If you turn back in your Bibles
to 1 Samuel chapter 17, 1 Samuel 17, you can follow me in your
bulletin as well. Our outline is there. As we're
going through this series in the life of David and we are
working our way through the Old Testament, it is good to remind
you that God works in history redemptively. That is, there's
a pattern on the part of God that is the privilege of the
people of God to see when we carefully read the scriptures
and examine them carefully. We studiously look into scripture
and we discover that there is this method by which God reveals
his will to us. It is his redemptive work. It
is manifested historically as God works through epochs and
periods of time by which his spirit manifest to his people,
his will, his ways, his work. And as we're going through the
life of David, what we want to be exercised by, for those of
us who are children of God, is exactly how the Spirit of God
works. I shared with you last week that
we are in the period of the monarchical rule of Israel, a dispensation
or a stewardship or a paradigm or a pattern of the kingdom's
manifestation by which God is going to accommodate the request
of the children of Israel to have a king rule over them. God
often accommodates our requests, but they are never ever the basis
upon which he does anything. He always does his own will at
all times. It simply happens to be that
he will accommodate our requests To achieve those goals as we
learned last week in Deuteronomy chapter 17 Israel wanted a king
That was to their demise because God was their king, but they
missed him in the theocratic system between the days of Moses
and the days of the judges. Samuel is the last judge in Israel
and it's upon Samuel's watch that they are begging for a king
so they received a king by their own request and that king was
whom? King Saul. King Saul was a tragedy
from the beginning simply because it wasn't God's will but God
accommodated King Saul and King Saul will serve for us many lessons
as we juxtapose King Saul over against God's anointed David. At the present time, we are in
a major conflict, and that conflict is manifold. The larger, more
contextual conflict is that Israel is being faced right now by a
serious foe called the Philistines. At present, they are engaging
in a battle, a battle of which if Israel loses, the whole nation
will be subjugated as slaves to the Philistines. At this time
God is moving by His Spirit to bring to pass His goal of conquering
His own foes, but not as Israel would have thought it would be.
For Israel has gathered together as an army. They've come together
man by man with all of their weapons of war, with their objective
of seeking to overcome the Philistines. But as you and I have learned
last week They were overwhelmed by the presence of Goliath. They
were driven into states of fear and paralysis. They really don't
know what to do with this giant. And I'll remind you as we're
laying a foundation for this that it would probably be better
when you are making application of scriptural truths or historic
narratives to identify really what the central objective of
the narrative is before you make application to yourself. I'll
remind you that this battle that's taking place here in the Valley
of Sukkah is not a battle between the believer and his enemy. This
is a battle between God and the enemy of God, which includes
the people of God. It is therefore imperative that
as we work through this text, we understand the larger redemptive
truth that the only way we can overcome this enemy is if someone
stands in the gap for us that's more than capable of handling
this enemy because this enemy is too great for us. The doctrinal truth that comes
out of the lesson of David here in chapters 16 and 17 is the
doctrinal truth of federal headship, the doctrine of substitution
or representation. Remember how Goliath had laid
out the rules of engagement. If you have a man that will fight
with me, if he beats me, you can have all of us. If I beat
him, then we get to own all of you as slaves. That is the doctrine
of federal headship in the scripture. If Christ would have lost the
battle against sin at Calvary, we'd all been slaves of Satan
and headed to hell. There'd be not one of us enjoying
the bounty of grace and redemption, the smile of God upon us in any
way of salvation. Do you guys understand that?
So be very careful when you talk about fighting your Goliaths.
You don't want to occupy David's seat nor do you want to occupy
Jesus seat who is the greater David in this text? But we do
want to learn some lessons in these lessons really for me I'm
praying that you guys actually take these studies seriously
Because what you're going to learn over the next several four
or five six seven or eight ten weeks Is how the Spirit of God
works? To affirm those who are in the
kingdom of God Versus those who are not in the kingdom You're
going to learn what it means to be merely an occupant in a
kingdom environment and rim, but really not know the Lord
of glory. You're going to see how God moves
to choose people whom you and I would not choose to actually
take positions, strategic positions to advance the cause of God in
Christ. And we're going to make very clear application to ourselves
as well, because we've already learned, have we not, that those
things that were written aforetime, they were written for who's learning.
that we might, through patience and consolation of the scriptures,
have hope. And so as we look at David's
life, what I want to remind you is that we saw two weeks ago
how that God had called David, did he not? Called David out
of the field of shepherding in the house of Jesse in chapter
16. And that call of David was not without some resistance,
was it? While God knew who he wanted,
the very man that God wanted, David's own family did not want.
It was implied by the narrative that when Jesse was called upon
to bring forth his sons, that Jesse brought forth in the presence
of Samuel seven sons, as if that was all the sons he had. And
that gave us an illusion to the nature of Christ in relationship
to his own family. He came unto his own and his
own what? Received him not. This also is
a truth with reference to how God calls us to specific tasks. and works. I'll just touch on
that for you. When God is calling you to do something for Him,
that is important to the advancement of the gospel on a local level,
a family level, a larger business level, or even in the matters
of the kingdom. Be sure of this, the devil does
not ever want us to achieve the goals for which God has called
us to do. The call of David was met with resistance, but he still
came, did he not? And that's because God would
have David to be anointed. Now remember where we are now
in our account, David is anointed, but he's not appointed. David
is anointed for the kingship, but David is occupying the role
of a servant. Now, ladies and gentlemen, that's
the role of every believer in the world right now. While we
are kings and queens of God with Christ, our occupancy here in
this world is one of service. We are serving like our Lord
Jesus Christ served when he came. The Son of Man came not to be
served, but to what? If you miss that point, you're
gonna lose the blessing of being a child of God in this world.
