to turn back in your bibles to
first samuel chapter 17 and 18 and you can follow me in your
pastor's commentary as well our third or fourth consideration
of this wonderful narrative that we are engaged in for this the
remainder of this year in the life of king david and the title
of our message today is whose son is this whose son is this? The title is designed to invoke
within you a very peculiar question as to why anyone would be raising
the question who this man is when for the last three chapters
from chapter 16 to the present, we have learned so much about
this young stripling, this young youth, this ready young man named
David. Why is it that King Saul is inquiring
about David? And the reason is, is that the
Spirit of God, the Spirit of glory, has so transformed David
so that his calling made him more than he appeared to be to
any one of those who thought they knew him in the flesh. when
the Spirit of God got a hold of David and brought him to that
point into which he was called to destroy the giant, David appeared
to be someone else in the eyes of everyone who thought they
knew him. And thus King Saul is just taken
aback by what he saw. He could not believe that what
he saw was accomplished by the one who did it. And this too,
beloved, because the Bible is really all about Christ, the
Old Testament is always pointing to the new. It is eschatological
in its ultimate objective. We are looking at Jesus Christ
in the life of David as Christ ministered to the people more
than once the question was raised, who is this man? Who is this
individual? Is this not the son of Joseph? Isn't this Mary's boy? And yet
he's saying things and doing things that are causing people
to question whether or not they really knew him in the first
place. What I shared with you a couple of weeks ago about the
work of the spirit of God and the life of his servant is a
mystery that God accomplishes by which you and I are baffled
when we are stuck on the flesh. When you and I are not sensitive
to the manner and work of the Spirit of God, we will try to
reason through what God is doing and how He is doing it based
upon our common knowledge of a thing. But God is working supernaturally
through David, particularly in this event, because this will
be the signal event that will establish David as the king of
Israel in truth. And now Saul wants to know whose
son is this. We get this in chapter 17, verse
58, the last few verses in our Chapter 17, where Saul is raising this question
and he asks his servant, Abner, who is this young stripling that
is engaged in this? Verse 57 of chapter 17, and the
king said, inquire thou whose son the stripling is. And as
David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took
him and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine
in his hand." Can you see it? Can you see it? The young stripling
with the head of the Philistine in his hand. Saul is blown away. And you and I are too if we miss
the point. What I love about narrative theology
is that narrative theology is God's condescension to you and
me because of how difficult it is for us to work through propositional
terms and prose. He gives it to us in storylines.
That's why we like movies. because they are seamless progressions
of events that allow us to follow the flow and get something out
of that massive composite of images and gestures and interactions
between people. And what the Spirit of God wants
you and I to know about this engagement here is that David
is truly the King of Israel to be. And Saul has to reckon with
this And really Saul is speaking by a directive of the Spirit
of God to bring David near to him unbeknownst to himself. Saul is being moved by the Spirit
of God to raise the question, whose son is this? Because everybody
in a minute is about to know whose son this is. And this is
going to be the man that takes Saul's place. And Saul now brings
him forth and we read in verse 58, something that I want to
call your attention to in what we call the framework of narrative
theology, where the writer gives those who are listening carefully
to the historical event hints and keys that if you listen carefully,
will help you understand the nature of the drama and view. The writer says in verse 58,
and Saul said to him, whose son are you, young man? Again, it's
just as if Saul never met the boy. Whose son are you? And David answered, I am the
son of your servant Jesse, the Bethlehemite. That's how chapter
17 ends. I am the son of your servant,
Jesse, the Bethlehemite. That's how it ends. And the Spirit
of God wants you and me to know that the center and foundation
of all that God is doing is in Bethlehem. Bethlehem is the point
of contention for God. Bethlehem is the place where
God is putting together His agenda. Bethlehem is the place where
God is Establishing his objective of establishing his king on his
holy hill of Zion Bethlehem then is a key and you don't know it
but four times in Samuel this phrase is used the son of Jesse
the Bethlehem height and I want you to see those four terms and
So that as we lay them down and we begin to work progressively
through the narrative, you will know why it is that God wants
to highlight Bethlehem of Judah, which will take us all the way
to Christmas. Will it not? See, God sees the end from the
beginning. And he tells us about things before they happen, because
with him they are sure. This helps us understand that
God is in control of everything, does it not? And it allows us
to deal with conflicts and dramas and setbacks and warfares and
difficulties with this truth in view. Known unto God are all
his works from the foundation of the world. All you need to
do is put your seatbelt on and trust God for the ride. He gonna
get you to Bethlehem. He gonna get you to Bethlehem.
The first time we read then of the terminology of Jesse of Bethlehem,
David the son of Jesse of Bethlehem is in 1st Samuel 16.1. Let's
go there and mark it. I want you to see the four. There
are actually five, but four specific markers that underscore this.
And the Lord said unto Samuel, how long will you mourn for who?
Right. This is where we establish the
tension between the false king and the true king. How long will
you mourn for Samuel? See, Samuel had ultimately started
liking Saul, though Saul was a mess. God had had Saul in and
allowed Saul to accomplish a few things, but everywhere Saul went,
he messed up because he was not God's man. Samuel got used to
Saul just at the time that God says, all right, time to get
rid of Saul. And that's why we read about him mourning. Which
is a warning to you and me about leadership, our protocol, our
normalcy. We can be in a mess. We can be
messing up before God. We can be violating God's Word.
We can be casting His commandments and His covenant behind our back
and calling ourselves the Church of God, but because it's normal,
we accept it. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Now god knows it's not right He knows that the king ought
to know it's not right and the people under the king ought to
know it's not right But because we're all doing it. We think
it's all right But god's getting ready to change things up. Is
he not? And saul has a deal samuel has to deal with the consequences
of it. Notice what he says then He says and the lord said unto
samuel. How long will you mourn for saul seeing? I have rejected
him from being king over israel Fill your horn with oil and go
I will send you to Jesse the what Bethlehem a height for I
have provided me a king from among his sons First time is
mentioned second time is mentioned is in chapter 17 verse 12. Look
at it. I Chapter 17 verse 12 verse 11 when Saul and all Israel
heard the words of the Philistines they were dismayed and greatly
afraid verse 12 now David was the son of that Ephrathite of
Bethlehem of Judah whose name was Jesse You know what the Spirit
of God is doing. He's telling the people of God.
