Especially when we get here and
we sang these hymns. But David, David was a man who
could play a harp. Now I don't understand exactly
what a harp is. I think it's something like a
lute. It's not like one of these big
harps you sit and do like that with. That's not what it is.
It's a thing that they hold in their arms. But anyway, David
could play that thing. He could really, God blessed
him to play it. God blessed him to play it. And
so here he comes before Saul and he's going to God uses him
before Saul to calm Saul down. But before David was ever to
set up on his throne, it's going to be several years before he
gets on his throne, he was tested, he was tried. And you know when
the trial started? It says there in verse 13, after
he was anointed, The Spirit of the Lord came upon him. You know,
it's after we're regenerated, after the Spirit of God comes
in us and we're regenerated and we're saved by the grace of God.
That's when we start being tested in trial. I didn't have no problem
with my flesh until I got converted. I had no problem with sin until
I got converted. I had no problem justifying myself
to anything I wanted to do until I got converted. And so after
the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, God began to test him. God
began to try him. And he is going to have to face,
and here he is, he is going to have to come and face his great
enemy. The one whose throne that he was going to take. Saul is
the first king. David is going to be the first
king. The one man chose, the second
God chose. And even our Lord Jesus Christ
in Luke chapter 4 says after the Spirit of the Lord came upon
the Lord Jesus Christ, he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness
and was tempted of the devil 40 days and 40 nights. So it's after the Spirit of the
Lord comes upon a man. That's when heartaches and troubles
and fights within us, this war that goes on in our members,
this war that goes on in our heart, these wars that goes on
with sin and flesh, all these wars, they don't start until
the Spirit of the Lord comes on us and comes upon us. And
before we saw David being anointed, Samuel came to anoint David.
There's so many contrasts between David and Saul. first of all
we see the Spirit of the Lord come upon David and then we see
the Spirit of the Lord departing from Saul one the Spirit of the
Lord comes upon David the next verse the Spirit of the Lord
departs from Saul David is annoyed with holy oil by a prophet Saul
is troubled by an evil spirit Samuel in verse 1 is mourning
He is mourning over Saul, grieving over Saul. And down here in the
last part of verse 23, it says, Saul was refreshed and was well. Samuel started out mourning for
him and in the end of it, Saul was refreshed and was well. Samuel came to Jesse with a heifer
for sacrifice. And then you see Jesse, excuse
me, in verse 20, since Jesse since David back there comes
with a heifer for sacrifice and then Jesse sends David in verse
20 with bread and a bottle of wine and a kid sent to him by
David unto Saul and David was acceptable in God's sight when
all those seven men paraded before Samuel all the seven brothers
of David One hadn't even been invited, and they said, well
go fetch him, go get him, go bring him here. And a young man,
just a boy, came in there. Maybe 16, 17, 18, I know he was
the youngest one. And when he got there, God said,
this is He! This is Him! This is Him! It's like John said to get all
his disciples with him. He saw the Lord Jesus Christ,
said, that's Him! That's the behold, that's the
Lamb of God. Are you the Christ? No, I'm sent
just to bear witness of Him. And who the Spirit of God comes
on as a dove? He said, that'll be Him. That'll
be Him. And oh, David was acceptable
in God's sight. God said, this is He. Arise and
anoint. And then he also turns around
and finds favor in Saul's sight. He says there in verse 22, for
he has found favor in my sight. And before he was ever called
and anointed, he was tending sheep. He was a shepherd. And now he's going to place harp
in the king's palace. And it says there in verse 14,
let me start in verse 14 and go down through these verses
and say a few things about it. But the spirit of the Lord departed
from Saul, and I want you to notice this, and an evil spirit
from the Lord troubled him. An evil spirit departed from
him, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. Why did
the Lord's spirit depart from Saul? Because he didn't obey
the word of God. God told him what to do. Told
him when you go down to Amalek, I want everything down there
killed. I want everything killed. I don't
want nothing saved. Nothing. But Samuel comes back
and Samuel says, what's this bleeding of the sheep that I
hear? He said, well, the people, the people wanted these. We kept
the best and we even brought Agad the king. And we wanted,
you know, the people made me do this. He said, the people,
they said, we want to have the best. So they kept it for themselves. Said, we're going to use them
for sacrifice. And oh my, well, Samuel rebuked him. Samuel rebuked
him. Rebuked him hard. Said, oh, which
is better? Which is better? To offer all
kinds of sacrifices to the Lord? Or to obey? Which is better? That's what our Lord said. He said, you know, I'll have
mercy. I don't want your sacrifices.