If you miss this point, that you are called in this glorious
kingdom of God, with this magnificent triune God hovering over us,
living in us, controlling our lives, you are called to be a
servant. As a child of the living God,
your life is most satisfied. Your soul is most gratified when
you identify your calling and walk in it as a servant. Way
too many times Christians are wanting to be kings and queens
without doing the excursionary work that Jesus did and that
is serve. But he's already told us we won't
reign with him unless we're willing to what? Suffer with him. So
David was called in a form of rejection and resistance, but
finally he was called. And then we saw last week that
David was sent, was he not? His father sent him to the camp
in order to know the welfare and concern of his brethren.
Aren't you glad that our heavenly father is a sending father? I
love that adjective. He's a sending father. He sends
his word to heal us when we're sick. He sends His angels to
encompass us about when we are in danger. He sends His providences
in our lives to meet our needs. God is constantly sending. He
sends His prophets to tell us the truth of the gospel. He sends
His servants, His preachers to proclaim the gospel to lost men
and women that we might be saved. Our God is a sending Father. Bless His holy name. And yet
in that we are discovering now that David on his way to where
he is called to go is going to be met yet with more resistance. And the point still is when God
is calling his people to a certain place in order for God to be
glorified in their life, the pathway to that place is going
to always be met with trouble. The pathway from where God calls
you in order to use you is going to always have trouble with it.
The child of God must understand that trouble is simply a token
that you are God's child and that the enemy knows that. and
he would stop you every way he possibly could so that you would
never meet that point where God has called you to do God's will.
Now, didn't I tell you last week that the enemy knew where he
was going in this battle? That he wanted to take the fort
of Judah and Hebron because that would be the capital of the kingdom?
And so this battle was taking place in the Valley of Succoth
and Elah in order that if they win, they get the whole kingdom.
But God had already had a ram in the thicket His name is David,
the boy that his daddy rejected, as the Psalm puts it, when my
mother and father reject me or forsake me, the Lord will take
me up, take me up. And God began to move that boy
from the field of the sheep to the battlefield, that strategic
point on the battlefield to accomplish God's will. He's not there yet.
We'll be there next week. But I want you to learn the lessons
between where David was called in his present, we'll call it,
the commission. He was called and then he was
commissioned. His father told him to go see what was going
on with his brethren. And there are a number of things
that we want to learn out of that. I call your attention,
therefore, to our first point in our outline. Communion with
the people of God means engaging in their what? Communion with
the people of God means engaging with their burden. The Lord Jesus
Christ assumed a human nature. This is what we call the incarnation.
We will celebrate it next month, in December rather, and joyfully
celebrate the birth of the baby, will we not? And we will celebrate
the birth of the baby because God cared enough about us to
come down to see how we're doing in this warfare. And I state
again in our opening point, communion with the people of God means
engaging with their what? All right, so as I told you last
week, as I do a development of the text expository, we will
make application as we go. Because I know how we are. We
all grew up in government schools and, you know, sound bites are
the best we can do. So I'm going to catch you while
I can. Here's the point. You don't want to live your life
assuming that you are where God wants you to be. and you cannot
affirm that your communion with the people of God is in fact
confirmed by your engaging with their burdens. If you are a professing
Christian and you are not engaged in some battle with the people
of God, you are MIA, missing in action. The people of God
are always engaged in some battle. Someone needs you, your children,
Your spouse, your friends, your relatives need you. You must
be engaged in the battle. Why? Because as the Father has
sent me, so send I you. You and I call ourselves Christians.
And this is going to be pressed on more and more. Because what
you and I are dealing with in the wonderful, as our elder said
it this morning, auspicious position of simply reading our Bibles.
That Bible is a mirror. And it's determining for us whether
or not we are actually operating in the will of God or not. Now
we can watch the story all we want to, but we better ask the
question, am I part of this story? And I can quickly answer that
for you, yes, good or bad. So we're gonna learn some things
about where am I at in the drama of redemption? Where am I at
in these local narratives? Am I on the side of King Saul?
Or am I on the side of David? Am I walking in the fear and
trepidation and missing in action as King Saul and the children
of Israel are when it comes to the will of God? Or am I moving
in the same trajectory, the same pathway, the same course that
King David is serving David at this point by the Spirit of God? Those are very relevant questions
to ask, are they not? since we know that there's a
larger Israel that we are supposed to be a part of. Communion with
the people of God means engaging in their burden. My first point,
sub-point under that then is the heart of God for his elect.
It doesn't have to be dragged out because we touched on that
last week. That's what Jesse had stated to David. David, go
down and see how your brethren are doing. That's verse 22 and
23 of our text. He tells us there these words,
and David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the
carriage and ran into the army and came and saluted his what?
David left his carriage. Why? Because his father told
David to go down and see what his brethren were up to. This
is where God, where David had this package, this care package
of food to give to his brethren. And then he had also a nice little
care package to give to the captain of thousands. In other words,
Jesse was smart enough and politically correct enough to know, to acknowledge
the military leaders. But his ultimate goal was to
see how his brethren were doing. Let me give you three, two then,
examples of this as, again, a model that the scripture set down in
God's flow chart. God works the same way always,
even though he may put on different forms. In the days of Nehemiah,
when the children of Israel were in exile, and Israel was devastated
and desolate, and the walls were broken down. God moved Nehemiah
to come all the way from Shushan, from Babylon, from Persia, all
the way down to Israel to see about the welfare of the people
of God. He did the same thing with Jacob. I think we talked
about this this morning in Genesis 37. I think our elder was right
there. Didn't Jacob tell Joseph to go down to Shechem and see
about the welfare of his brethren? Did he not? Because our father
is always caring about his children. And the only one he can send
that he can trust is the one that's most like Jesus. Lo, I
come in the volume of the book is written of me to do thy will.