Don't worry about it God has always had a ram in the thicket
and This is what we call replacement theology in the narrative. When
the first person who is supposed to actually do his job starts
messing up and falling apart, God's already preparing another
brother. behind the scene to take his
place. Because God's will is going to be done. Whether we
do it or somebody else does it, God's will is going to be done.
This is why John the Baptist said to the Pharisees when they
came crying and whining about Ben Abraham, see, he said, listen,
God can raise up stones to take this thing over. This is called
replacement theology. Wherever God sets up a banner
of his purpose and sovereignty, the devil is always seeking to
corrupt it. Is that true? And in doing so,
the devil intercepts God's leadership, corrupts God's leadership, and
God has to change that leadership. we see that repeatedly throughout
the old testament all the way up even into the new testament
i will make mention of that more fully down the line chapter 17
verse 12 now david was the son of that aphrodite of bethlehem
of judah whose name was jesse and he had eight sons and the
man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul. Verse
12 described for us the maturity and wisdom and leadership of
Jesse. He was viewed as an elder among
them. Next time it's mentioned then
is in chapter 17, verse 58, where was our foundation text. And
I want you to go to the last one, which is in 2 Samuel 21,
19. This is where the author closes in the life of David.
describing basically an epithet of David's journey and successes
against the Philistines. Now let me help you understand
the larger spiritual paradigm behind this. Israel is brought
into the promised land to enjoy the promises of God under God's
authority and rule as sovereign king, but Israel is God's army,
and as God's army, Israel is always engaged in a battle against
those that oppose God. The one nation that is prominently
present in Canaan is the Philistines. You and I are going to be dealing
with the Philistines all the way through Saul's death as well
as through David's death because the Philistines represent the
what? The flesh. Never forget it. That's
a battle that Christians on this side of glory will fight till
the day they die. Understand that the war with
which we wage is largely, not exclusively, in the subduing
of our fallen nature, the flesh, because the flesh never glorifies
God. It always seeks its own will,
it always seeks its own agenda, its own goal, and the Philistine
represents that. So you will see throughout the
historical narrative of the life of David constantly fighting
the Philistines most of the time routing them completely as he
does with the giant here in our opening chapters but I want you
to mark how chapter 22 closes out in verses 21 and verse chapter
21 verses 19 and following with some very interesting language
around David and his men war with the Philistines let me start
at verse 15 moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel
do you see that and David went down in his servants with him
and fought against the Philistines and David did what wax faith
that's because David is old now But I want you to mark what it
said. And Ishi Benob, which was one of the sons of the giant,
mark this now, he was one of the sons of the giant. How many
sons did the giant have? Four! And they are all right
here. That's why David had five stones. Mark verse 16. Again, and Ishi
Benob, which was of the sons of the giant, The weight of whose
spear weighed 300 shekels of brass and weight he being girded
with a new sword thought to have slain David See it always wants
to go after the servant of God But Abishai the son of Zeruah
Helped David and smoked the Philistine and killed him. Hallelujah Then
the men of David swear unto him, saying, you shall go no more
out with us to battle, that you quench not the light of Israel.
That's a metaphor for David being the king of God. And it came
to pass after this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines
at Gob. Then Sibeki, the Hushethite,
slew Sab, which was of the sons of the giant. That's number two,
right? And there was again a battling gob with the Philistines. Well,
Elhanan, the son of Jannat Aragon, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother
of Goliath, the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like
a weaver's beam. How many there? Three. And there
was yet a battling gaff where was a man great of stature that
had on every hand six fingers. This boy was a mess. And on every
foot six toes and 42, 24 in number and he also was born of the giant
and when he defied Israel watch this sage watch this now Jonathan
the son of Shamia the brother of David what slew him This is
what we call a family affair in the narrative those who are
part of the family of David and experience success in the battles
against the flesh because they are identified with the true
king. If I carry that over to where we are, so long as we are
in Christ and walking with Christ, we always have the victory in
all things at all times. God always gives us the victory
through Christ. And when we walk outside of Christ,
we can expect failure. And it closes this way. These
four were born unto the what? Giant and Gap. And he fell by
the hand of whom? And by the hand of his service.
Do you see that? That gives you sort of an overall encompassing
view of the success of King David over the flesh. Go back to our
text. Let's go to work. We've got a
number of things to consider. Go back with me to 1 Samuel chapter
18 now. This is amazing. I love stories. Don't you love
stories? This is amazing. And so what we're dealing with
in our account now is Saul being moved by David's exploit to draw
David near. And I want you to know that Saul,
had he known better, the last thing he would have done was
brought David near. But he brought David near out
of his own selfish agenda, out of his own selfish goals, out
of his own selfish purpose. And we're going to learn some
about that too. Notice what it says in chapter 18, verse one
and two. And it came to pass when he had
made an end of speaking unto Saul, that is David, that the
soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David and Jonathan
loved him as his own soul. Now, would you mark this? Here
it is. And Saul took him that day and would let him go no more
home to his father. First point, Saul took him. to be controlled, not loved. Saul took David to control him
and to use him and to exploit him, not because he loved him. Saul saw an opportunity in this
hero to use him for his own advantage. And the word there is operative.
He took him that day. Watch this. And in a merciless
way, would never let him go home to his daddy's house again. You
got to read into the narrative, the inferences. David's a young
stripling. He's a youth. He is somewhere
between 16 and 20 years old right now. You and I will write out
the history of David's conflict with Saul for 10 years. Chapter
18 to 28, 10 years will be a battle between David and this king.
It's going to be a mess, but we're going to learn a lot about
true religion versus false religion, true preachers versus false preachers
between David and Saul. That's what the Old Testament
is designed to do. Teach us the gospel. And yet
this young man won't see his daddy again. Why? Because the king that's in front
of us is not God's king. He's the people's choice, he's
the people's king, he's an ungodly king, and he always represents
false prophets. Saul is going to teach us a number
of lessons over the week about being a sign and a wonder, an
appearance of righteousness, but in heart and in reality,
he is a selfish man given over to building his own kingdom.
