lives of people, in nature, in all these things, and he worked
that way in King Saul. King Saul was an unregenerate
man. Some of you may have heard that
Saul was a believer. Well, that's true. The Holy Spirit
being taken away from him means he lost his salvation, and you
know the Scripture doesn't teach that. Once the Holy Spirit regenerates
a person and indwells a person, he stays there forever, the Scripture
says. Christ told his disciples, he
will not depart from you. But God the Holy Spirit was working
actively in providence in King Saul's life up to a point. And
that was to guide him in the ways of the Lord. But Saul was
a disobedient, unregenerate, unbelieving man. And so the Spirit
of the Lord departed from him, and now he's on his own. Over
in 1 Samuel 28 and verse 6, let me show you how this works out.
Look over here. 1 Samuel 28 and verse 6. Now, I'll tell you what, and
I know from thinking about this and from reading Scripture, there's
nothing more frightening to me than to think about getting up
behind this pulpit or standing behind a lectern without God's
wisdom and guidance and without His Word, to be on my own. For me to stand up here on my
own, of my own power, with my own words, is just utterly terrifying
to me. And that's what happened to Saul. He still has the throne of Israel
at this time, but he doesn't have the Spirit of God. He doesn't
have the wisdom of God. Now why is that? It's because
he rejected it. And it says in 1 Samuel 28, look
at verse 6, it says, And when Saul inquired of the Lord, this
is later on, you see, after the Spirit of the Lord had been taken
away from him, it said, The Lord answered him not. Neither by
dreams, you know, God spoke at that time through dreams sometimes,
nor by Urim. Now, you remember the Urim and
the Thuman that the priest had in a box that was hung around
his neck, and that was a symbol of judgment. In other words,
that was where the priest would go to find the Word of God for
judgment. And what it's saying here, Saul,
when he sought and inquired of the Lord to make right judgments,
the Lord answered him not. You're on your own. And then
it says, nor by prophets. Samuel, stop coming to him. There's
no prophet now to advise him. And that's a terrifying place
to be. Now, Saul's problem, turn over
to Galatians chapter 6 with me. Saul's problem is the age-old
problem that we have to face, that is, Related out here in
verse 7 of Galatians chapter 6. And it says this. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap. Now that is what is happening
to King Saul. He is reaping what he sowed. He reaped unbelief. He reaped, he sowed unbelief,
he sowed disobedience, now he's reaping the whirlwind. And it
says in verse 8, for he that soweth to his flesh shall with
the flesh reap corruption. Now what Paul's talking about
here is the issue of salvation. A man who would sow to the flesh
is a person, a man who would seek salvation from God by his
works, by his efforts, by his own self-righteous works. And
a man who seeks salvation from God, based on that, is sowing
to the flesh and he's going to reap death. That's why when we
sow, we sow by grace the work of Christ, the merits of Christ,
the blood of Christ, the righteousness of Christ, and we'll reap life
through him. That's what he's talking about.
But there is a principle here. He says, he that soweth to the
Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. To sow to the
Spirit is to plead Christ. You see? And so he says, let
us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap
if we faint not. Well, back here in 1 Samuel 16,
Saul is reaping what he sowed. And that's what every person's
going to do. You're going to reap what you sow. If you sow
to the flesh, you'll reap death. If you sow to the Spirit, You'll
reap that life everlasting. Now, this line here, verse 14,
it says, "...an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him." I dealt
with that last time, but let me say a little more about that.
Again, this doesn't mean that God is the author of sin, or
the source of sin, or that God tempts any man towards evil.