And this is what we have in our account. So David left the keeper
and he ran and he came to his brother. Let's just ask a question
briefly for those of you who are learning how to be expository
listeners. I hope you're not passive. How
on earth did David find the camp of Judah? out of all those tribes
of Israel that were there prepared to fight the battle. Were they
dressed like us here in the room? We are a multi-ethnic church
filled with all kinds of ethnicities and we're dressed all sorts of
ways. How, if we had to actually identify
our ethnicity, how would we do it? A banner. It was the banner
of Judah that was waving in the air that David saw. that allowed David to go find
his brethren. Because as you learned last week,
the tribe of Judah is the tribe that leads in the battle. So
he was able to find them because the banner was up. And so he's
saluting his brethren. He's there. Point number two,
sub-point number two, that not only is the heart of God for
his elect, this is just, this is true, but our text tells us
that these are, now I have to actually take you to Isaiah 63
to affirm this, The people of God, when they are in trouble,
go with me to Isaiah 63, 8 and 9. I need to affirm my second
sub point because it's actually derived from there. When the
people of God are in trouble and they're faced with challenges,
not that you know anything about that, but what is it that moves God
to render help for his people? Are you ready? They cry out to
him. They cry out to him. This is
gonna be a strategic insight to you as a distinguishing factor
between the people of God and those who are not. I'm appalled
at King Saul because King Saul in all of the narratives surrounding
him is never ever once depicted as calling on God when he got
in trouble. And yet the Bible tells me one
of the hallmarks of being an elect child of God is that we
cry, I'm a father. time of trouble we call on God
and God is not perturbed he's not as it were troubled he's
not as it were disturbed by our calling on him he said in the
day of trouble call upon me and I will rescue you and you will
glorify me that is the economy of the people of God with God
whenever we have some trouble your elder was rejoicing this
morning as he opened up about the gates being kicked wide open
Now that's a little secret between me and my elder because of a
battle we engaged in last night that almost got us locked out
of here. I came in first thing in the morning and the gates
were kicked wide open. And I said, thank you, Lord.
Why? Because all I did was pray for
the gates to be open and God opened them. Now that's just
a little lesson in how you win battles. You don't win battles
by fighting. you win battles by praying. And
this is a difference between Saul and David. And we're gonna
learn some stuff here. You understand what I'm getting
at? We're gonna learn some stuff here. And so here's what Isaiah chapter
63, eight and nine says, for he said, surely they are my people. And I'm thinking you're gonna
have to back up a little bit because the context really requires that. Isaiah
chapter 63, yes, that's it, verse eight. For he said, surely they
are my people, children that will not, what? So he was there,
what? That's crazy. Now, if we were
really taking this statement at heart, some of us would be
shaking in our boots right now. You're a bunch of lying people.
You know you're a bunch of lying people. Am I telling the truth?
Lord, I'm in trouble if you mean like literally lying. I'm going
to help you with that term. It's a Hebraic phraseology that
really, it still can tag the practice of false bearing false
witness. It can indict us for that. Don't get me wrong, little white
lies ultimately do lead to murder. It was false witnesses that Israel
has suborned to incriminate our master Jesus Christ and have
him killed. So we need to be careful about that. But in the
Bible, the larger meaning of lying is to commit idolatry. are to worship false gods and
to misrepresent the true and living God. And when you and
I call ourselves children of the living God, watch this, watch
this, and we don't call on God in time of trouble, we're lying.
Did y'all get that? When we call ourselves children
of the living God, and we know something about what it means
to be a Nephios or a Technon or a Pideon, We're little bitty
babies drinking on the milk of the word. We're children being
taught the right ways of the Lord. We want to grow up to be
a huyas, that is a son. But until God grows us up, all
we can do is cry to him. If any man confess his sin, God
is just and faithful to forgive him of his sin and to cleanse
him from all unrighteousness. A child who knows his father
and understands that those are the rules of engagement Will
tell the truth about what they are every day to their daddy.
Am I telling the truth? Every day to their daddy come say daddy.
You know what I messed up again Children who will not lie So
he was their what? Isn't that good? So he was their
savior now watch the next verse verse 9. Here's what he says
in all their afflictions. He was what? This is astounding that God says
that in every affliction that we have, he was afflicted. Again, we learned that this morning
in Sunday school, the depths of the involvement of both the
father and the son and the sufferings of Christ on the behalf of his
people are actually more than you and I really imagine. God
has suffered more for you than you ever will for yourself. This is how much he cares. I'm
going to develop this. This is how much he cares. Now notice
what he says. In their affliction he was afflicted and the angel
of his presence did what? In his love and in his pity he
redeemed them and he bared them and carried them all their days.
You can take Isaiah 63 9 and plop it on our text because what
God is doing right now is saving his people Israel from utter
catastrophe and doom because he cares for his Children our
final sub point in point number one communion with the people
of God means engaging with their burdens Is the anxiety of the
sheep you guys see that is the earnest concern of the what? Now I'm taking the analogy or
the metaphor of the shepherd sheep Because Israel was frequently
identified as God's flock. Is that true? I And when you
are part of God's flock, here's another attribute and characteristic
that you and I must acknowledge. That as sheep, we are both dumb,
helpless, defenseless, but we're also stupid. Now, that means
we're vulnerable. Stay with me. That means when
we acknowledge our weaknesses, we are gonna be more apt to call
on our shepherd when the wolf is near than for us to try to
outrun him with our slow feet and our silly, stumbling, bumbling
ways. That's the one thing he wants
us to do, is run. That is our enemy. The one thing
that wolf wants you to do is run. The one thing God wants
you to do is go, bah, bah. Cry out to your shepherd. Cry
out to your shepherd. See, the shepherd of Israel is
coming into the midst of his people right now. The shepherd
of Israel is a shepherd because he knows what it means to keep
his sheep. In a minute we're going to see that the resume
of King David is going to fundamentally be about how he kept his father's
sheep. And yet what we're dealing with
in the larger picture is God keeping his sheep, is he not?
God keeping his sheep and he's doing it by bringing David into
the mist. I love first Peter chapter 1
5 verse 6 and 7 Let's read that and I want to share with you
how that works within the framework of our narrative Because these
are these these are the truths that the New Testament Apostles
derived themselves as they studied the Old Testament Is it true
in first Peter chapter 5 is first Peter chapter 5? verse 7 is it
true that that God cares for his people. First Peter chapter 5. Notice
what it says in verse 7. I'm going to start at verse 6.