I don't need your sacrifices. The cattle on a thousand hills
is mine. And he said, I'll have mercy.
I don't want your sacrifices. I have mercy. You come seeking
mercy. And that's what we do. We come
seeking mercy. What sacrifice could we bring
to even get God to give us mercy? And so he comes there. And the
consequences of him not obeying God is that the spirit of the
Lord departed from him and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him and you know I'm
going to say some things about this Matthew Henry says this
drive away the good spirit and you become a prey of an evil
spirit and if God in his grace doesn't rule us God in his grace
doesn't rule us sin and Satan will They'll do it. Sin and Satan
will possess us. Says an evil spirit from the
Lord. I want you to look with me. Now you keep Samuel, 1 Samuel.
Look in Hebrews 10, 9. Hebrews 10, 29. I want you to
look at something with me. You know the scripture says much
about grieve not the Spirit of God. Don't grieve the Spirit
of God. Quench not the Spirit of God.
And I'll tell you something, and here's one of the reasons
why America is in the shape it's in. I was listening to Brother
Henry preach today, and he talked about, at that time he was 80. Now he's 92. So this has been
12 years ago he brought this message. And he was talking about
being a boy in Alabama, raised in a little town in Alabama.
He said, I never, I was a grown man before I ever heard of a
homosexual. I didn't know what one was. He said, everybody walked to
school. You didn't worry about child abuse. And he said, you
know what made the difference? I said, people used their Bibles
back in those days. Used their Bibles when you was
a boy. They heeded the Word of God. Even people in the community
had some respect. And he says, now nobody has any
respect for Christ, for His Word, or nothing else. And that's what
happened to him. When men don't have respect for
the Word of God, and men don't have regard for the Scriptures,
and when men don't have regard for Christ and His name is just
a byword to them, then you're talking about a people like Saul.
God said, I'll leave you to yourself, and not only that, but I'm going
to send an evil spirit and let him trouble you. Look what he
said here in Hebrews 10.29. well in verse 28 it says this
he that despised Moses law you despise it you say I don't want
it I hate it and I ain't gonna obey it died without mercy without
mercy the law can't show mercy under two or three witnesses
of how much worse or how much sore punishment suppose ye shall
he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of
God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he
was set apart, counted an unholy thing, and that unholy thing
means to count it as a common thing. It's nothing special,
nothing different, nothing glorious, nothing special, nothing holy.
They count it as a common thing and done despite under the spirit
of grace. Now that's what Samuel, that's
what Saul did. And I'll tell you something beloved,
if a man, I wouldn't be in nobody's shoes for nothing in this world,
that comes and hears the gospel for a while and turns and walks
away from it. And that's what he did. That's
what he did. And you know why it happens to
people? They've never been regenerated. He'd never been regenerated.
He'd never been set apart by the Holy Spirit. You know what
the difference between him and David was? He was man's choice. People said, listen, we want
that man. He's tall. He's a head taller
than anybody else. He's more handsome than anybody
else in Israel. And said, well, God said, Daniel
told him, said, if you do, you take him, you're rejecting God.
You take him, you're rejecting what God said. Would you rather
have this man land over you or have God rule over you? Who would
you like to have to be your master, God or the man? I want God to
be my master, don't you? I want God to rule over me. I wished I was a puppet on a
string and God could do me any way he wanted to. But that's
not the way He made us to be. But oh my, He is the people's
choice. But David was God's choice. And the Holy Spirit, He comes
to many. The Holy Spirit comes to many.
There's been lots of people here the Holy Spirit's come to. But
when He comes to a person, that don't mean He's going to regenerate
them. No, no. No, no. You know what Peter said?