I believe evil here. Now, there are some who say this
is a demonic spirit. If it is now, and it could be,
I mean, I'm not going to argue that, but I want to tell you
something. God is in control, even of the demonic spirit. How
do you think Christ could meet the Gadarene demoniac and cast
the spirits out? And what did the, you remember
what the demon spirit said? Can we go over here into the
swine? They were asking his permission,
weren't they? Listen, they know more than what
most so-called Christians know today, that God is in control. God is sovereign. And so if God
sent a demon spirit to Saul, then that means God was punishing
Saul for his disobedience, and he was allowing this demon spirit
to afflict Saul. So that could be it. But now
most people agree that this evil spirit here is the trouble and
affliction that terrifies a man's soul, his mind, his conscience. Saul's conscience had become
a severe accuser of his mind. But it says plainly that the
Lord, that is Jehovah God, sent this as a judgment for Saul's
disobedience. It's a spirit of depression.
You read about Saul from this time forward. It's a spirit of
bitterness. He becomes suspicious. He becomes
changing in his attitude and mood swings, envy, jealousy against
David. And he even seeks to kill David.
He had moments of comfort and peace, but they didn't last.
Now, I realize that this kind of verse, though, really doesn't
fit with modern man's conceptions with God. And the reason is,
is because modern man, I say modern man because that's what
we are, I know this is an age-old problem, this isn't a modern
problem, this is a problem of man since the fall. But modern
man has false views of God's nature, of who God is and what
He's like. He thinks of God as only a God
of love and mercy. He stumbles over verses of scripture
like this, and he tends to pass over them and tends to think,
well, they don't really have the same force as other texts
that talk about the goodness of God and the love and mercy
of God. But now you look carefully at
what's stated in that verse, an evil spirit from Jehovah terrorized
Saul. And again, not that God is evil
or is the author of evil, but this belongs to his sovereignty. And I want to tell you something,
our generation needs a full dose of the reality of the truth of
God's sovereignty. This generation basically knows
nothing about it. All they know is man's on the
throne, man's free will, man does this. You see, this is God
by virtue of His eternal sovereign being. And those who don't recognize
and submit to this truth, they seek to limit God to their own
understanding, their own ways, their own kind of thinking. You
know what Job said? I'll tell you, and that's a good
book to read if you want a good dose of learning about God's
sovereignty and God's providence, especially in salvation through
Christ. God says, I'll have mercy on
whom I will. I'll be compassionate to whom
I will. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but it is of God that showeth
mercy. And I want to tell you something,
if we're ever going to have mercy, if we're ever going to get mercy,
it's going to be from the sovereign God of the universe. And it's
going to come through Jesus Christ, who is the mercy seed. You say,
what do I do then, preacher? I'm saying fall at the feet of
God and beg for mercy. And God says He'll give it. But
Job said this. Job said, God gives us the things
that are good, but it's also the same God who sends to us
the things that are not good. And if it weren't so, we couldn't
say all things work together for good to them that love God,
who are called according to His purpose. False religion tells
us that God does nothing to cause pain. He's nothing but kindness. He's nothing but compassion.
And all things bad and painful and evil come from Satan. One
false preacher went as far to say this. He said this. Now listen
to me. This is on television. He said
God did not send the flood. That came from the devil. Now
let me tell you what he just did. He attributed the judgment
and justice and work of God to the devil. That's what that preacher
did. You see, that makes Satan God's
evil counterpart and opposite. Let me tell you something. Satan
is not God's evil counterpart. Satan is a creature. He's an
evil creature. He's a powerful creature. But
he's nowhere near the equal of God. Satan is not God's evil
opposite, you see. is the God of this universe.
Amos chapter 3 and verse 6, let me read this to you. The prophet
Amos. He says, Shall trumpet be blown
in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil
in a city, and the Lord hath not done it? Surely the Lord
God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants,
the prophets. God's in control. Now, what this
generation needs is a full dose of that. Now, somebody might
say, well, I don't understand all of that. Well, that's okay.
That's okay. Neither do I. And no human being
ever has lived, is living, or ever will live will understand
it. Now, I heard a man say one time,
he said, well, when we get to glory, we'll understand that.
I'm not so certain. We'll know things perfectly.