Are we there? Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand
of what? That he may do what? Exalt you with. Israel didn't
do that. Do you read anywhere in the narrative where King Saul told all of Israel,
before we go to battle, Let's pray. Let's worship God. Let's call on God. See, he was
a warrior, but he was not a worshiper. And you cannot win the battle
merely fighting when the battle is the Lord's. Because if you
were to win, you would steal God's glory. And God will not
have that. That would make you an antichrist
system. Are you hearing me? Now watch this. We've already
thanked God for being a sending father. We're thanking him for
sending David into the camp. We see how David has, as it were,
come into camp with goods to give to his brethren, to nurture
them and strengthen them. Why? Because his father cares
for his children. And here's what Peter says about
our God in verse 6 and 7. Having humbled ourselves under
the mighty hand of God, that's an imperative, that he may exalt
us in due time, we are to, according to verse 7, cast all our cares
upon him. I love it. It's in what we call
the indicative form. It's not an imperative. It's simply saying
this is what we're doing. If he is your father, you're
casting your cares on him. I love it. The word is anxiety. And it carries all of the spectrum
of human emotions. human limitations and all of
the stuff that has you and I upset out of kilter as it were discombobulated
fearful all of the stuff that was going on with Israel when
they heard the giant verse 11 of chapter 17 plainly said and
when they heard they were amazed and they were afraid and they
hid themselves now child of God sometimes we have trials and
they come upon us and that's what they make us do They paralyze
us. Have you ever been paralyzed
by fear? I was thinking about this thing, this thing called fear
last week, and I said, Lord, why when I get scared for about
a second and a half, I just can't move. Now, I don't mind having
fear in my life, but can a brother move when it happens? Why do I have to be stuck for
a moment and vulnerable to the enemy? Well, you know, these
are psychosomatic elements that go on in our body, but I'm talking
spiritually. Why do I have to be paralyzed
when the enemy confronts me and I have to go through this dynamic
of being stuck and running in 50 different directions at one
time? You know how you do? And if you're running in 50 different
directions at once, you're not going nowhere. You're stuck in
one spot. I want grace to be able to respond
to my fears in a way that doesn't paralyze me. Are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? I know it's a weakness in my
own nature. I don't know if it's one in yours, but it's a weakness
of mine. Because in some cases, I know the answer is trusting
God. But in the moment of my paralysis,
I'm inclined to forget even the word trust, let alone trusting
him. That's what I'm saying. There's
this gap between who I am in Christ and who I am in myself
that gets filled up with amnesia. And I really want God to close
the gap quick enough so I can respond. Because a few minutes
later when that grace comes, I say, where you been? I've been
needing you all along. I told you I'm making application
as I go just in case you fall asleep or miss the point. This
is very serious. A lot of what we're talking about
is very serious because Christians do not commune with God as they
ought to. And so they actually adopt a
lot of carnal and selfish ways of dealing with their problems
when what God wants us to do is not fear, but to trust him. Our deacon did a study last night. It was absolutely wonderful.
He was dealing with the widow woman in Luke 7 whose son had
died and Jesus had come to her and told her not to weep. Her son had died and Jesus said,
don't weep. And immediately Deacon Charles
said, don't you ever tell anyone not to weep when their child
dies. And he quickly qualified by saying,
cause you're not Jesus. Do you hear me? I'm amazed when
I do funerals, people like for me to do funerals. And they want
it to all be celebration. Yeah, we celebrating. Like there's
no such thing as crying and mourning. You know, we want to get rid
of all of the mourning stuff today, all of the weeping and
whining stuff, even though in reality, that's what we need
to do. Because it's better to go to the house of mourning than
to the house of myrrh. In the house of mirth, you and
I will forget the dignity of human beings and the fact that
death is a consequence of sin. We want to kind of overlook the
theological components that go into death and pretend everything's
all right, when in a lot of ways it's not all right. When God
acts sovereignly to take someone's life, it's for his people to
sit down and be taught that day that our hour has not yet come,
but it's coming. And will you be ready when your
hour comes? Am I making some sense? And so
here is what Peter says that I think is very instructive.
While we are casting our anxieties upon him, we do so because God
cares for us. Now, I just want you to understand
that the two words casting our cares and God caring for us are
two different terms. God doesn't have anxiety at all.
Do you understand that? You never ever saw God running
in the scriptures as if he was late to a meeting or that he
was just about to miss an opportunity to save somebody. The only time
you see the father depicted as running is when he's grabbing
a repentant sinner to kiss him with the kisses of love and bring
him back into the bosom of the father. Our God doesn't run because
our God is sovereign. And your anxieties are not God's
anxieties. Your anxieties, better write
this down, are God's concerns. I love it. God is concerned for
his people all the time. And whereas you and I are stressing,
you can be sure that God has already saw it. He's already
determined an answer for it. And he's already resolving to
actually fix our problem. he's a God that's concerned but
he's not anxious you hear what I'm saying is there anything
too hard for our God it's very important for you and that's
why I'm laying down these practical applications because while we
are seeing the movement of the Spirit of God in the monarchial
kingdom transitioning from an apostate King who represents
more of an Antichrist system to God's servant David there
are things for us to learn let's go back then to our context 1st
Samuel 17 and move on in our outline. So under our first point
communion with the people of God means engaging with their
burdens. If you don't care about the saints
examine your heart you're probably still lost. For as the Father
has sent me so send I you. Greater love hath no man than
this than that he lay down his life for his friend. One of the
evidences that we know we're in the kingdom is because we
care about what God cares about. Are you hearing me? Do not live
your life selfishly, bent on your own agenda. Waste your life
for the glory of God. This is what David is doing.
Point number two, David takes this issue personally. I love
this. Now watch how the spirit works.