He said that when a person, it'd be better for a person to have
never had a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and to depart
from Him. He's worse than a dog going back
to its vomit and a hog to its water. And oh, it's like Balaam. You
know, you've heard about going in the way of Balaam. You know
what Balaam's problem was? This king hired him to come and
curse Israel. Israel, God's chosen people.
He is a prophet. You come over here and we're
going to give you a room full of money and we're going to give
you a closet full of clothes if you'll come over here and
curse Israel for us. God said, now listen, you're
not going to do that. You're not going to do that.
And he gave him eyes to see and he made a prophecy to him. He
said, I can't do that. I can't go back on what God said.
But he went again and again and again and again when God told
him not to. And he was on his way one of
the times and there was others. Do you know, an ass in the scriptures
is a great old big animal. Not these little old barrels
they got in Mexico. It's a great old big animal. And he was going
through there and an angel stood in the way with a sword. He was
going to go curse God's people because he wanted the money.
He wanted to get paid. He liked all that wealth. He
kept going against what God said. And there was an angel of the
Lord standing there with a sword. And that mule wouldn't go, that
mule wouldn't go. And he got off and kicked him. And
you know what God did? He spoke through that ass and
told Balaam. He said, don't you see that?
God warned that forbade the madness of the prophet. Now I tell you what, that's what
happens to people without the Spirit of God. In Balaam now,
everything you hear about Balaam is the way of Balaam, the way
of filthy lucre, the way of being paid, the way of doing everything
you do for money. And there's lots of preachers
out there like that. It's like when that unclean spirit went
out of a man's house. It's what we're talking about,
the spirit of the Lord departing. Unclean spirit went out of a
man's house. He said, listen, I'm going to leave here. And
I'm going to go out and leave him. And he went out seeking
rest. Seek and rest and walked it through
drive all the drive and everything and he said well He said I ain't
find no rest out here said I'll tell you what I'm gonna do I'm
gonna go back to that house and that means a person he said I'm
gonna go back to that house that I came out of well he got in
that house and when he got there he found it swept and And he
found it garnished. He didn't find it washed in the
blood. He didn't find it regenerated. He didn't find it trusting Christ.
He didn't find it worshiping God. He didn't find it calling
on God. He found it swept and garnished. What does that mean?
That means that the fellow joined the church. And he started doing
something for Jesus. And he got him some crosses and
put them on the back of his car. Got him a picture of Jesus and
hung it up on the wall. Got him a cross and hung it around
his neck. And if it was a woman, he got her some cross earrings,
stuck them in her ears, swept and garnished. Oh, it looked
good. He said, man, oh man, said, I'm going to move back in there. And he took seven unclean spirits
with him. And the condition of that man
was worse than at the beginning. Oh, that's the thing, boy, don't
be swept and garnished. You know, you know, a garnish.
You go to these real nice restaurants, you know, I don't get to. I've
been to one or two, you know. But anyway, they garnish things
up. You go into one of these real expensive restaurants, they'll
bring you a little old plate of food and be real expensive. And it don't you know, they don't
give you enough food to feed you, but they got it all decorated
up. Got it all decorated up. They
got, you know, it's the presentation. They got it all garnished up.
Got it all decorated up. And that's what religion does
without Christ. It decorates people up. Don't
it? And they got no substance to
it. And oh my. But let me go back over here
to 1 Samuel 16. Now look in verse 15. This service
knew what his problem was. Down to verse 15. Oh, Samuel's
servants knew what was wrong with him and Saul's servants
said unto him, Behold, now an evil spirit from God troubles
you. Oh my! They knew what his problem was.
And they gave him a remedy. They said, and I tell you, and
listen to this now. In verse 16. Let our Lord now
command thy servants. They didn't say, well, listen,
we know where somebody is that can help you and we'll go find
him. He said, they understood that he was the king, that he
had the authority, and we will not go until you command us to
go. You're the one with the power. You're the one with the authority.