We'll be perfectly conformed to the image of Christ. But we
still will not be God. God's still going to be higher
than us. And His thoughts and ways higher than us. But He's
in control. Now, if you don't see that, then
you have to look at the Old Testament history, including the life of
David, as just no more than a series of accidental chance happenings. And you know better than that.
You know that's not so. Don't you take comfort and peace
and safety and knowing that God's in control? I do. Well, look at the next thing
here. Go back to 1 Samuel 16 now. Here's the second thing.
The advice of Saul's servants. And notice the providence of
God here. His servants, verse 15, it says, And Saul's servants
said unto him, Behold now an evil spirit from God troubleth
thee. Now, how they knew that, I don't
know. But that's what they said. This
is the inspired word of God. They knew it was an evil spirit,
and they knew it was from God. Even they admitted that. So they
know that this thing was from God. It come upon Saul, and they
knew it was of his providence. So here's their advice. They
say, in verse 16, "...let our Lord now command thy servants
which are before thee to seek out a man." Now, that's their
solution. But again, we see the providence
of God. You see, the problem that Saul
had was from God. And they seek a solution in a
man. And it says, "...who has a cunning player on a harp."
Their reasoning there was that music soothes the savage beast. And it does. I mean, I've had
times of trouble where I can't get things off my mind that plague
me, and you hear a good hymn or even a good song or whatever,
and it kind of soothes you down, doesn't it? It has a, it has
a, it's kind of like somebody said, it's the tranquilizer of
the soul. And so they said, seek out a
man who's a cunning, cunning there means skillful. In other
words, get somebody who knows what they're doing, who can play
this thing. And so he says, and it shall come to pass when the
evil spear from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand
and thou shalt be well. This, this is the cure, the cure. It's interesting that they did
not appeal to God, they did not seek His prophet or His word.
Many times in our lives when we are troubled, the word of
God is the only cure, isn't it? The only way to calm us down,
to calm our troubled spirit. But they wanted a cunning player
on the heart, a temporary solution to a deeper problem. Someone
said it's like a ship turned and tossed on a troubled sea.
When you're out there, any port will do. It doesn't matter what's
in the port, just any port will do. But again, we see the providence
of God to teach us a great lesson of His grace here. You see, for
our salvation and eternal life, we do need to seek out a man. But not just a man. We need the
God-man. For there is one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus. For he had to be man in order
to die for our sins. He had to identify with us in
our name and in our nature without sin in order to stand in our
place and represent us as our substitute and our surety. But
now he had to be more than a man. He had to be God. For only God
can give and sustain life. Only God can forgive sin. Only
God can make an infinite payment to His justice for all the sins
of all His elect people, His sheep. And that's what we have
when we find Christ. We have a man who is skillful
to do that which He comes to do. And He provides the only
solution. And it's not a temporary solution.
It's an eternal solution. But He's more than a man. He's
God-man. And that's who we need. Consider
again our Lord's connection with David in his sinless humanity. David himself was not sinless,
but our Lord was. You see, human solutions may
work for a while, but they're only temporary. Our help must
come from God. Our help must be in the man who
is God, Jesus Christ. And there's no greater evidence
and act that proves God's sovereign providence than the death of
our Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to look at Acts chapter
2. one passage that's very familiar to you. I made the statement
last time that many times God, in working all things after the
counsel of His own will, that many times He uses the obedience
of His servants to accomplish His will. For example, let me
give you an example of that. Somebody asked me about that.
And it's not that their obedience merits or earns anything from
God, it's just the way God uses things to accomplish His will.
For example, it was God's will that the gospel be preached all
over the Gentile world after they were run out of Jerusalem.
But what did He use? He used Paul the Apostle in his
obedience to preach the gospel. But now there are other times
that God overrules the disobedience and the sin of men to accomplish
His will. Look at Acts chapter 2 and verse
21. Peter's sermon at Pentecost. He says, "...and it shall come
to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord
shall be saved." Now you know what that means? It means this,
it means whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall
be saved. Do you mean whosoever? I mean whosoever. Do you mean
anybody? I mean anybody. Anybody who calls
on the name of the Lord. Now, who is the Lord? You say,
who is He? He's got to be revealed to you.
