Now let's turn back in our Bibles
to 1 Samuel chapter 16. Now tonight I want to begin here
at verse 1. Last time I read this verse 1
and then worked our way backwards up to it from the history of
Samuel, Samuel the prophet and the judge. the appointment of
King Saul as Israel's king, the people's choice, man's choice.
Now what I want to do tonight is begin here at 1 Samuel 16
and work our way forward concerning the life of David. And tonight
I've entitled this message, God's Appointed King. God's Appointed
King. Now obviously that's opposed
to man's appointed king. God's ways, God's thoughts, God's
purposes and God's will, high above our ways, high above our
wills and our purposes. David, King David, was one who
was chosen, sovereignly chosen by the Lord God, and he really
became Israel's greatest king. Israel came to its height of
glory, even in human terms. even in power as a kingdom and
riches as a kingdom under David. Some say it was greater under
Solomon. I don't believe it was. I believe
there was a declension that began under Solomon that took it down
to the depths and ended up a divided kingdom. But David, under David,
Israel rose to a worldly glory. But the most important thing
that we want to see are these two things. Number one, David
David, as God's chosen king, as Israel's greatest king, he
was so because he was such a great type and picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, when we say that, we have
to be careful and we have to make some distinctions. Because,
as you know and I know, and as is recorded plainly in God's
Word, David was not a perfect man. He was a flawed man, like
all men are. There are no perfect men in this
life. They're just not there. There's
only been one perfect man, and he is in glory at the right hand
of the Father making intercession for us. Jesus Christ, the Lord
of Glory. And David was a flawed man, just
like all of us. So when we say that David was
a great type of the Lord Jesus Christ, understand we're not
speaking of David personally in his thoughts and in his everyday
life. in all of his sins and all of
his failings. And we're not even speaking of
David in his personal obedience in that sense, but we're speaking
of David as a type of Christ in his office, officially, that
he as the chosen King of Israel typifies and foreshadows in prophecy,
not only in his office, but in his prophecy in the writings
of the Psalms, He foreshadows the greater kingdom, the greater
King, the greater David, the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of
Kings, the Lord of Lords. You see, there are so many parallels
to David's life that just goes right along with our Lord's life.
Both were born in Bethlehem, the house of bread. We'll see
that here in these verses. Both were chosen of God. David
was God's chosen, anointed, appointed King. The Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father, calls Him Man-Elect in the book of Isaiah. I believe
it's chapter 42. But we know from other scriptures
that He was chosen from the foundation of the world, before the foundation
of the world, in that glorious covenant of redemption. The Father
covenanted with the Son. God chose a people. and gave
them to his son. And his son agreed to be our
Savior, take all the responsibility of our whole salvation. And when
David became king of Israel, that's what he was doing. He
was taking responsibility for the nation to be their king and
their leader. So they were both chosen of God.
They both grew up in relative quietness. David on the backside
of the fields tending the sheep. You might have noticed, as Brother
Joe read there, that when Samuel came to town and he came to the
sacrifice and the feast with Jesse and his children, David
wasn't even brought in. His seven sons, his seven older
sons were brought in. David wasn't even brought in
until later. But our Lord, he grew up in Nazareth
under the tutelage of his father, the carpenter, in a very, very
quiet beginning. Both were anointed by the Holy
Spirit. Now, we're going to see that
in David. But our Lord was anointed with the Spirit without measure,
the Scripture says. And both were kings. David of
national Israel, our Lord of spiritual Israel, an eternal
kingdom that will never have its end. Because there is no
end to the eternal kingdom of Christ. It's forever and forever
and forever and forever. Dot, dot, dot. You ever see that? That means it goes on. It doesn't
stop. David himself is a prophecy and a foreshadowing of Christ.
We've read it several times at the beginning of this study,
and I believe I've quoted it in both messages, that the scepter
will not depart from Judah until Shiloh come. That's a foreshadowing
of Christ. And when the angel appeared to
Mary, let me read this to you. This is in Luke chapter 1. When
the angel appeared to Mary upon the birth of Christ, Here is
what the angel's notation to Mary was. In Luke chapter 1 and
verse 32, talking about Jesus, Jehovah our Savior, says, "...he
shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest.