He's going to represent false prophets who live large and build
the people and take from everyone in order to build their own name
and their own fame. This is what you are going to
learn. He's going to be juxtaposed over against, juxtaposed over
against David so that the qualities of David will be seen to be qualities
that teach you and I what godliness is and what God requires in a
man in order for him to be a true leader of God. Saul is going
to be humiliated. David is going to be humbled.
Those are two different concepts. God is going to show us the vile
wickedness of a man who never once prayed to God, yet he was
in leadership. He's going to show us another
man who always prayed to God just to live another day. Welcome
to true gospel preaching. This is where we are. Let me
work with this just in case you don't believe me. Saul took him
to be controlled, not loved. Two sub points under that. Do
you see it in your outline? The marks of legalism and what?
Works. Go with me in your Bible now
to 1st Samuel chapter 8. And you'll see it in 1st Samuel
chapter 8. It's also in 1st Samuel chapter
12 where Saul, where Samuel is told by David what kind of king
you're going to have. Remember when Samuel said, Lord,
they're rejecting me. And God said, no, they're rejecting
me. And God now is going to explain what kind of king they're going
to have. Will you mark with me over in
first Samuel chapter eight. I'm going to start now at verse
nine and work my way through about verse 18. And I want you
to see the picture. Now therefore hearken unto their
voice, says God to Samuel. Howbeit, yet protest solemnly
unto them and show them the manner of the king that shall reign
over them. Are you ready for it? Here it
is. Verse 10. And Samuel told all the words
of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king. And he said, this will be the
manner of the king that shall reign over you. Watch the first
three words, ladies and gentlemen, he will what? Do you see it? He will take your sons. Is that
what happened to David? He will take your sons and appoint
them for who? Not Jehovah himself. For his chariots and for his
horsemen and some shall run before his chariots. You notice what
Samuel just said? You silly, crazy people. who have rejected God from being
your king and you want a king like all the other nations, he's
going to take your sons, which I didn't do. He's going to use
your sons, which I didn't do. He's going to make your sons
run in front of his chariots to give him glory, which I did
not do. But since you want a king, this
is what you're going to get. Do you see it? I'm going to explain
its inferences here in a moment, but let's keep going. Verse 12,
and he will appoint him captains over thousands, captains over
50. He will set them to ear his ground
and to reap his harvest and to make his instruments of war and
instruments of his chariots. And he will, here's the other
word, what? Take your daughters to be cooks and bakers. 14, and he will what? Take your fields. Do you see
it? your vineyards and your olive
gardens and the best of them and give them to his servants
verse 15 and he will what take the tenth of your seed and of
your vendors and give to his officers and to his servants
verse 16 and he will what take your men servants your maid servants
and your goodliest young men and your asses and put them to
his work verse 11 he will take the tenth part of your sheep
and you shall be his slaves you see you shall cry out in that
day because of your king which you have chosen and the Lord
will not hear you in that day verse 19 nevertheless the people
refused to obey the voice of Samuel they said no we will have
a king to reign over us you get what you want the picture here
of Saul taking David is a process by which what he does is seek
to marshal all of the best in Israel for his own pleasure.
We have talked about how that the kings in Israel are paradigms,
are models of churches. There are 20 Israelite Kings
the ten northern tribes and there are 20 Judah Kings the two southern
tribes and they run all the way to the captivity of Babylon in
587 BC now watch this out of the 40 Kings when you study them
only a handful of those Kings are godly men and Therefore only
a handful of times in the history of Israel's monarchy is God blessing
Israel every rule of every King represents churches and denominations
in our era and Whether church is ungodly, it starts with its
rulers. Whether denominations are local
churches. Whether church is godly, bearing
the fruit of the Spirit and accomplishing the will of God, it starts with
its rulers. As the rulers, so are the people. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? And there are rich lessons to be learned in that narrative
if you will study them. If you want to, we've done them
decades ago. We've got plenty CDs to help
you understand how that the old points to the new and how that
the new is reaffirmed by the old. And the lesson here is very
clear for those of us who want it. What kind of leader do you
have over you? Do you actually have God's servant? Or do you have leaders who are
chosen democratically by the people contrary to the word of
God? Because what we have here is
a democratic process that God submitted to, and thus you have
the emphasis, the king you chose. You guys got that? The king you
chose. Ladies and gentlemen, if God
leaves us to the choice, we'll get it wrong every time. every
time. But I want to show you the parallelisms
between the old and new. Go with me in your Bible to 2
Corinthians chapter 11 and I'm going to read verses 19 and 20
where the Apostle Paul warned the church at Corinth about the
nature of false prophets and false teachers who rule over
the Israel of God or the church per se and how they bear the
same characteristics as King Saul in their rebellion and disobedience
and in their avarice and greed and focusing everything on themselves
and not on God. So you notice about eight times it said in the Samuel text,
and he shall take, and he shall take, and he shall take, and he shall take, and he shall take,
and he shall take, and he shall take, and he shall take, and he shall take, and he shall take,
and he shall take, and he shall take, and he shall take, and he shall take, and he shall take, and
he shall take, and he shall take, and he shall take, and he shall
take, and he shall take, and he shall take, and he shall take,
and he shall take, and he shall take, and he shall take, and
he shall take, and he shall take, and he shall take, and he shall take,
and he shall take, and he shall take, and he shall take, and he shall take, and he shall take,
and he shall take, and he Take, take, take, take. They're not satisfied until they're
constantly taking, taking, taking because they have nothing to
give. Are you hearing me? Faithful
gospel preaching does not take, it gives. People who are anointed
of God and gifted of God have gifts to give to men and women.