You're going to see something about how the spirit works. As
David left the carriage and went and ran to his army, to the brethren,
he found them. As he talked with them, behold,
there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by
name, out of the armies of the Philistines and spake according
to the same words. Now, these were the words that
he had spoke earlier. You got anybody that wants to
fight me? I'm ready to fight. Remember, 40 days in, 40 days
out, every day he stood in the valley showing himself ready
to engage in the battle. Israel is paralyzed. David comes
down to handle his father's business. He's talking to his brethren
about the welfare of the kingdom and David's ear perks up. Who
is this talking? He cares about our anxieties. Did you get that? God in Christ,
represented by David, the shepherd king, cares about our anxieties. Our anxieties are now speaking
in the person of Goliath. And David is perking up to listen.
Listen to what it says, and David heard. Verse 24, and all the
men of Israel, when they saw the man, what did they do? I
love it. I love it. They fled and were
sore afraid. Here's the distinction. I want
you to grasp now. Watch this. Please watch this.
God is showing us how people who are walking by faith, walking
by the spirit of God, do not act like people who do not walk
by faith, who do not walk in the spirit of God. I want you
to see how this goes. When we are confronted with troubles,
when we are hearing the loud blasting noise of war from our
adversaries, men and women who do not walk by faith do not know
how to stand and hear it for what it is. There's a division
here. Do you see the division? Watch
this. It's the division between the whole nation and one man. That one man is David. Do you
remember another time when the enemy was so forceful upon the
people of God that they all ran and hid and left him by himself? Who was that? The Lord Jesus
Christ. And again, that's Isaiah chapter
63, one and following, where Jesus says in the spirit of Isaiah,
I looked to see if there was a man who would stand in the
gap and I didn't find anyone. Therefore, by my own arm, did
I sustain myself. By my own righteousness, did
I stand against the adversary. God in the person of Christ had
to do it all by himself, because everyone had fled. Are you hearing
me? Everyone had fled. This is David.
All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and
were sore afraid. Now watch this. And it goes on
to say verse 25. And the men of Israel said, have
you seen the man that's come out? Do you hear the language? David, did you see him? Did you
see how big that dude was, David? Knee big. Did you see that armor
on him, David? Do you see the reason why thousands
and thousands of us soldiers are hiding from him, David? Oh,
David, he's too much. You see what they're doing? They're
transferring the fear that Goliath had imposed upon them on David. Now, I told you this last week.
I'm gonna tell it to you again. The godly man or the godly woman
who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in
the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful,
is because their heart and mind is drenched with the word of
God. And faith comes by what? Adhering by what? So that the
believer who is rooted in the counsel of God, where the word
of God is the basis of their existence, the prism by which
they see everything, is able to filter out the fears that
come from the dark counsel of the ungodly. Those who are walking
in God's precepts never fear like the ungodly fear. So while
David is hearing what the giant is saying, and while David is
hearing what his own brethren are saying, David is not moved. I want you to mark what he's
saying though, because this is going to be quite relevant to our point. It says in verse 25, the men
said, have you seen this man that's come up surely to defy
who? Another point they missed. He
came to defy God. See, I told you this last week,
if you are operating out of a horizontal paradigm where you're only seeing
what's going on down here, then you'll think the battle is between
you and them. David is going to distinguish
where the battle really is, but I'm showing you how group consensus,
group think that operates on a horizontal plane actually fails
to see God and only sees the battle in terms of them waging
war against them. This is a horrible and very ominous
statement that these guys are making to David because these
guys are sounding like, insofar as God is concerned, he's nowhere
in their life. Are you hearing me? And I warn
you, child of God, I warn you that in our present generation,
the application is very valid. You will meet people who profess
to know God But when you listen to them talk, it will be very
evident that God is nowhere in their counsel. They're not trusting
God, they're not resting in God. The counsel they're sharing with
you is earthly, secular, worldly counsel. God's precepts are not
at all in their thoughts and they're not recognizing the presence
of God as their shield and buckler. They're not speaking from a place
of faith in biblical truth. They're speaking from a place
of being all by themselves in a context that's secular without
any help from God. You guys hear it, don't you hear
it? Have you ever heard a person talking to you and you became
keenly aware that God is not in their conversation? Faith
is not in their conversation. It's rooted purely in carnality. At that moment, you must stop
and back up in your soul and say, I cannot go down this course.
I cannot go down this course because their conversation is
not honoring God. I don't hear God in this at all.
And we cannot win this battle. Whatever the skirmishes we're
dealing with, we cannot win this without God. And even when you're
dealing with your secular friends in work, now you don't have to
tell them. I mean, you know, I know some
of you, you will tell him you get demoted, lose your job, pass.
I lost my job. Cool. God will give you another
one. But now you don't have to tell him. But in your soul, you
back up and go, these people are not trusting God. Lord, you
hear their counsel. They haven't acknowledged you
at one time. I'm trusting in you, God. Now,
if you want to, you can deliver the whole of us because I work
here. You can deliver the whole of us, but don't let me perish
with the counsel of the ungodly. Are y'all hearing me? You students
in college, do you hear me? When you sit there and listen
to your professors and they talk like God never existed, say,
now, Lord, you made him. You put me in this class. I need
to get good grades. So help me parse my words so
that I don't pull my sword out, cut his head off, and lose the
class. And I want you to see how David
is working here. Here's what the text says. Have
you seen him, how he defies Israel? He's come up. And it shall be
that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with
great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father's
house free in Israel. It's amazing. Amazing under point
number two, because I want to quickly get to point number three.