And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father
David." Now, of course, you know many people will think of Jerusalem,
the earthly Jerusalem, and the temple and the throne there.
But that's not what he's talking about. Look at verse 33. And
he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his
kingdom there shall be no end. Now, two things. There is absolutely
no earthly kingdom of which it can be said scripturally will
have no end. So he's not talking about an
earthly kingdom here. He's talking about a heavenly
kingdom. Secondly, our Lord stood before Pontius Pilate and said
this, He said, My kingdom is not one of this world. So He's not talking about an
earthly, worldly throne of Jerusalem that King David sat on being
reinstituted. He's talking about what David
typified, what David foreshadowed, the coming of the Messiah who
would do His great work first as a shepherd, and then He would
be installed as the mediatorial king. So there's the first thing. The second thing is this. Look
over at 1 Samuel chapter 13. 1 Samuel chapter 13. And look at verse 14. I want
to suggest something to you here. Look at verse 13 first. 1 Samuel 13. Look at verse 13.
He says, 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." So the second thing here is that
David was a man after God's own heart. And I want to suggest
to you something about that statement, because we say that a lot about
David, the man after God's own heart. I want to suggest to you
that that says more, that statement says more about the grace and
the power of God than it does about David. Because the man
after God's own heart is the man of God's sovereign choice.
And the man after God's own heart is the man upon whom God has
shown mercy. And the man after God's own heart
is the man whom God has brought life and kept under his wing. And David himself testified of
that in many, many of the Psalms. David's life can be divided into
segments. We can talk first about his life
as a shepherd. We don't know a whole lot about
that. We know a few things. But the Scripture says he was
a shepherd. We can talk, secondly, about his life as a courtier
in the court of King Saul. We'll talk more about that next
week, or this coming Wednesday. But we see the providence of
God. Listen, the providence of God
never stops. It never stops. But sometimes
I'll use this line so we can see it really kicking in here.
Because you see the wheels turning, you know, you see things fall
in place that would have never happened if God were not in control. They didn't happen by chance,
didn't happen by coincidence, it wasn't happenstance. It was
God working all things after the counsel of His own will.
Well, that's already been happening, hasn't it? I mean, that didn't
start with 1 Samuel 16. That was all the way back from
eternity past. Then we can also talk about David's
life as a fugitive. fugitive from King Saul. King
Saul wanted to kill him and then his life as the king. But let's
look at these verses here. Let's go to 1 Samuel 16 now. Let's see about God's appointed
king. It begins in verse 1, Samuel. The Lord said unto Samuel, the
prophet, the judge, how long will you mourn for Saul? Now
Samuel loved Saul. Samuel was Saul's teacher, but
Saul was a rebellious man. The problem that Saul was having
at this point was because of his own disobedience. So God
says to Samuel, how long are you going to mourn for Saul?
We are to mourn for sinners. But my friend, God's going to
do His work even in spite of our mourning. He says, seeing
I have rejected him from reigning over Israel. What happened to
Saul? Well, we'll talk more about that
next week too. But Saul disobeyed God. His kingship,
his leadership was marked with disobedience and unbelief. And
that's not a king or a man after God's own heart. So God tells
Samuel, fill thine horn with oil and go, I will send thee
where? Now listen to this, Jesse the
Bethlehemite. Who's Jesse? That's David's father. He was the grandson, some say
the great-grandson of Boaz and Ruth, and you can go on back,
Salmon and Rahab, and Obed, all of them. Here's the line of Judah. Jesse, the Bethlehemite, the
city of David, it's later on called, the house of bread. This
is the place where God is going to feed His people. He's going
to give His people what they need. Christ is called the root
of Jesse. the branch of David or the branch
of Jesse. According to his humanity, he
was brought into this world in the flesh, in his perfect sinless
human nature, through the line of David, through the line of
Jesse, the Bethlehemite. And that's where you go, Samuel.