the truth of the gospel, the truth of the word of God, the
power of God, the grace of God, the redemption that's in Christ,
the riches that are in Christ, we freely give so that you might
grow and you might abound. We don't want yours, we want
you. Do you understand that? That's
the way Paul taught. That's the way paul talked paul
would say i'm ready to give my life that you might get to glory
i'll give you everything I have that you make it to the kingdom
of god because sinners hell-bound sinners are in need of jesus
And the goal of the church is not to take from you But to give
to you To give to you that eternal life of which when you obtain
it, you will never lack a thing in your life Listen to how he
puts it. In 2 Corinthians chapter 11,
this is what Paul says in the first few opening verses. Would
to God you could bear with me a little in my folly. We talked
about this in our men's meeting. I love Paul. He's so honest of
a preacher. Hallelujah. He said, I'm getting
ready to act foolish, but that's because I love you. I'm getting
ready to say stuff that doesn't follow protocol in the church,
but it's because I love you. He says, for I am jealous over
you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to how many
husbands? In order that I might present you as a chaste virgin
to Christ. Ladies and gentlemen, the goal
of faithful preachers is to make sure that your standing is solidly
upon the righteousness of Christ, so that when you stand before
God on that last day, you are not found wanting and sent to
hell. The goal of preachers is to make
sure you have the spotless righteousness of God in Christ so that you
make it to the wedding feast as a virgin. What do we mean
by that? That you have learned to trust
Christ in totality, not abandoning yourself to the folly of this
world like the whorish woman and committing all sorts of sinful
pleasures and thus lose your virginity spiritually. The goal
of the gospel is to keep you completely committed to one man,
and that one man is Jesus Christ. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
The goal of the gospel is to shut you up to Christ so that
you find in Him everything you need. And you never go outside
of that relationship seeking wealth or prosperity or blessing
or comfort or joy or anything. We want you to land in the presence
of God Almighty with the spotless righteous garments of Jesus Christ
on. That's why we preach to you the
way we do and warn your eternity bound soul to make sure That
you are square with God Don't play games with God. This is
what Paul is saying Now watch what he does because the church
at Corinth was a mess He says in verse 3, I fear however, lest
by any means as the serpent beguile Eve through the subtlety Through
subtlety so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity
that is in Christ Do you see it? This is how the devil works,
doesn't he? He sneaks up and catches you
before you get a hold to the tree of life, distracts your
attention and drives you to the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil, keeps you distracted till you die and go to hell.
The man or the woman that does not see the singularity and sufficiency
of the grace of God in Christ is distracted. The man or the
woman that does not recognize that Christ is the total package
and you don't need anything else has been distracted. Here's what
the apostle is saying. For if he that comes preaching
another Jesus whom we have not preached, if you receive another
spirit which you have not received from us or another gospel which
you have not accepted you might well bear with him this is an
ironic time verse 4 is telling us that in Corinth after the
Apostles had preached others came in with another Jesus another
spirit and another gospel is that possible Watch this for
I suppose I was not a wit behind the very cheapest apostles here
Paul defending his apostleship now But here's what he says and
I want you to drop all the way down to now Let's start at verse
10 As the truth of Christ is in
me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia. Wherefore, because I love you
not, God knows, but what I do, that I will do, that I may cut
off occasion from them which desire occasion, that they may
glory, wherein they glory, they may be found even as us, for
such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves
into apostles of Christ. And no marvel for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no
great thing that his ministers also be transformed into ministers
of righteousness whose end shall be burned. The apostle Paul is
warning that these guys are false prophets and these guys are false
teachers. they will take from you and he's
warning them in verse 16 I say again let no man think of me
a fool if otherwise yet as a fool receive me that I may boast for
a little while and then he warns about them taking from them destroying
them look at verse 19 for you suffer fools gladly seeing you
yourselves are wise verse 20 for you suffer it if a man what
bring you into bondage is that what happening in the Israel
text In the Saul text, if a man do what? Devour you. If a man
do what? Take of you. If a man do what? Exalt himself. And if a man does
what? Verse 20 describes spiritual
and psychological abuse. Do you see it? Verse 20 describes
what men and women do when it's all about them. They take from
you. They defraud you. They abuse
you. And the term smite on the face
is not a literal term. It's a method of humbling or
humiliating you, controlling you. Does anybody know what I'm
talking about? Have you ever been in those kind
of churches? That's only a handful of y'all raised. That's good.
You ain't got to raise it. If God kept you from those churches,
great. Great. I don't want you to have
to go through that. But some of us know what it means to be
in assemblies. where they constantly exalt themselves
and put you down and take from you because it's not about Jesus. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Because it's not about Jesus. And this is what we're dealing
with paradoxically in the Old Testament. Going back then to
our text in 1 Samuel 17, 18 rather, because I want to run now. So
I'm going to affirm our first point as we develop this. The marks of legalism and works
are underscored in the life and ministry of King Saul who is
being juxtaposed over against King David, King David to be. And we are going to learn over
the next several chapters the severity of Saul's insanity,
which is about to occur here because the Lord has departed
from him and because David is just driving him absolutely insane. But he gets what he gets because
he asked for David, didn't he? Point number two, then, in our
outline, Saul's selfishness overturned by the what? Sovereignty of God. That's a nice little insight,
isn't it? Saul took David because he was selfish, didn't he? He
took David because he got a good soldier in David, doesn't he?
But he does not know that his counsel is being overturned by
God. See, we mean it for evil, but
God means it for good. The Bible says there are many
devices in the heart of a man, but the counsel of the Lord,
that's going to stand. The Bible is clear that man will devise
his way, but God will direct his steps. Let me show you one
of those verses there in your outline. Proverbs chapter 19
verse 21, pull it up. What this is underscoring is
that God will allow us to act out of the volition of our own
heart, but it's never going to function to frustrate God's purpose. And what I am saying to you is
this, when Saul says to David, I want David, that began the
worst day of Saul's life. But what was God doing? Are you
ready? God was strategically setting
his servant up by putting him in the most favorable position
that his servant could be so that everybody could see who
David really was at the high level of a dignitary and here
to be a son of the king. Everybody's getting ready to
see who David really is in all of his moral superlatives while
as yet not being king. And they're going to love him
for it. It would have never happened if Saul didn't bring David near
in order for David to be raised up on high in order for him to
be seen. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? Saul is doing it out of his own selfish purposes,
but God is setting his servant up. Do you see it? There are
many devices in the heart of a man. Nevertheless, the what?
Counsel of the Lord that shall stand. Go back to our text now.