You don't know Him. You don't know who to call on
until He's revealed to you. Isn't that right? Who is the
Lord here? He's Jehovah our Savior. He's
the God of all grace. He's the God who justifies the
ungodly through the blood and righteousness of Christ. And
so he says in verse 22, now listen, you men of Israel, hear these
words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by
miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst
of you, you yourselves also know, look at verse 23, him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Now there's
the will of God working out in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ
for his people. But look, he says, you have taken
and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. In other words, it
was your wickedness, our wickedness, that put him on that cross. And yet it was God's determinate
counsel, and for not. Now, where do we trace the source
of it all back to? To God Himself. To God alone. And you say, well, I can't work
all that out in my mind. Well, let me tell you how Joseph
worked it out in his mind. He's standing there looking at
his brothers. He knew they did evil. They did wrong. But he
saw the big picture because God had revealed some truth to him.
And he told them, he said, now don't you fellows worry. I'm
not going to harm you. He said, I know you meant it
for evil. And you have to live with that and you have to deal
with that in whatever way you find to deal with it. But God
meant it for good. Same thing here. Go back to 1
Samuel 16. That's the issue. Now, they say
go seek out a man. And so, look at verse 17. Here is the third thing. Here
is the third interesting thing here that we see in God's prophet.
David and his qualifications were revealed to Saul. It says
in verse 17, and Saul said unto the 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 have seen a son of
Jesse, the Bethlehemite. And he's skillful in playing.
He's cunning in playing. This fella, he can play. And
he says, "...and a mighty, valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent
in matters, and a come..." Now, what that means is that he's
wise in speech. That's what that, "...prudent
in matters," means that this man, David, he's wise in his
speech. "...and a comely person." He's a handsome lad. And look
at the last line, "...and the Lord is with him." Now this, behold, I mentioned
this last time, it seems to indicate that the thought in his mind
about David was sudden and spontaneous. And I don't know what all that
means, we're not told. I know this is the work of God.
I know this. God took the Holy Spirit away
from Saul, put Saul in that state, sent him an evil spirit, made
Saul ask for this particular or his advisors give him this
particular advice so that Saul would ask this particular question
and put this particular man right there in front of Saul to point
him to a son of David, a son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite. Now,
this is all the tapestry that God's weaving here. You remember
I said that one time how, you know, when the ladies, when they
weave a tapestry or what they call that, a cross stitch or
something, And you got that little wooden ring, you know, and you
can see on the top, you can see on the top of it, the designs
and the patterns all coming together and the colors. But now if you
turn that over and look at it, it looks like a mess, doesn't
it? And that's the way it is with us. You know, when we see
all these things working out, you know, you look out and read
the newspaper, it's all a mess. But let me tell you something,
when we get to the other side and see the top of it, we're
going to see how it all fits together beautifully, wonderfully. And you know what we're going
to say, I believe we're going to say, you know, it couldn't have gone
any other way. It couldn't have been a better,
I mean, you know, I know it hurt when I went through it. And I
cried a lot of tears, and I doubted, and I sinned, and I griped and
murmured, but it couldn't have been a better way. I believe
that. But here's this man, he says,
behold, I've seen a son of Jesse. He may have seen David and knew
something of his qualifications. We're not told how he knows all
this or how all these qualities specifically apply to David,
but they do. We know he was the son of Jesse
the Bethlehemite. We know that that's according
to the prophecy that the Messiah, the greater son of David, would
be born in Bethlehem Ephratah, thou who is from everlasting.