I'm just going to articulate the sub points here. David takes
it personally. They are dismayed. They are afraid. They hide. But David takes it
personally. And in fact, he takes it more
personally than his wife. He takes it more personally than
his brother. He saw it for what it was. It
was an assault against God. David said in verse 26, And David
spake to the men that stood by saying, what shall be done to
the man that kills the Philistine? I love it. They're crying, they're
whining, they're presenting his resume, they're talking about
what will be done. And in David's head, he said,
hmm, what can I get out of this? Do you see faith operating? Now,
see, this is what I love about the congruent nature of the biblical
narrative. If we go deeply into it and understand
the grammar and the history is this. David is not a military
man at this point. David plays the blues. Remember,
he was hired by King Saul. I'll talk about that a little
later. He plays the blues. That's what King Saul needed. He needed
a blues player because he was tripping, right? David plays
the blues and he's a little shepherd boy. He keeps sheep. When you're
a shepherd, you hang out with sheep. That's not a dignified
job. My job is not a dignified job. I hang out with nasty, stinky
sheep because I'm a sheep too. That's what we are, right? Bunch
of sheep. And yet he's contemplating taking on the proposition when
not one man and all of those tens of thousands took on the
proposition. See, this is the way of the spirit
versus the way of the flesh. This is the way of grace operating
in a man who's trusting God versus the rest who trust in the multitude. How many of you know that a man
is not saved, a nation is not saved, that trust in the multitude
of horses? It's a vain thing to trust in
armies. It's a vain thing, the Bible
says. And you hear Israel as a whole nation. Don't know what
to do with this situation. And David is ready to take up
the proposition. I love it. See, I'm seeing God
in this. Now watch how David says it. Watch how David's care
for them is greater than their care for themselves. And David
says to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done
to the man that kills this Philistine, takes away the reproach of Israel?
For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy?
The armies of the what? Not Israel, the living God. I love it. There's a truth here
that you need to get, and that's this. Beware that the principles
that you operate out of always are designed to give glory to
God. Beware that your motive is never
less than, will God be glorified in this? Because if your motive
is less than, will God be glorified in this? You will compromise. When a situation comes up in
your life, And this is a word to our young people as well as
to our older people. When a trial comes, when a situation
comes up, watch this. Ask the question, will my decision
glorify God or not? Will this act, will this choice,
will this deed honor my God or not? If you and I are not operating
on those principles, I guarantee you, you are making choices right
now that are contrary to the will of God. I guarantee you. I guarantee you. And again, the
reason why I'm sharing these principles is because I want
you to be able to examine yourself as to whether or not you're in
the kingdom and whether the kingdom is teaching you how to operate
as children of the king. Because David is functioning
as a demonstration to us as to how that works. Are you guys
hearing me? David's functioning as a demonstration as to how
God actually operates in the life of a believer, even though
he's not a dignitary, he's just a little boy. Well, he's grown,
but he's a young boy and he's demonstrating for us the grace
of the Spirit of God in our life. When the Spirit of God is teaching
us how God cares for us and how he demands that you and I walk
by faith, that's rooted in biblical truth. Am I telling the truth?
That's rooted in biblical truth. What shall be done to this man? Under our second point then,
there are three things. He's more personally concerned
about what's taking place in his brothers. He understands
what the true assault was. It's an assault against God.
Finally, the glory of God is the measure of all Christian
what? The glory of God is the measure of all Christian motive. Two verses, 1 Corinthians 10.31. I want you to see it. You've
heard it before, but I want this to resonate with you. And I'm
praying that God will help us all understand that these are
very important messages to help us determine how we are functioning
in the kingdom of God. Now, you guys remember this verse,
wherefore, therefore, whatever you eat or drink or whatsoever
you what? Do all to the what? Is that my point? Now follow
the statement. Do you ask the question when
you make a decision to do something? Does this glorify God? See, the reason why David has
been moved into the center of this conflict is because he had
learned to ask that question every time he got into a situation.
Children of God, do you remember what I said a few weeks ago in
the life of Samuel when God decided to switch kings? God had told
Samuel, these people are not against you, Samuel. They're
against me. Let them have their king. But remember, the man who
honors me, I will what? Honor him. The person that honors
me, I will honor. And what you're about to see
is how that David honored God in little things, and he's about
to honor God in big things. And in honoring God in big things,
God is about to honor David. You see, David is on his way
to the throne. And the process of getting to
the throne is a walk of faith. which endures oppositions and
hostilities, even conflicts from the most intimate parties in
your life, which is what we're about to deal with now because
his brothers are about to come against him. See, the devil is
gonna try to stop him, is he not? The devil is gonna try to
stop him. Now, when he heard over in verse 24, 25, the reward,
I wanna just touch on that quickly. I need to skip over it, but I
wanna touch on that very quickly. It says in verse 25, and the
men of Israel said concerning this dude going further down,
the man that kills him will be enriched with great riches and
King Saul will give him his daughter, I don't know if that's a bonus,
and make his father's house free in Israel. But I just want to
touch on that quickly and I'll come back. There are here three
benefits to killing the giant which are an allusion to the
grace of God that comes with being part of the kingdom of
God. And this is really, again, a foreshadow of the reward of
Jesus Christ for conquering our great foe. Did Christ, by virtue
of his death on the cross, inherit everything? Great riches, great
riches. Did he obtain all power? Great
riches, great riches. Did Christ, by his death on Calvary,
obtain a bride? The daughter then represents
the church according to Psalm 45, and I've told you this before,
we do marry our brother. I know that bothers you, but
we're all brothers and sisters in Christ. My wife is my sister
and I'm her brother. And so it is with everyone that's
married because that old historical paradigm is marrying within the
family Are you guys hearing me? The queen's daughter is glorious
within psalm 45 and she's also now the bride of the king's son
That's the great picture here. So when saul says if you win
this battle now saul didn't believe at all anyone would win the battle
I loved it the way you guys responded after our elder read the last
verse in our text. King Saul said, go and the Lord
be with you. I don't even think I heard King
Saul even use the word Lord the last three chapters. But he doesn't
care who goes so long as he doesn't go. But do you see the picture,
the Lord's redemptive picture? The one who wins the battle gets
all the gold. Christ inherited everything. The one who gets
the battle gets the bride. It affirms his position in the
royal family. David is being promoted here.