Let's work some things through. This is fascinating. The transition
is absolutely amazing. Point number two. Well, you notice
what God does in verse 18 chapter 18 verse 1 when Samuel when Saul
calls David to him the first thing that the narrator says
in verse 1 of chapter 18 is it came to pass when he had made
an end of speaking to Saul that is David that the soul of Jonathan
was knit with the soul of David and Jonathan loved him as his
own soul. Look at the Holy Ghost Look at
the Holy Ghost This is amazing. This is a narrative. This young
man who's in shepherd's clothing. Remember, he's not a soldier.
He's in shepherd's clothing, standing there with the head
of Goliath, talking to Jonathan's daddy. And Jonathan is in a position
now where the Spirit of God is going to instruct Jonathan, watch
this, as to how a true king is to carry himself. because Jonathan
did not see it in his daddy. Jonathan is about to be instructed
by the Spirit of God and shown who the true king is and he's
gonna love him. Jonathan is a remarkable person.
I'm gonna talk a little bit more about that in a moment because
Jonathan has been moved into the picture by God for David's
good. So you see how the pieces on
the chessboard are moving? the enemy moved to bring David
closer. God says, great, keep your friends
close, keep your enemies what? Closer. We can work with that. And then God moves the bishop
over, or actually now the rook, and that rook is his son. His
son doesn't have any real authority, but he's the next in line to
the kingdom. And guess what God does? While Saul takes David's
flesh, God gives David Jonathan's heart. This is amazing. Listen to it again. And Jonathan
loved him as his own soul and was knit to David. And now the
narrative starts moving in the direction of this symbolic language
of the union between David and Jonathan, because for the next
10 chapters, Jonathan is gonna be in the life of David, serving
as a great type of our Lord Jesus Christ in the area of, watch
this now, watch it now, sacrifice, submission, intercession, mediation,
and ultimately death. Jonathan is gonna stand in the
gap to protect David from his daddy over and over and over
again, because Jonathan sees David for who he really is. The
love of Jonathan for David is greater than his own love for
himself. Because he knows by the insight
that the Spirit of God has given that David is the man. And this
carries us over into the gospel very clearly. If you don't love
him, you can't see him for who he is. This is amazing! David's own daddy didn't see
David for who he was. Didn't even want him to be the
man. David's own brothers did not see David for who he was.
You little runt, you need to go back home. They didn't see
him. Saul didn't see David for who
he was. Saul doesn't yet see David for
who he is. Everyone is missing what we call
the mystery of the gospel, which is right in front of them. Are
you ready? But Jonathan, God has revealed to Jonathan who
David is. Isn't this the same way it was
for Jesus? He came unto his own and his
own received him not. As he made his excursion through
Israel, how many people miss the mystery of godliness? God
manifest in the flesh. How many times did his own family
not believe him? Even the disciples struggled
with the revelation of the glory of God in Christ. Is that not
true? Yet there was something in the hearts of those that drew
near to Jesus that kept them stuck on Jesus Even though Jesus's
life was filled with trouble just like David's will be you
see the parallels Watch this then let's work our way through
these points. I highlighted them in our second point here it is
true love both Sees and honors the gift of God in Christ. Is
that true? I True love both sees and honors the gift of God in
Christ. Four sub points. Union of the soul is the work
of the Spirit of God. Do you believe that? Union of
the soul is the work of the Spirit of God. And if you want to read
a portion of scripture that Jesus treats around the intimacy of
the believer in God, read John chapter 14. John chapter 14 is
where Jesus says, if you obey me and keep our commandments,
I and my Father will come and we will make our abode with you
and in you. And if you love me and keep our
commandments, I will manifest myself to you continually so
you might know me for who I really am. This is deep intimacy, is
it not? Deep and profound intimacy. This
is why the Holy Ghost is given that Jesus might be a reality
in our life Both the father and the son is made a reality in
the life of the people of God on the basis of love That love
reveals to us who Jesus is and it's the basis upon which faith
Continues to sustain us in our walk with God, even though we
go through trouble. Is that not so? Jonathan's gonna
go through some trouble, but that text is clear in Colossians
chapter 127 not 28 Christ in you the hope of glory Why is
Jonathan about to do what he's about to do? Because God had
placed into his heart a revelation of the knowledge of Christ And
this is what every believer does four things when you come to
know him for real first you identify with him in Union with him because
of love you acknowledge that this is a public display a public
display look at the text and And it says in verse 3, then
Jonathan and David made a what? Covenant, because he loved him
as his own soul. Verse 4, and Jonathan stripped
himself of the robe that was upon him, crazy, and gave it
to David in his garments, even to his sword and to his bow and
to his girdle. Ladies and gentlemen, do you
know what this boy just did? He publicly relinquished his
rights to the throne. and gave him to David and let
everyone in the world know he has the right to the throne.
I'm just his servant. Crazy! That's john's gospel chapter
3 verse 30 when everybody was pushing john the baptist to be
the head john said look look I'm, not even worthy to tie this
brother's shoes The one that is preferred before me is above
me because he came before me I must decrease and he must increase
and they didn't get it because they didn't see jesus the way
john saw jesus And i'm here to tell you when you see jesus the
glory of who he is and what he did your soul is to be knitted
to him and you are willing to give him all the glory you're
gonna take off your garments your robe of righteousness your
royal apparel your your rights as a king or as a dignitary by
the way we're nothing but paupers we ain't got nothing to give
but we give it to him anyway We give it to him anyway, because
he is the rightful heir to the throne. Is he not? This is wild. This is wild. Publicly, he takes
off his gear. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I
wish I had time with you. I'll take you back before David
shows up and show you how wonderful Jonathan was in his own right
as he served with his daddy to fight the Philistines. The problem
with Jonathan at this moment Until we go to another stage
of revelation, is that his daddy is the flesh. His daddy is carnal. His daddy happens to be Adam
1, the Philistine. And that's the case for all of
us. In Adam, all will what? That's right. That's true for
all of us. But what Jonathan now sees is that his escape will
come through his union with David. His escape from his daddy's demise
is going to come through his union with David. And your escape
from your daddy's demise will come with your union with David.