That's the Messiah, born in Bethlehem. He was a cunning player, skillful
in playing. He must have learned that out
on the shepherd, out on his shepherd duties. A mighty, valiant man. I don't know what that specifically
applies to, but it could apply to the fact that David was a
shepherd and he protected his sheep. We know, he says later,
he fought a lion, he fought a bear and killed them, protected the
sheep. We know that Israel at this time was continually plagued
by the enemies, the Philistines. David may have had to fought
them off and gained the reputation of a man of war, a valiant man,
one who's prudent in speech and a comely person. But now here,
right here is the key to David's success. The Lord is with him.
And that's the key to our success in any area, especially in preaching
the gospel. The Lord is with us. That's the
key to our salvation. Christ came to this world and
stood, identified, and walked with His people in our name and
in our nature without sin. He was with us. The Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us. That's the key. And the Lord
was with Him. He had a full measure of the
Spirit. He was upheld by His Father. The Lord is with Him.
And you just cannot say anything more about any individual than
that. The Lord is with him. We know from the Psalms that
David thought of God as his rock, his redeemer, his shepherd, the
host in the house of his life, his comforter. In weariness he
found the green pastures. In thirst, he found the still
waters of Christ. In perplexity and righteous guidance,
he found them in Christ. In danger, he found in his Lord
a sure defense and in what the Lord was to his soul and to his
heart and his mind. David always set the Lord before
him in all the experiences of his life. Saul didn't do that. And this is our hope of success
in life and in eternity. No matter what we go through,
set the Lord before us. He's in control. He's sovereign.
He's just. He's merciful. Lean upon Him
and not to our own understanding. Follow the counsel of His Word.
That was Saul's failing. But it was David's strength.
And it was all by the grace of God in Christ. In setting forth
the glory of Christ and speaking of David, here's the son of Jesse.
What was it said of the Messiah in Isaiah chapter 11 verse 1?
There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and
a branch shall grow out of his roots. It says in verse 10 of
Isaiah 11, And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse. He
was the grandson of Ruth and Boaz. Jesse, which shall stand
for an ensign of the people, And to him shall the Gentiles
seek, and his rest shall be glorious." Bethlehem, be born in Bethlehem.
All of these things. Now look at verse 19. Here's
the next thing. Saul's command was in submission
to God's providence. Look at verse 19. Wherefore,
now for this reason Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and he
said, Send me David thy son which is with the sheep. Notice where
David was. He's with the sheep. That's a
good picture of our Savior. He's always with the sheep. He
never leaves us. Even now, He's not left us. He's
risen. He's resurrected. He's on the
throne. But He said, where two or three are gathered in my name,
there I'll be in the midst of them. He's with us. He's in our
hearts. Christ liveth in me. That's right. Paul spoke of it. He said, when I obey God, it's
not I, it's Christ in me. All of these things, He's with
us. He's with the sheep. When he was walking this earth,
he was with the sheep. That's why he ate with such people,
publicans and sinners. He said, the whole need not a
physician. He said, I didn't come to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And he consorted
and converted with sinners, because that's who he came to save. Look
at verse 20. He says, And Jesse took an ass
laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and he sent
them by David his son unto Saul. Jesse was paying homage to the
king in sending these gifts. But you know, these things can
remind us of all that comes with our Savior as the son of David. He gives us bread, because He's
the bread of life. He said, He that eateth me and
drinketh my blood. He'll live forever. He's talking
about faith in Christ. He is our living bread. The wine
is an emblem of joy, the joy of salvation and the joy of the
Holy Spirit are in and from Christ who is our confidence and our
joy. Joy and peace in believing. And this kid was a goat which
speaks of sacrifice for our redemption from sin and our justification
before God in and by Him. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sin. It was probably sent as a meat
offering to Saul so that he could sit down and have a meal. Well,
we continually feed upon our Savior. We feed upon His Word. We feed upon His glory. We feed
upon His finished work on the cross whereby He saved us completely
from our sins. And so look at verse 21. David
comes now to serve Saul. He came from the sheepfold. into
the presence of the king. Now he's going to become a courtier
of King Saul. He'd already been anointed to
be king now. But it's clear that before David could lead Israel
as king, the first thing he had to do was to learn the role of
a servant. He did that a little bit in his
time as shepherd. But look here, it says, And David
came to Saul and stood before him, and he loved him greatly.