God's prophet always goes where God tells him to go, where you
can find bread, where you can find life, where you can find
salvation. You're not going to find it in
Saul. That's disobedience. You're not going to find it in
the law. You're not going to find it at Sinai. That exposes
our sin and our depravity. You're only going to find life
and righteousness and glory in Christ, the root of Jesse, whom
David represents. And that's where all this is
leading. And here's what he says. Listen to it. Now, he says, For
I, God, have provided me a king among his sons. This is the king. of God's provision. God. This
is God's choice. This is God's anointing. This
is God's elect. That's what we need, you see.
This is the kind of king that Israel needed to get through
this period of time, this period of disobedience of the people
in their own king Saul. God says, I provided me a king
among his sons. It's almost like the same kind
of language that God used with Abraham and Isaac when Abraham
was going to sacrifice him. He said, I have provided myself
a lamb, a ram. I have provided myself a king. God himself is our king. And that's through the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, the God-man. So this is the provision of God.
Well, it was apparent that Saul was not the man of God. And so
Samuel was grieving. But he's got to learn. Samuel's
a man just like the rest of them. Samuel's not a perfect man. But
he's got to learn that God's will is always the best. God's way is always the best. God's choice is always the best. It's always for His glory and
for our good. And so God provided Himself a
King. Now that King was fulfilled in
David. And David was the gift of God
to Israel. Well, that's a great picture
of Christ, who is the gift of God to His people. We've seen
that so many times. Romans 8, verse 32, that, "...he
that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all,
provided him for us all, how shall he not with him freely
give us all things?" You have Christ, you have it all. That's
the picture here. Salvation's of the Lord. That's
what he's telling Samuel. He said, if this country, if
this nation is going to last, it's going to have to come from
the Lord, His power, His mercy, His goodness, and His grace.
It's not going to come from Saul. So he says, wipe your tears,
Samuel. I know it's a sad, sad thing
for Saul, but there's better days coming. Yes, we weep. We weep over our sin. We weep
over our depravity. But my friend, don't stay, as
John Bunyan put it, in the slew of despond. Don't stay there. That is not our headquarters.
That is not our home. Our home is in the joy that cometh
in the morning, the sunlight that breaks the eastern sky.
Our joy is in Christ. Look to Him. Quit sitting on
a rock and staring at your belly button as if you're going to
meditate into some kind of a stupor. Look to Christ. You know, you
say, I want assurance. Well, don't look at you. Look
to Christ. He is ours. You know, you're
never called the surety. There's not one time where a
sinner saved by grace is called the surety. Christ is the surety. And when we see David installed
as king, what does God, how does God label the blessings that
come with that in picture and time? The sure mercies of David. That's Christ. So you're not
the surety. I'm not the surety. Christ is
our surety. You want assurance? You want
joy? You want peace? You want safety?
Look to Him. He's the King of God's provision.
Well, look here. Look at verse 2. He says, Samuel
said, How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he'll
kill me. Now, Samuel, this shows you a
couple of things. Number one, it shows you the
declension, the decline of Saul. how far he had gotten in his
own pride. He'd kill Samuel, probably the
only friend he had at one time. He'd kill him if he heard about
him going down to Jesse, the Bethlehemite, looking for another
king. And it says in verse 10, the
Lord said, Take a heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice
to the Lord. Now that sounds like the Lord
is telling him a lie, but he's not. You know, when we're dealing
with this world and ourselves and our sins, we have to use
some wisdom sometimes. And what he's simply saying,
you don't have to tell Saul everything. Let's use some wisdom. Be wise
as serpents and harmless as doves." So he's not telling him to lie,
but Samuel was going to Jesse's house, he was going to worship,
that's what he was going to do. He's going to take the heifer,
he's going to sacrifice to the Lord, and they were going to
have the meal, and he says, you tell them that. Just tell them
enough information, so he says in verse 3, look, he says, "...and
called Jesse to the sacrifice, And I will show thee what thou
shalt do, and thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto
thee." Now, who are you going to anoint to be king? Whoever
God says to anoint. Whoever God names. You see, God
names His king. God chose His king. And God names
His king. And I'll tell you what, just
like He named David, He named him David. Our Heavenly Father
named the Savior. He told Joseph, His name shall
be called Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.