Am I making some sense? Jonathan is publicly acknowledging
the lordship of David, even in the presence of his father. And
it's going to cost Jonathan, like it costs anyone to hang
out with Jesus. It costs anyone to hang out with
David. because the world will hate you for Christ's sake. I
want you to see how this unfolds in our points. Going back to
our points, because I just want them to see it. First, there's
a union of the soul, which is a work of the Spirit of God,
which is profound in nature. It is the consequence of truly
being born again. I am His and He is mine. Secondly,
the humility before Christ is the evidence of true faith. This
is what we meant when John says, I must decrease. But thirdly,
honoring David as what now? Crazy. See, David doesn't have
any external tokens of his kingship, but Jonathan sees it, doesn't
he? Jonathan sees it. The Spirit of God revealed to
Jonathan, this is the man. And he publicly worships him
now. And if there are parallels, here they are. In our Lord's
ministry, as he walked the earth, and he did good, and he preached,
and he healed, he was walking in a state of humility. He wasn't
yet operating in his kingship. As we're going to see here in
a moment, he was a servant. Remember the excursion? He's called from
glory. He takes on a human nature. He
walks as a servant. He serves. He suffers. He dies. That's Philippians 2,
the kenosis doctrine. He humbled himself, assuming
a human nature, and was found in the fashion of a man. He took
on the humble role of a servant. This humility is not natural
to our nature. We want kings to be exalted.
And the reason why people miss the glory of God in Jesus is
because he never exalted himself. He always walked humble. Here's
another key for those of you who have been around for a while,
but if you're new, here's another key. A Christ type principle
is this. Always view yourself at best
as second in command, never first. When you go through the models
in the Old Testament, you're going to see Joseph was second in command.
Pharaoh was first. Daniel was second in command.
Nebuchadnezzar was first. Jesus never viewed himself above
his father. He always showed himself to be
a servant of his father. This is how David is going to
successfully make his way through the battle with King Saul. And
Jonathan is going to be a major blessing of that because God
has revealed to Jonathan who David is. Remember what Jesus
said to his disciples in Matthew 16, 16 as he was headed to Calvary?
All right, fellas, you guys have been hearing all this talk about
who I am and folks been saying this and folks been saying that.
Let me ask you the question. Who do men say the Son of God is? Remember that? Very critical
point. And what did Peter say in Matthew
16, 16? You are the Christ, the son of the living God. Isn't
that what he said? And what did Jesus say? Flesh and blood didn't
reveal that to you. My father revealed that to you.
Listen, because the vast majority of the people there miss that.
See, we look after outward things. God operates principally from
the heart and manifests his glory in a way that if he doesn't give
you eyes to see, you won't see the glory of God. Are you hearing
what I'm saying? And so Peter saw that glory just
as Jonathan has seen that glory. And Jonathan is humbling himself
now even in the presence of that glory. One more thing, absolutely
amazing. Will you look at verse 5, verse
4 and 5. And Jonathan stripped himself
of the robe that was upon him and gave it to David and his
garments even to the sword and to his bow and to his girdle. And David went out with her,
so ever Saul sent him. and behaved himself wisely. Do
you see verse 5? I must affirm something that
you may have missed. Are you ready? Saul, King Saul,
tried to give David his armory and David rejected it. Jonathan gives David his armor
and David receives it. David accepts it. David embraces
it. because David is willing to take
second-in-command position. The Spirit of God restrained
David from rejecting the armor, the sword, the garments of Jonathan,
who is to be king. Why would David do that, knowing
that this is going to create a problem? Because David is under
unction of the Holy Spirit. who came and anointed him in
his daddy's house and told him he would be king. Remember, David
knows he's going to be king. Are you guys hearing me? He knows
this. David is not operating in this
experience unaware. God had already shown him through
Samuel that he's going to be king. Now he's aware that his
killing Goliath has put him strategically in a position to be exalted,
albeit it's going to be filled with trouble. Point number three
then, let's go on because I want us to see this. Point number
three. Oh, let me say one more thing about this. This is so
necessary to say. I have to say this. Just because
of the culture and the world I live in, let no one think for
even a nanosecond, picosecond, however short a second you can
divide it into, that we are dealing with a homoerotic interpretation
of the text. Don't you even begin to dare
think Dare think that there is something morbid or twisted or
sensual in this text between David and Jonathan what you see
here is what we call covenant love at its highest level What
we see here is the love of God's elect for Christ and Christ's
love for his elect so much so that it's bound in covenant terms
that as David does the eulogy of both Saul and Jonathan, he's
gonna say the love that Jonathan and I had surpassed the love
of women. Now only a twisted fool will
think that the highest love in the world is the love of a man
for a woman. You're ungodly when you think
that way. As profound and as significant as the heterosexual
love of a man and a woman can be in the context of holy matrimony,
it doesn't even come close to the love that God has in the
heart of His elect. I'm going to say it again. I'll
die for my wife and my children and my grandchildren and one
or two of y'all. But the love of God in Christ,
the love of God in Christ far surpasses any human love you
can imagine. Do you hear me? Do you hear me?
Nothing morbid, nothing twisted, nothing perverse about this.
This is what it means to be in Christ and Christ in you. And
so the song of Solomon makes it so richly clear, I am my beloved's
and my beloved is mine. In the same language she uses
about him, he uses about her, because the twain become one
flesh. And you can't separate them.
And this is gospel love. It is pure love. It's righteous
love. It's covenant love. It has nothing
to do with the flesh. Point number three, God's servant
reigns as he serves. God's servant reigns as he serves.
This is wild, but again, we are in the kenosis era of David's
typology towards Jesus. David is in a position of being
a servant, is he not? I want you to see what it says
here in verse 5 through 7. Notice what it says in verse
5. And David went out with her, so ever Saul sent him and behaved
himself wisely. And Saul set him over the men
of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and
also in the sight of Saul's servants. What an insightful word. Look
at verse 16. I want you to see verse 16. Are
you there? Here it is. But all Israel and
Judah, what? Crazy! Because he went out and
he came in before them. Here comes the drama. It's amazing. There are four sub-points that
I have under this. God's servant reigns as he serves
Our master told us that, didn't he? He says, if you're going
to be great, you're going to have to be the least. If you
want to be chief, you've got to take the lower seat. That's
Mark's Gospel, chapter 10, verses 43 through 45, when the disciples
were talking about who's going to sit on your right, who's going
to sit on your left. When we going to get large, Jesus? When we
going to roll with this thing? When we going to blow up, Jesus? When
we going to blow up? When we going to take this thing
over, Lord? And my mama asking, can I sit on your right side?