So you command us and we'll go. And to seek out a man, a cunning
player on a harp, And it shall come to pass that when the evil
spirit from God is upon you, he shall play with his hand,
thou shalt be well. They knew the problem and they
knew the remedy. But you know what they should
have told him? They should have said, you know what your problem
is? You know why the Spirit of the Lord has departed from you?
Because you are high minded, proud, arrogant, full of yourself,
Disregarding God disregarding his word and just be honest with
him That's what they should have told him and listen to listen
We'll go get we'll tell Samuel to come down here and have Samuel
pray for you and intercede for you And maybe God will have mercy
on you I Remember us down in the islands
preaching one time, but I think I've told you this there was
a preacher preaching down there with us And he had taught preaching
out at Duke University, this fellow had. Well, he got up and
he preached, and he preached, and he preached. When he got
done, got to the back of the church, I told him, I said, you
didn't come in spitting distance of the gospel. You didn't even
get close to the gospel. He said, well, I wasn't preaching
the gospel. And I said, well, why weren't you? He said, I was
preaching apologetics. What's apologetics? You know
what that means? You're trying to convince everybody that God's
word's true and that apologetics means that you're trying to convince
everybody God's true and His word's true, instead of just
saying God is. And I told him who he ought to
listen to. And you know, the next year, Greg Amquist went
down there and he had the same preacher back there. And he was
up preaching and Greg was sitting about where Bruce is, I mean
where Brad is. And Greg hollered out, you're
lying, you're lying, you're telling a lie. He called him out while
he was preaching. And that's what they should have
done with this fella. When a man, when you're preaching
with a man, when you're preaching with somebody, if they don't
preach the gospel, it's our responsibility to tell them, you missed it.
What kind of preacher would I be if I was preaching with somebody
that didn't know the gospel? If I wouldn't, I'd confront them
over it. And I would hope that Henry Mahan
did me that way. I was talking to him one day
when I was in 1979. And he put his finger in my eye
and said, you're talking out of both sides of your mouth.
He said, you've got to figure out which one you're going to
be. You're going to be an Armenian or you're going to be a Believe
Grace? Because you can't do both at the same time. He dealt honest
with me. And that's what these fellows
should have done with King Saul. Said, Saul, I know why this is
happening to you. And man, you call that prophet
over here and you repent and you go to God and ask God to
forgive you and ask God to show mercy to you. But that's not
what happened. But I will say this. If God ever
sends conviction to you, ever convicts you, over sin or something
you're doing and troubles your conscience over your sin and
your relationship with God, whatever you do, do not stifle that. Do not stifle that. Don't do
it. If God's conscience, if God starts
dealing with you and your conscience, God starts convicting you of
where you're at and what you're doing and what kind of person
you are, if God does that for you, whatever you do, don't squinch
it. Don't squinch it. Don't do that. And I tell you
what it says here in verse 17. And Saul said unto his servants,
Provide me a man. Now, okay, if that's the way
it's going to be, and did you all think that's what it is?
Well, then go provide me a man who can play well and bring him
to me. Now God's purpose is being carried
out. God's gonna carry out his purpose,
and you know Samuel didn't, I mean David didn't know what was going
on and Saul didn't know what was going on. But God knew what
was going on. God had a purpose. And oh listen,
one of them, look what they done, look how they describe David
now. Look how they describe David, verse 18. Then answered one of
the servants who said, Behold, I've seen a son of Jesse, the
Bethlehemite. I've seen him. I've seen this
young man, this David, this son of Jesse, a Bethlehemite. And
watch this, he's cunning in playing. I mean he is exceptionally good
at playing. Very, very good at playing. And
then he's a mighty and a valiant man. You know a valiant man is
a You know they decorate soldiers and that for valor. For being
valiant. I seen a fellow today had a hat
on that said silver star. He won a silver star in Vietnam
and had a cap on his head down. That's for being valiant. And
they give you stars for valor on certain medals and things
that they give you. Being valiant. In old Bunyan's
Pilgrim's Progress there was a man in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress
called Mr. Valiant for the Truth. valiant strong true scruples
integrity and look what happens now and not only is he a mighty
valiant man honest true faithful loyal and he's a man of war oh
my if you need him to fight he can fight and then look what
he said and he's prudent in his matters Oh, he's a wise man. He's got some sense. He's got
some sense. And he's a comely person. Very,
very nice looking person. But this is the number one reason. Listen to this next line. And
the Lord is with him. All the rest of that stuff don't
amount to nothing. But when he said the Lord is
with him. That's the greatest thing you
can say about a person. The Lord is with him. Huh? All that other stuff and you
know they said oh he's all this but and the Lord's with him That's
what we want to hear the Lord's with us the Lord with him is
the Lord for him That's what they said about him. Oh the most
blessed thing about him is The Lord is with him the Lord is
with him and oh my We're for Saul He said for David Send messengers
unto Jesse. And send me David thy son. Now
watch this. That's with the sheep. He's still out there taking care
of the sheep. He's like our Lord. He's about the Father's business.