His name shall be called Immanuel, which being interpreted, God
with us. You know why God names Him? Because He is God's King.
He is not man's King. He is the King of God's choice.
You know why God names our Savior? He is the Son of God who is appointed
to be King by God. And just like when John the Baptist
come and said, Behold the Lamb of God, just as the people were
going to be told to look to David for their king, we're told to
look to Christ for our Savior, our King, our salvation. They're
going to behold David. Now, God, as I said, He rejected
Saul for disobedience. Remember, Saul was the king the
people wanted. They wanted to be like other
nations. You remember that? They wanted a king like other
nations. God said, I'm going to give you a king, but it's
not going to be like other nations. It's going to be God's king in
His time, His choice, and His way. And so that's a good lesson. We're not to be conformed to
the world, religious or otherwise. What we see here in this contrast
between Saul and David that comes up here is this. Man chooses
his way of things. Man chooses his way of salvation. But God has His way. Man's way
is always the wrong way. There is a way that seemeth right
unto a man. But the end thereof leads to
what? Destruction. That's said twice in Proverbs.
Proverbs 14, Proverbs 16. God's way is the only way. And
it's the only right and good way. And His way is the way of
Christ. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Listen
to this contrast here. In the choice of Saul, man took
the initiative. And whenever man takes the initiative,
you know, that's what people tell you in religion. They say,
well, you do your part and then God will do His. That's man taking
the initiative. All that is is self-righteous
religion. And whenever man takes the initiative, it's always wrong.
It's always wrong. In the choice of David, God took
the initiative. All right? You see, as far as
they're concerned, Saul would still be king, even in his disobedience.
But God said, I'm moving him out. I'm moving him out. And later on, he says, the Spirit
of the Lord departed from Saul. So, God took the initiative.
That's the way it is in salvation. When man takes the initiative,
it's destruction, it's death, it's hell. When God takes the
initiative, it's salvation. Salvation's of the Lord. If salvation
is to come, God must take the initiative. For it is of the
Lord. He's the source and originator
of it. Man doesn't want it. Man by nature doesn't want salvation
in God's way. And that's why God has to take
the initiative. And when God takes that initiative, you know
what it is? It's grace. It's power for grace. It's sovereign
grace that results in salvation, that results in righteousness,
that results in eternal life and eternal glory. And all through
Christ. Another thing that's significant
about David is that when he's connected with Jesse, it's obviously
his father. But you know here that David
had a connection with the Gentile races. It's recorded in the Old
Testament. It's recorded in the lineage
of Christ through Tamar and Ruth, the Moabites. We're going to
see God's providence kicking in there too later on in David's
life when he has to go to Moab. He had an ancestor from there,
and they received him, that wicked Moab, God's washpot, that's what
Moab's called in the Psalms. But David was fine there, he
didn't enter into their idolatry with them, but he was safe there.
Well, Christ, our Savior King, He's the King of God's elect,
He's the Savior of God's elect, both Jew and Gentile. And when
he was made flesh, he took upon himself the nature of all his
children, all the seed of Abraham, Jew and Gentile." And you know,
David's mother. We don't know anything about
it. It says Jesse here. Christ is prophesied in the Old
Testament as the root of Jesse. We don't really see much about
David's mother. Her name, we don't know her name.