Because that's where you and I are what Jesus says listen
the Gentiles love exercising authority over people But it
will not be so with you It won't be so with you So I say to every
one of you in my in this room and those of you who are listening
to me now If you want to reign with Christ, you're gonna have
to walk very humbly if you want to see God use you ask him to
humble you because God always resists the proud he only gives
grace to the humble and If you want to be large now, you're
going to have your place with false prophets and false teachers
who get their reward in this life. If you want the reward
of eternal life, you take the low seat like Jesus did. You're
not getting in any other way than Jesus did. Jesus plainly
said, the way I go, you know, and the way I'm going, you got
to go too. So you got to come in humbly. God gives grace to
the humble. Am I making some sense? And see,
one of the things I know about Christians today, and it's my
burden and concern, is that we have not moved into the practical
aspects of serving. Most of my democratic, free,
autonomous, self-sufficient, narcissistic, sovereign individual
agents called Christians in Western Christianity doesn't know really
what it means to serve. Because you guys are so free.
You're your own boss. You get up when you want to.
You go to bed when you want to. You talk to whom you want to,
when you want to. And when you don't want to, you
don't do it. You do whatever you want to,
whenever you want to, where you want to, how you want to, because
you sovereign. Stay with me. But when was the
last time you did something for Christ as a slave. I can sit here, but I know the
Western church is on its way to hell because it reign as kings
and not servants. That's what Paul was saying to
the church at Corinth. You guys reign as kings. Here we are.
We're the one getting beaten up for the gospel, stoned for
the gospel, burnt for the gospel, and you guys are living large.
That's Western Christianity. That's your prosperity gospel.
Your preachers and your pastors and elders won't even bend over
to pick up the paper. They expect somebody else to
walk by and pick it up like somehow their royalty. Am I telling the
truth? Oh, by the way, can I say one more thing before I close
out my last two points? What happened to that armor bearer?
What happened to the armor bearer? That brother disappeared, right?
When David showed up in the shepherd's garment and ran up on his master
and took him out, the armor bearer was nowhere to be found. What
good is the armor bearer when you need him? I'm being facetious,
but the narrative calls that armor bearer to disappear because
he was completely irrelevant to the matters of the kingdom.
And you hear all of this silly stuff in false religion that
amounts to nothing but delusions and deceptions. Am I making some
sense? See this is why you got to learn
the way of the spirit and the way of the gospel and the narrative
or you will miss the will of God You will totally miss the
will of God So mark point number three four sub points winning
the hearts of the people is true leadership. Do you believe that?
Winning the hearts of the people is true leadership. Did Saul
really have the heart of the people? No David went out verse
five and whether so everyone saw symptom and he behaved himself
wisely God set him over the war All the soldiers of war and he
was accepted in the sight of all the people saints don't miss
that David was accepted in the sight of all the people in the
sight of all of Saul's servants Verse 16. He was loved of all
Israel and Judah. You can't be more popular than
that Can you? Watch this and King and King
Saul's own son Saul Jonathan loved him And King Saul's own
daughter, Michael, loved him. Do you see what I'm getting at?
David is loved by everybody in the kingdom because of his service. The reason we love Jesus like
we do is because he served. Do you hear me? The reason we
love him is because he laid down his life for the church. The
reason we love him is because he humbled himself and he went
in and out among us like a good leader is supposed to do. The
reason we love him is because he didn't hide in the corner.
He didn't go out the back door. He didn't drive through by a
special car with agents protecting him. He didn't tell the people
don't touch me. Our Lord Jesus Christ went in
and out among the people, touched the people, ate with the people,
drank with the people. He was in the streets with the
people. He was in the temple. He was in the public houses.
He was in the synagogue. Christ was everywhere, dealing
with everybody publicly because that's the nature of leadership.
By the way, leadership, when they're called to be shepherds,
are nothing but sheep shepherds. Somebody said, wow, they got
a revelation out of that. And you should. When the shepherds
are acting like they were never sheep, they have failed to see
the glory of God in Christ, who is the chief shepherd, the great
shepherd, our sovereign shepherd, who was also the lamb of God. I told you, God never tells us
to do anything that he himself has not done. And so as God calls
us lambs, so Christ was a lamb. As God calls us kings, so Christ
is a king. As God calls us servants, so
Christ is a servant. And our job at this era in our
life is to serve. May God give you wisdom on that
because your life is miserable where it's all about you. That
is not Christianity. There's somebody that needs the
glory of God. There's somebody that needs a word from God, from
you. There's somebody that needs your
gifting, your skill set, your unique calling in their life. God saved you and kept you on
this planet to bring glory to him by your unique gifting. Do you hear what I'm saying?