That is, Saul loved David greatly. And he became his armor bearer.
Saul gave him a respected position as an armor bearer to the king.
That was the fellow who went and got the armor and dressed
the king before battle. Verse 22, And Saul sent to Jesse,
saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me, for he hath
found favor in my sight. Now, you want to know why David
found favor in Saul's sight? I'll tell you exactly why. We
stated it last time. It's because the king's heart,
is in the hands of the Lord to turn it whichever way he will."
Because, you know, if Saul was left on his own, it wouldn't
have been this way. It wasn't long that Saul's love
for David turned to hatred. It wasn't long while David was
sitting, look here in verse 23, it says, "...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 well,
and the evil spirit departed from him." The music worked. But we're going to see later
on that Saul is going to take up a spear and throw it at David
and try to kill him while he's playing the harp. Changes, you
see. So Saul's love for David and
trust in David didn't last long. But what's happening here? Well,
God's putting David in the position of a servant to prepare him to
be king. And that's just like our Lord.
Look at Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. In order for our Lord to save
us from our sins and take His rightful position as God-man,
the King, He had to first be made a servant. Look at verse
5 of Philippians 2. Let this mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, that
means He is God, Fought it not robbery to be equal with God.
Now for me or you to claim any attributes that are only to be
attributed to God, that would be robbery. That would be stealing. But for Christ to do that, it
wasn't robbery. Because He is God. And so it
says in verse 7, But he made himself of no reputation. Now
David had already been anointed king now. And yet, here he is,
playing the harp for King Saul, a man who'd been rejected. He's
playing the harp. You know, you'd think they'd
say, well, wait a minute, why should I go in there and play
the harp for that fella? He's been removed, I'm king.
No. You've got to be a servant first.
And just like our Lord, He made Himself of no reputation. Now,
He'd already been anointed king. That was done before the foundation
of the world in the everlasting covenant of grace. That's why
he prayed in his high priestly prayer, given to me the glory
which I had before the world began. It was already given to
him. But he made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men. What condescension! And he'd
been found in fashion as a man. He humbled himself and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Why? That's what it took to bring
propitiation. That's what it took to put away
our sins and to establish righteousness whereby God could be just to
justify the ungodly. So, wherefore, God also hath
highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things
in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and
that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of the Father. Just like David, he had to go
down and serve Saul before he was made king. Well, you notice
there at the end that the music did work. And I want to just
say one word about that. You know, good God honoring music
is really helpful in worship. It lifts our spirits. We love
it. It reaches our emotions. But
you know what? It's no substitute for the power
of the gospel and the word of God. It never is. You see, music
will only provide a temporary fix. And unknowingly, Saul was
becoming dependent on the one that God chose to replace him.
And he never came to repentance. I'll show you that next time.
Saul never came to repentance. God was good to him, but Saul
was disobedient. But I got to thinking about that,
you know. In most churches today, music is at the forefront. And
the preaching of the Word is just something you get through
until you get to the music. But it's never that way in God's
Word. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. I'll never
forget one time I was in a church, a false church, and the preacher
got up on Sunday night and he said, well, he said, I've been
led tonight not to preach, but we're going to have a sing-spiration.
And so they just sung a bunch of hymns. I figured the fella
didn't study, you know, or didn't really prepare. But my friend,
that's not worship. Now everybody went away feeling
good. Just like Saul, when David played the harp, the evil spirit
went away and he felt good. But it did not last. You see,
I love good singing. People have asked me, like on
our Wednesday night, sir, why don't we just sing one song?
Well, we do that. We sing because we want to sing.
But we do that because the Word of God. is our worship, the preaching
of the gospel, the preaching of Christ. And it's there, isn't
it? It's there where we find our
solace and our peace everlastingly.