We don't know anything about her except for two things that
David said about his mother in the Psalms. And it's recorded
in Psalm 86 and Psalm 116. And that's where David, in those
Psalms, he described his mother as a handmaid of Jehovah. His mother was a handmaid of
Jehovah. She was a servant of Jehovah. Well, let me read you a portion
there in Luke chapter 1 that I read, part of which I read
a while ago. And this is speaking of the coming
of our Lord into the world in His incarnation. And there in
verse 38, it speaks of Mary, our Lord's human mother, or the
mother of His humanity. And it says, And Mary said, Behold,
the handmaid of the Lord. That's how she's described by
God the Holy Spirit, just like David's mother, the handmaid
of the Lord. being unto me according to thy
word, and the angel departed from her." David's mother was
a handmaid of Jehovah, and so was Mary, our Lord's mother,
the mother of His humanity. So you see so many different
connections here that connects David with our Savior. David
as a type. David as a picture. David had
a godly father and a godly mother. He had a long, distinguished
family background, not in the worldly sense, but in a spiritual
sense. And David was what he was by
the grace of God. And he became what he became
by the grace of God. Look back at 1 Samuel 16. Now
look at verse 4 here. It says, Samuel did that which
the Lord spake, and he came to Bethlehem. And the elders of
the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably?
Now why were they afraid of Samuel's coming? I believe the only thing
that we can say about it, it doesn't really tell us exactly
why, but we know Samuel was a judge. He was a prophet. But you have
to understand about Israel at this time, not only was Saul
in disobedience and rebellion, the whole nation was. Including
these people. And when they saw God's prophet,
God's judge come and they say, hey, we better straighten up.
You know, that kind of thing. So they asked him. Are you coming
peaceably? Is this in peace? And verse 5
says, He said peaceably. I'm coming in peace. I'm come
to sacrifice unto the Lord. Sanctify yourselves. That means
set yourself apart. Get ready to worship the Lord.
And he says, I'm come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified
Jesse, he set apart Jesse and his sons, and he called them
to the worship service. He called them, he set them apart
and called them to the sacrifice. So they were going to sit down,
sacrifice unto the Lord, going to worship the Lord, and then
have the meal. Well here, from verse 6 all the
way to verse 13, we have God's King identified now. He's going
to point him out. And look at how he does it. The
wisdom of the Lord is just totally amazing in the whole thing. He's
going to teach them a lesson. Teach us all a lesson in not
only how he appoints the king, but how he identifies him. Look
here in verse 6. He says, And it came to pass,
when they were come, that he looked on Eliab. Now, that's
the first one of Jesse's sons. He's probably the oldest, because
that's the first one. Who would you present to the
prophet, be the oldest son? His name is also called Elihu,
but it's Eliab here. And he says, surely the Lord's
anointed is before me. Now, who said that? Samuel did.
Now, you see, Samuel was just a mere man, as I said. And you'd
think that he'd learned his lesson from the matter of Saul in judging
by appearance. But this is human nature. And
look at verse 7. Here's the lesson the Lord teaches
here. But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance,
or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him. Eliab's
not the man. He must have been an oppressive-looking
fellow. And he says, for the Lord seeth
not as man seeth. For man looketh on the outward
appearance. That's the eyes, literally. I
had somebody say, I can look in a fellow's eyes and tell whether
they're saved. That fellow's a fool. That's a fool. He said, don't look on their
outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. What a
lesson! You thought that was just New
Testament stuff? No, sir. That's always been God's
way. You see, God's not impressed
with our outward appearance. God's not impressed with our
family heritage and pedigree. God's not impressed with any
of that. God looks on the heart. And let me tell you something,
the changed heart, the regenerate heart, the new heart, the born-again
person, that's the work of God. And that's why it impresses Him,
because it's His work. It's His sovereign, powerful
work. He looks on the heart. Now, I don't know. If this says
anything about Eliab personally, I don't know. It doesn't say.
But I know this. Eliab was not the man after God's
own heart. And God looks on the heart. How
many times have we seen religion without heart? And let me tell
you something now. That means more than just saying
religion that is sincere. The Jewish Pharisees were sincere
in their religion. You know, I heard people say,
well, they were just playing church. Oh, no. Oh, no. They were serious
about it. They were in strenuously trying
to work out a righteousness of their own. But you see, religion
without heart is religion without Christ. It's religion without
grace. It's religion without truth.
And sometimes it is religion without sincerity. But God looks
on the heart. Our Lord told His disciples,
He said, judge righteous judgment. Don't look on the outward appearance.