He didn't leave you here to amass wealth and amass prosperity and
to just gorge upon the prosperity of this world system. He left
you here to serve. And you ought to want to serve
him with everything in you till you breathe your last breath. I'll give you an example with
Jonathan. Jonathan is going to die for
David. Do you hear me? He's going to
die for David and he's going to die for David over and over
and over and over again. Anytime you have to stand and
take hits from your daddy to protect your brother, you're
dying. And we're going to see this here in a moment. King Saul
is not only going to take a hit out on David, he's going to take
a hit out on Jonathan. Just because Jonathan is willing
to serve the king. Point number three. Let me just
make my way through this. I'll come back and deal with this
later point number I'm sorry here point number three sub point
winning the hearts of the people some point to Allegiance of the
soul is the gold standard of love. We saw that in verse 16
sub point three the enemy subdued. This is crazy I love the Spirit
of God. He loves to let us laugh. It's
alright to laugh by the way. I You understand that look at
verse look at verse chapter 18 verse 5 through 7 watches in
fact I'm gonna start at verse 6 and it came to pass that they
came when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistines
that the women came out of all the cities of Israel singing
and dancing to meet King Saul with Tabris and with joy and
instruments of music and the women answered one to another
we call this antiphony in singing The women said one thing on one
side, the other women said another thing on the other side. That's
called an antiphonal singing. You guys got that? Watch how
it goes. And the women answered one another as they played and
said, Saul has slain his thousand and David his ten thousands. You can actually hear the symmetry
there. Beautiful. I'd love to hear that
whole song with you. They rolling happy, dancing,
playing the tambourines, music going. They really, really, really
are rejoicing because the kingdom is well right now to them. Ah, but here we go. The jealousy
sets in. Verse 8, and Saul was very raw,
angry, saying, and the saint displeased him. And he said,
they have a scribe under David, 10,000. And to me, they just
described thousands. What else the brother want, the
kingdom? So stay with me now. Let me show you what just happened
here. This is crazy. But the Holy Ghost wants you
to understand the sour, broken, bitter, corrupt well in the heart
of King Saul. Jealousy will ruin you. Envy
is a rottenness of the bone. And the Spirit of God has no
place in a heart that's just ruined and rotten by jealousy
and envy. Do you notice that King Saul
reversed the words of that stanza? That's how narcissistically driven
he was. He said, y'all notice how they
ascribe to David ten thousands and to me thousands? Well, knucklehead,
if you go back to the verse, it started with you. Saul has slain his thousands
and David his ten thousands. And if you go back to the previous
verse, verse six, guess what? They came out not for David,
but for Saul. But when you are jealous, you
even miss the blessings that are yours. Are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? See, the people weren't playing
games. This is why in the PowerPoint, it says this is no flattering
of the king. See, today in our churches, we write songs that
flatter people, flatter men. Boast the flesh, exalt the flesh. These were words of truth. They
simply told it like it was. Is that not so? Even if it meant
not exalting the king. Now in every other sovereign
kingdom of the world, the people would have said, whatever, you
know, we probably better change the way we constructed that.
We better say something like Saul has slain so many. Hallelujah, hallelujah. And David slew a thousand, a
ten, a thousand, adjusted in a way that fundamentally flatters
the king. But let me share with you one
truth before I go on. God has called us to worship him in spirit
and in truth. And that's all they're doing.
They're simply telling the truth. Isn't that right? But when men
and women are stuck on self, truth is not sufficient. In fact,
it's a threat to you because it's not about you. Let's keep
going. Let's keep going. I know it's
time. I need to shut it down here. I want to get to my fourth point
just quickly. The jealousy of Adam 1 is marked. We started it in verse 6. Listen
to verse 7. Verse 8 rather. Listen to verse
9. And Saul eyed David from that day forward. Do you see that?
The jealousy of Adam 1 is marked. Who do we mean by Adam 1? Saul.
But Saul represents national Israel. He represents King Herod
in the days of Jesus. Does he not? He represents Caiaphas
in the days of Jesus. Didn't all Israel that were fleshly
and carnal reject Christ? Despise Christ? And what the
narrative would have you to know in this chapter is that there
are five aspects of Saul's piercing view of David. In verse 55, he
saw David. In verse eight, we're reading
that he spied on David. He was rocked with David when
he heard the saying in verse nine, he eyed David. And then when we go over to verse
12, notice what it said, and Saul was afraid of David. Because the Lord was with him
and had departed from Saul. Do you see that Saul was afraid
of David and Saul? Constantly beheld David as David
was going about ministry and this gets so bad Not only did
he see David spy David was afraid of David. He was angry and wroth
with him He was sore afraid of David but according to chapter
19 verse 1 notice what it said and Saul spake to Jonathan his
son and and to all his servants that they should kill David.
You see it? We're done here for the day.
I can actually sum it up by just articulating point number five.
The humility and wisdom of what? Avoidance by the what? I'm going
to sum it up here. Now watch this. This is crazy.
Verse 10 and 11. And it came to pass on the moral
that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul. And he what? He prophesied in the midst of
the house. I'm going to explain that in chapter 19 next week.
Here it is. And David played with his hand
as at other times. And there was a javelin in Saul's
hand. Here we go. And Saul cast the javelin for
he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. And David
avoided out of his presence twice. Do you see that? Verse 13, therefore,
Saul removed him from him and made him captain over a thousand.
And he went out and came in before and David behaved himself wisely
in all his ways. And the Lord was what? Wherefore,
when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he was what? Here's the battle between the
Antichrist and the true Christ, between the flesh and the spirit.
between grace and law, between national apostate Israel and
Jesus. I tell everyone all the time,
when you read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, which are called
the gospel, are you ready? It's religion against Christ. That's all it is. From the time
Jesus was conceived, the enemy was going after him. And you
hear the indictment in chapter 19 verse 1, kill David. Is that what Jesus had to deal
with John chapter 8? He says you guys go about to
kill me Therefore I know the love of God does not abide in
you because if God's love abided in you you would love me Because
I came from the father This is the battle that we are dealing
with and over the next several weeks. You're gonna see King
Saul go absolutely insane by the way Just a couple of chapters
ago, the blues soothed King Saul. Remember that? Remember that? Share a point with you. When
you are not walking in the Spirit, no manner of external aesthetic
will actually solve your real problem. You can get drunk. You can get high. You can play
all the music you want to as loud as you want to. You can
stroke your flesh with every kind of practice you want. But
over time, because of the impenitency of the heart and a continued
rebellion against God, eventually the things that make you feel
good, you're going to despise. And especially the gospel of
the grace of God that you used to be able to enjoy, now you
aren't even able to tolerate it anymore because you are a
slave to sin. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? It's going to go from bad to worse for Saul because
the spirit has departed from him. Now the proverb comes to
pass, singing hearts, singing songs to a heavy heart. It's
like niter to vinegar. All you're going to do is blow
that thing up. This is where Saul is. And what
does David have to do? Avoid him. That's your life and
mine, child of God. Do you hear me? There are people
in your life for whatever reason, God allows, to just bug you. And you just wonder why they
dare. You pray for God to remove them. And in your godly prayers, you
don't want them hurt, but some days when you pray the ungodly
prayer, kill them, Lord. Kill them, Lord. But I'm going to tell you why
God keeps servants like that in your life. People that just
tag you up. You don't just make you go to
the edge. Because God is humbling us. While he's humiliating the wicked.
And the difference is our salvation. You and I have to be humbled
if God's going to use us. Let's take the offering and go
home.