He's taking care of the Father's business. He's taking care of
His sheep. And our Lord Jesus Christ. You talk about making
music. Oh, he can make music. He can, he got, you know, I've
often wondered when they got up after he got up out of the
garden to get semen and they sung a hymn or after they took
the Lord's table and they sung a hymn. Can you imagine the Lord
Jesus Christ as he was singing as a man? Could you imagine his
voice? I believe he's the best singer.
David was called the sweet psalmist of Israel. You imagine what Christ
is, hear his voice. Singing but all he said for David
and he sent for David and here's one thing. He didn't know He
didn't know that he was a successor to his throne Young man is gonna come over
there. He didn't know that he was the senses to his throne.
Huh? Oh my Send me David Send me David
and what's this? That's on? That's on God sent
the son of David sent him and he said David was brought from
the sheep Christ was sent to save sheep and tend sheep and
care for sheep and find sheep and oh here's a great great test
for David now David was called and I tell you beloved
he was called he had already been anointed to be king and
he knew what he was anointed to and his family knew what he
was anointed to his brother knew what it was he was he was anointed
king to command to rule over other men and to rule over and
rule the nation of Israel but now before he ever gets to his
throne he's called to be a servant called to be a servant well how
did he respond? How did he respond? He'd just
been in the house and Samuel poured oil on him. How did he respond when he said,
send me David? Was there any unwillingness on
his part? Was there any delay on his part?
Any complaints on his part? No, no, he got up and went that
way. That's the way our master was.
When God sent him, he did not complain. He came for the joy
that was set before him and endured the cross. No, listen, and it
tested his courage also. He said, this may be what he
was thinking. Does Saul know that I've been
anointed to be king? And is this a trap for him to
kill me and to take my life? Is that what's going on here?
Oh, it's a great test for David. But look what happens there in
verse 20. And Jesse took an ass, loaded it down with bread, and
a bottle of wine. It wasn't a bottle of wine like
we get. It's a big old skin full of wine. And a kid, And sent them by David his son
unto Saul. You know why he sent these under
Saul? Because Saul was in need. Saul
was in need. He was in need of David. And
beloved, you know why God sent Christ? Because we is in need. He sent him into this world because
we is in need. And he brought food for Jesse. Christ come to be our bread.
He took bread to judge us all. Christ came to be our bread. And I'll tell you what the Holy
Spirit represents. Wine represents the Holy Spirit.
And the joy that it brings us. And oh my, as our dire needs
had caused God to send his beloved son, David loaded with these
gifts from Saul and Christ came full of gifts for us. In fact,
Christ himself was a gift. And when Christ came, all the
gifts that he brought with him, you know what the greatest gift
he brought for us? He brought the gift of forgiveness
and righteousness and put away our sin, put it away once and
for all. What a gift! And then turned
around and gave us the righteousness of God. What a gift! And why did he do it? Because
he loved us. Because He loved us. God loved
us and sent His Son. And His Son loved us and gave
Himself for us. He come loaded with love and
mercy and grace and pity and forgiveness. And just for everything
we need, He brought it. And listen, and I said they were
gifts. Oh boy, I got to hurry on here.