He said about the Pharisees, He said, outwardly they appear
righteous before men, whited sepulchers, but inwardly full
of dead men's bones, dead bodies, decaying bodies, rottenness. He said that this people draweth
nigh unto me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
And that's a good lesson for us all. Where is my heart tonight? Is it a heart established and
set on Christ and His glory? Is it a heart established with
grace? Paul wrote to the Hebrew believers,
he said, it's a good thing that the heart be established with
grace. Is the heart cleansed by faith,
purified the conscience by the blood of our Savior, confident
of being accepted before God based on His righteousness alone?
You see, our hearts must be constantly examined by God, by His Spirit
and His Word, or we'll be deceived. But let's not remain deceived.
Let's look to the Word of God. And here He says, Samuel, think
back. How did you choose Saul? Outward
appearance. You going to do it again? Learn
something, you see. Look not on his countenance,
not on the height of his statue. That has nothing to do with this.
God knows the heart into which He's planted the principle and
power of His divine grace. The Lord knoweth them that are
His. That's what the Scripture says. Well, look at verse 8. It says,
Then Jesse called Abinadab, that's probably his second in line,
and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither hath the
Lord chosen this. Then Jesse made Shammah to pass
by. And he said, neither hath the
Lord chosen this. And again, Jesse made seven of
his sons to pass before Samuel. So as far as we know, Jesse had
totally eight sons. Seven of them passed before Samuel.
And Samuel said unto Jesse, the Lord hath not chosen these. So
David's the eighth son. Well, that makes sense, doesn't
it? Because David is the eighth son. And so, all of this comes forth,
David, the eight is the number of new beginnings, and that's
what David was going to be for Israel, a new beginning. My friend,
that's what Christ is for His people. That old covenant's been
abolished, and in Him we have a new beginning, a new life,
a new spirit. So here these sons, He made seven
of His sons pass before Samuel, the Lord hadn't chosen them.
Well, look at verse 11. Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all
thy children? Is this all your sons? And he
said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth
the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send
and fetch him, go and get him, for we will not sit down." That
means we won't sit down for the sacrifice and eat the meal until
he come hither. And you notice here he wasn't
even invited to the table. This young man, this youngest
of Jesse's sons. And verse 12, it says, He sent
and brought him in. Now, he was ruddy. That means
red. Some people say it means he had red hair. I don't know.
It might have been red complexion. We don't know. And with all of
a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look at, or to look
to. So he was a handsome young man. And the Lord said, Arise and
anoint him, for this is he, this is the one, David. And then Samuel
took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren,
and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.
So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah." God's King identified. The first thing that is said
of this anointed, appointed King of God is so significant. And that's this. Before he could
be anointed King, he had to be prepared. And how was he prepared? Look at it in verse 11 and underscore
this. Behold, he keepeth the sheep. He had to be a shepherd first.
God's chosen king was first a shepherd. While David was a shepherd, God
was preparing him to become king. And David was given by God the
heart of a shepherd. I believe there's some years
that pass between verses 13 and 14. I can't prove that, but I
believe there is. And this may, you know, there's
so many psalms of David. He didn't write all the psalms,
but he wrote quite a few of them. And usually you'll see a notation
on those psalms, a Psalm of David. Sometimes it'll tell you when
and what occasion David wrote the psalm, but some of them it
doesn't. So you really don't know when exactly David penned
the psalm. But I believe that probably during
this time that he was a shepherd out there in the field being
prepared, God giving him the heart of a shepherd to prepare
him to have the heart of a king, that he may have written Psalm
23, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, he maketh me
to lie down in green pastures. It may have been out there on
the fields at night that he wrote Psalm 19, the heavens declare
the glory of God, the firmament His handiwork. The law of the
Lord is perfect converting the soul. It may have been that that's
when he wrote Psalm 61. We don't know for sure because
those Psalms don't notate anything about when he wrote them. But
don't they just fit with our Lord as the Shepherd, the Great
Shepherd. Turn to John chapter 10 with
me. You see now, Now listen very carefully to this. I want to
make a distinction that we need to understand. As God absolutely considered,
our Savior has always been king, in control, sovereign over all
things. He created this world. Christ
is the creator of this world, Colossians 1 tells us. All things
were created by Him and for Him, and by Him all things subsist.