If he wins, is he not promoted? And the one who wins the battle
is free in the kingdom. Free in the kingdom. Watch this
now. Jesus taught this in the Gospel of Matthew. I don't want
you to go there. Jesus taught in the Gospel of Matthew that
they were passing from one city to the next, Matthew 17, 24 through
27. The tax collectors, don't you
like the tax collectors? Don't get aside, just stay on
track. The tax collectors asked for taxes to cross the bridge
into the next city. You had to pay tribute. And as
Jesus was passing through, some of the folks said, does your
master pay taxes or not? Or is he a crook? And the master
told the disciples, go ahead on and pay the taxes. But when
they got together by themselves, here's what the master said.
You guys answer the question. Do the children of the city pay
taxes or do strangers pay taxes? And the disciples said, the strangers
are the ones that pay taxes. Then Jesus says, then the children
are free. Nevertheless, so that we don't
offend these people right now, because I'm not on the throne,
I'm in servant mode, pay the taxes. But remember, every one
of God's elect are free because they are children of the King
and we own the whole world. Y'all got that? We'll get back
there, we'll get back there in a moment. All right, let's go
to our third point. I want us to work through this,
our third point. Rather, actually it's the fourth
point. the fourth point, the misinterpretation of his brethren.
This is where it gets now a little sticky. And this is where the
narrative really acres down in preparation for the battle. In
verse 28 through 30, here's what we read. This is the lesson I
want you to really get. And Eliab, his elder brother,
heard when he spake unto the men, and Eliab's anger was kindled
against David. And he said, why did you come
down hither? And with whom have you left those
few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the naughtiness
of your heart, for you come down that you might see the battle."
Man, what a greeting. What a greeting from Big Bro.
Wouldn't you think that Big Bro would have been pleased to see
somebody from the land of peace They've been sitting around for
how many days having to deal with the fear and paralysis of
this giant. And here comes daddy with a care
package. Wouldn't you think that his big
brothers would have been thankful to see their little brother?
They got a care package reminding them that daddy cares about you.
Daddy cares about you. And daddy wants to know how you're
doing. And if you would have remembered last week's outline,
daddy wanted a pledge from them that they were well. Now, ladies
and gentlemen, every one of the points that you have in your
outline are messages all by themselves, granted. But I just laid down
the principle. When God cares about us, he sends
care packages. He's done it all through history.
Before the coming of Christ, God sent the care package of
his word, did he not? And in the care package of his
word, he sends promises, does he not? And in the care packages
of his word, where he sends promises, does not God come through providentially
over and over and over again to show us that he cares about
us? To let us know that he's in this battle with us? Now,
why on earth then is big brother so averse to David being there? I mean, the way he's talking
to David is like, David, we don't even want you here. And that's
because once again, we're dealing with a paradigm between the old
and the new. We're dealing with the paradigm
between David being a type of Christ struggling with his brothers
and Christ struggling with the nation of Israel, i.e. the rulers
of the church who never received Jesus. Didn't Jesus come by the
will of his father? Didn't Jesus bring care packages?
Did the master not come with healing in his wings? Didn't
He heal everything He touched in the city of Israel? Didn't
He open the eyes of the blind? Didn't He raise the dead? Didn't
He heal the lame? Didn't He heal the sick? Didn't
the Lord multiply the loaves of bread and feed everybody in
the land? Wasn't it that everywhere the
Lord Jesus went, He blessed everything that was there? Why then did
He still have to deal with the ire of the rulers calling Him
a child of fornication, a devil, a malefactor, and ultimately
hating Him? Are you ready? Jealousy. This is the biblical paradigm.
Are you with me? For envy, they killed him. A lie-up is following
the protocol of religious people who really don't have the spirit.
This goes all the way back to Joseph, but I can go all the
way back to Cain and Abel. Didn't Cain kill Abel out of envy? Didn't
Jacob's brothers hate him? Sorry, Joseph's brothers hate
him for envy? And here, David is dealing with
the same thing. And I thought this through. This boy, Eliab,
his name means, my God, his father. That means Jesse gave him that
name, being the firstborn, because he really loved that boy. He wanted him to be identified
with himself. He wanted him to be identified. That's why when
Samuel wanted to anoint one of David's sons, Eliab was first.
Now watch this, if you recall, if you recall, if you recall,
Jesse and Samuel thought for sure Eliab was the one. You know
what the Lord said? No, not him. And passed over
him. Not Shammah passed over him.
Not Abinadab. All three brothers are right
here in the text. Let me show you something. Just on a human
level, I know that Eliab hated the fact that God anointed their
little brother in their presence. and overlooked them. You guys
hear me? God anointed David in their presence. The one that their daddy was
acting like he didn't even exist. He's the one that God chose.
Do you see what happens when the doctrine of election is exposed
in the presence of people who don't know God's right to choose
whom he wills? And how the heart can rise up
in hostility against God because he chooses whom he wants to choose?
Can you see that? And yet this same boy, Jesus,
is going to, not Jesus, but David, is going to be the reason why
Eliab lives another day. Isn't that so crazy? Under then the misrepresentation
of his brethren, I'm just going to quickly run through these.
He raises the question, why did you come? Did you see that? Why
did you come? Now again, I hear the echoes
of the Psalms and I hear the echoes of the New Testament.
Did they know why Jesus came? No. Jesus says you know not from
whence I came You don't even know why I'm here and the reason
why you don't know is because you don't know my father Had
you known my father you would have known me See again, what
we are dealing with here is how God is exposing us to mere religion
versus a true saving knowledge of God David came at the behest
of his father. Did he not at the request of
his father? Did he not bring gifts? to prove
to them that he came from the Father. He didn't come out of
a sort of mischievous, sort of deviant objective. He came to
do the will of his Father, and they rejected the Father's blessings. It was crazy, and Acts chapter
3, 26 pulled this up. This is the verse that comes
to mind, and I'll skip to my final point so we can close for
today. What the apostles said in Acts chapter 3 to Israel,
here they are still in open opposition to the preaching of the gospel.