David came to Saul, verse 21. David came to Saul and stood
before him. David left his home. Why? Because his father willed
for him to go. Christ left his home in glory
because his father willed for him to go. The anointing was
upon him. but he came here to be a servant
to serve this king to serve even his enemy and our Lord Jesus
Christ came to minister unto us left his home and came down here
and David came to Saul why? God was preparing him, trying
him, training him God don't just, when a man, God does something
for a man, he don't automatically, you know, he's got the office,
but he's got to train him, he's got to try him, he's got to prove
him. And God was preparing him, trying
him, training him. And you know how he was training
him? He was seeing how a king was not to act. When he watched
what Saul did, he said, this is not how a king acts. Don't
act like this, David. Don't act like Saul does. You
obey God. You keep his word. You honor
God. You seek the Lord. He was seeing how a king was
not to act, and how one was to act. And God put David in Saul's
presence, just like he put Joseph in Pharaoh's house. God did this. And you know what he says? David
was willing to watch. To watch. David was willing to
wait. David willing to learn. David
was willing to grow until time for God to put him on the throne. And oh, David by God's hand made
even his enemies to be at peace with him. Look what he said.
In verse 21, David came to Saul and stood before him. And listen
to this. And he loved him greatly. Who
loved him? Saul loved David greatly. And he became his armor-bearer.
Oh my! And Saul said to Jesse, saying,
Let David, I pray thee, stand before me, for he hath found
favor in my sight. David by God's hand. This is
what God does. He makes even his enemies to
be at peace with him. Here Davis, you know Davis said,
he prepares me a table in the presence of my enemies. This
is exactly what God's doing for David here. Preparing a table
for him in the presence of his enemies. And I tell you, ain't
that what our Lord Jesus Christ did? He came here and we were
God's enemies. Christ came into this world and
bless His name. He slew that enmity that was
in us and He established peace and He reconciled us to God. We were enemies of God. Christ
came and because He pleased the Father and He does something
for us, He made us His enemies to be at peace with Him. Be at
peace with Him. He established peace. And then
he said, and he's found favor in my sight. If we find favor,
now listen to me, I want you to hear this. If I find favor
in your sight, or we find favor in one another's sight, or we
find favor in anybody's sight, or are loved by anybody, it's
God's blessing. It's God's blessing. It's God's
blessing. If I find favor in your sight,
God did that. If you love me, God did that.
If you find favor in my sight, and I love you, God did that.
God did that. Ain't that right? God's blessings. Oh my. And look what it says in verse
23. And I'll wind it up. and it came to pass and it always
does when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul that David
took a harp and played with his hand David did whatever God gave him
to do and Saul was refreshed and was well and the evil spirit
departed from him David did whatever God gave him to do. And David
was skillful on the heart. But man and instruments in themselves
are powerless without God's blessings. God blessed him. And that's the
way it is with preaching. That's the way it is with preaching.
That's the way it is with preaching. You know, the Apostle said, who
is sufficient for these things? and we all like some preachers
we like better than others we like to hear others you know
with some I have I have preachers that I delight to hear I like
to hear all of them but there's some that I enjoy better than
others and I'm sure you do too but here's the thing if a man's
preaching the gospel here's how it goes one plants one sows the seed
one plants Another comes along and he waters. But you know what
it says? The seed planter and the water
boy ain't nothing unless God gives the increase. Ain't that right? Oh, ain't you
grateful that we're in the hands of God? God gives the increase.
And we know that. I know that as a preacher. When
Bruce will get here, he'll tell you the same thing. He said,
God just won't let us. He's going to keep us in the
dust. And he does. Our Father. Oh, our Father. Blessed
be your name for allowing us to meet here tonight. Thank you
for your precious word. Oh, how it blesses us. I say
it all the time, Lord. It encourages us. It comforts
us. It strengthens us. It feeds us.
It gives us light. Gives us instruction. Oh, Lord. Thank You for Your Word. Thank
You for the Holy Spirit. Thank You for these saints. God
bless them. Lord, keep them and preserve
them who ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. Did you
hear what Jesus said to me? They're all taken away away. Your sins are pardoned and you
are free. They're all taken away. They're all They're all taken away away. They're all taken away away. My sins are all taken away. Sins are all taken away. See you Sunday