He has no beginning and no end. As God absolutely considered,
He's always been in control. He's always been Lord, always
been King. But, as mediator, as mediator, as God-man, before
He could be installed as mediatorial King, He had to do something
first. He had to do the work of a shepherd. Look at John chapter
10, verse 11. He said, I am the good shepherd,
and giveth his life for the sheep. That's what our Savior did as
a shepherd. He died for our sins. He was made sin for us. Christ who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He goes on down,
verse 14, I'm the good shepherd and know my sheep and none of
mine, as the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and
I lay down my life for the sheep. He paid our sin debt in full
by the price of his precious, powerful, redeeming blood. He
established righteousness that enabled God to be both a just
God and a Savior, that we might stand before God complete in
Him. He said in verse 17, Therefore
doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might
take it again. No man taketh it from me, but
I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father. That's the Great Shepherd, the
Good Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd. And then turn to Acts chapter
2. Look at Acts chapter 2 with me. is our shepherd. He has the heart
of a shepherd. That's what God was giving David
as a type of Christ. The heart of a shepherd. And
David fought for his sheep. You know, it's recorded that
he fought off a lion and a bear that was going to attack the
sheep. He fought off the wolves. He would give his life to save
those sheep. That's what our Savior did. But
look here in Acts chapter 2. He's talking about David in the
Psalms. In verse 34 of Acts chapter 2,
he says, For David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith
himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand.
Now this is the installation of his mediatorial kingship,
his kingship as mediator. He said, Until I make thy foes
thy footstool, therefore let all the house of Israel know
assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, Jehovah our
Savior, whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now, as
God, He's always been Lord, never stopped being Lord. When He walked
the earth, His disciples called Him Lord, and should have. But here, He's the Mediatorial
King, the Mediatorial Lordship of Christ. One more passage,
turn to John 17. And this is what our Lord was
praying for in John 17, His high priestly prayer. Verse 1. It says, "...these words spake
Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father,
the hour is come. Glorify thy Son, that thy Son
also may glorify thee." This is a mediatorial glory that he
was given by the Father upon completion of his work as the
Shepherd to die for our sins and ensure our salvation. And
he says, "...as thou hast given him power over all flesh." Now,
as God, he already had power over all flesh. But now it's
as God's man, the mediator. who performed the work, who finished
the work, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
hast given him, and this is life eternal, that they might know
thee the only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Here
is the basis of it, verse 4, I have glorified thee on the
earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. He
finished his work as the shepherd. And he keepeth the sheep. Just
like David. He is our shepherd king. He's
our Shepherd King. And God anointed Him. Back over
here in 1 Samuel 16. Let me close with this. Look
at verse 12. He sent and brought Him in. This
ruddy, beautiful, goodly to look at boy. Now you know, Christ
in His outward appearance had no form nor comeliness. The Scripture
says that we should want Him. But you know what? He had a glory
and a beauty that His people saw. John said it this way, we
beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.
Natural man doesn't see his beauty and his glory, but his people
do. They see the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ. The Lord said, Arise, anoint
him, for this is he. Verse 13, Then Samuel took the
horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren.
He is the anointed king now. And he says, the Spirit of the
Lord came upon David from that day forward. Now, David already
had the spirit of regeneration, of conversion of the new birth.
I know some theologians say that the Old Testament saints did
not have the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. I disagree
with that. I believe they were converted just like you and I
are converted. But the anointing power of the
Holy Spirit was the special spirit of power that David had to have
to perform the duties of his kingship, those special gifts. And here we see the divine sovereignty
of God. David becomes the one, he is
the king, and Saul will be removed. Well, there is no doubt that
Christ is God's appointed and anointed King of Kings and Lord
of Lords for us.