Christ has risen from the dead. The Holy Ghost has come. And
men and women are being saved from every nation, kindred, tribe,
and tongue. And Israel is becoming jealous of all these other Gentiles
being brought into the kingdom. And here's what Peter has to
close out Acts 3 saying. Watch this now. Unto you first,
who? Israel. God, having raised up
his son, sent him to bless you. Isn't that wild? Here's what they said. God sent
Jesus to us first. He sent him to bless us first.
And we're rejecting Jesus. They rejected him all along,
didn't they? They rejected him when he was born. They rejected
him when he did his miracles. They rejected him all the way
up to the cross. They rejected him after his resurrection,
didn't they? They're still rejecting him today,
are they not? This is a wild but very clear parallelism between
the two. Now I want you to hear what Eliab
says here, because this is some instruction for us. Notice what
it says in verse 28. And Eliab, his eldest brother,
when he heard, he spake unto the men. And Eliab, when he heard
David speaking to the men, Eliab's anger was kindled against David.
And he said, why did you come here? And with whom have you
left those, what? Few sheep in the wilderness.
In our outline, the second point I raise is despising his small
beginnings. Don't we do that? We look at
where a person comes from. We look at their present status.
And with carnal eyes, we say, it can't be you. Not you. And yet the word of God says,
do not despise the day of small things. See, that's walking carnally. What this indicated was that
they rejected that display of God's anointing on David back
when they were in the house. And having rejected that display
of God's anointing indicated that they didn't have the Spirit
of God at all. They don't understand that at present God has sent
David in order to deliver them. And they're still rejecting David. Third one, casting aspersions
against his character. I know your what? I know your
pride. How does Eliab know his pride? How does he know? How does he
know? How does he know whether or not David is coming with a
malicious motive or not? He doesn't. Here's a lesson for
you and I to learn. And this is it. I'll close here.
I'll deal with my next point next week. Unless you and I are
walking humbly with the Lord our God and being taught the
ways of God, you cannot know who is of God and who is not.
Stay with me for a moment. This is where I'm going to close.
And this is so very important. You cannot judge who's in the
kingdom and who's not in the kingdom if you are walking carnally.
The carnal mind is enmity against God. Are you hearing me? First
Corinthians chapter 2 says that the natural man can never ever
discern the things of the spirit. It is going to always be true
that as long as you are walking by carnal principles and earthly
standards, you're going to always reject that which God accepts
and accept that which God rejects. It's going to always be the case.
You're going to always want the tall, dark, handsome one like
Saul and reject the ruddy one like David because there's no
beauty in him that we should desire him. We all turn, as it
were, our faces from Him. We heed, as it were, from Christ. We all, by nature, reject Him.
Do we not? And it's only because God has
not revealed His glory. When Christ's glory is revealed
to us, then we see Him for who He really is. Do we not? They did not see the glory of
God in David, and yet David is reeking with the glory of God.
Is he not? David is just permeated with the presence of God, the
power of faith, the clarity of mind, the willingness to fight. And yet he's being rejected by
his brothers. Commentary on this. This is how
this goes. Just listen to this. This is a sweet little statement
that I pulled up by someone on this. It says these words here. I left it in my other notes.
It's a nice little quaint little hymn. I'll leave it alone because
I don't want to guess it. Finally, the last point is this
opposition between David and his brothers underscores the
principle that we talked about last week. The elder shall serve
the what? The elder shall serve the younger. Eliab, Shammah, and Abinadab
is opposing David, but David now is about to be delivered
even from his brothers. He's in the throes of his brother's
authority. They're pulling rank on him. Notice David is not saying
a thing. Is he saying a thing? Not saying
a thing. Did Jesus say a thing? Didn't say a thing. Held his
mouth because Jesus knew that his father was in control of
those knuckleheads. What does the text say occur while David
is being reprimanded by his brothers? Listen to this. When David says
in verse 29, and David says, what have I done? Is there not
a cause? Do you see that? Ladies and gentlemen,
that's the title of our message. And we'll close it out tonight.
David doesn't argue for his qualifications. He doesn't argue for his motive.
He doesn't even tell his motive. He only says one thing. Isn't
there a cause? Don't we got a problem here?
Don't we need to actually address the fact that we got a problem
here? Let's not now sidetrack the real issue. Okay, you don't
like me. But who's going to handle this
problem? Is there not a cause? That's all David is appealing
to. There's a problem here that we got to work through. Now follow
it. Here's how it closes. And he turned from him towards
another and spake after the same manner. And the people answered
him again in the former way. What that means, ladies and gentlemen,
is that everyone was rejecting David. Everyone was rejecting
David. And here's David's deliverance. And when the words were heard,
which David spake, they rehearsed them before Saul and he sent
for him. Do you see it? In the midst of
his brothers opposing him, because they are carnal and blind as
a bat, in the midst of them accusing him of being, as it were, just
an instigator of trouble, God now comes in to deliver his servant,
to advance him further into the midst of his mission. Now he's
standing before the king. He's there now. He's there. He got his application. He always
had it in his back pocket anyway. He didn't know how he was gonna
get there. His daddy didn't care for him. His brethren didn't
care for him. But you know when God has called
you to a place, He's gonna get you there, come hell or high
water. It doesn't matter who doesn't
like you, who doesn't care for you. When God's determined to
put you in a position, He's gonna get you there. But in the process
of getting you there, He's gonna let you go through trouble to
let you know every step of the way the Lord was with me. Because
He's shaping David's character. He's shaping David's character
for this battle that he's about to fight. Listen to me, promotion
does come from God, but those whom God promotes, he will first
humble and shape them in order that they might be qualified
to handle the test that they're about to be brought under. This
he did not do with King Saul. King Saul was not qualified for
this battle. and God removed him and set his
own servant up. David plops out his resume, said,
King, all I know how to do is keep my daddy's sheep. And what
Saul should have said, that's good enough, you got the job.
I close for the day, amen.