[0:00] It is good to be gathered together with you. We'll go ahead and get started here in just a moment. So let's go ahead and open up with a word of prayer. Lord, we thank you so much just for allowing us the opportunity that you've given us.
[0:15] Lord, the chance of gathering together with brothers and sisters in Christ. Lord, a chance of encouragement midweek. We pray as we have come together and we've had times of fellowship.
[0:26] We've had times of sharing a meal with one another. Lord, now as we take the time to open up your word, we pray, oh God, you would speak to us through your word. We pray that the truth of scripture would captivate our hearts and minds.
[0:40] Lord, we ask that you be with those in the back that are working with the children and the youth. We just ask that you be glorified and exalted among them, that the word of God would have impact upon the lives of all those who are making their way through the children's classes.
[0:55] Lord, we ask from the youngest to the oldest one, Lord, that the word of God would speak to their hearts and minds. We pray that the truth of the verses that they're studying and, Lord, that some of them are memorizing, Lord, that it would move beyond the head and into the heart, Lord, and be applied.
[1:13] We thank you for our time. We ask, Lord, that it would be for your glory and honor. We ask it all in Christ's name. Amen. All right, take your Bibles with me. Go with me to the book of 1 Samuel.
[1:24] 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel chapter 18 is where we have made our way to. 1 Samuel chapter 18.
[1:37] If you remember, we've, of course, naturally just finished up the 17th chapter, which is the great account of David versus Goliath. And in studying the 17th chapter, we studied it so much more than David versus Goliath.
[1:55] We also saw the comparison of David and Saul. We saw what it is that was in the heart of David that God saw that no man saw.
[2:08] He's a man after God's own heart. We understand that by description. That's how God defines him. He is the one whom God had chosen to lead his people and lead Samuel to anoint him as the second king of Israel.
[2:21] There is something in his character, something in his being that is different, not only than Saul, but even different than his brothers and different from anything else. And we saw how that came to light in the middle of the conflict, in the middle of the battle.
[2:36] We've seen the character of the man. And we've seen how it was revealed when someone such as Goliath stood up and opposed them. And one of the striking things that we saw at the end of the 17th chapter was what a difference that man made.
[2:51] Or that individual whom God uses in that moment, what a difference they make. As you come through that 17th chapter and you understand that everybody is in fear and everybody is trembling and Goliath is taunting.
[3:07] And for 40 days, morning and evening, he says the same thing. And for 40 days, he gets the same response. The people hear it. They see the man. They hear his words. And they run back.
[3:18] No one is going to the battle line. They're drawing up in battle array. They're shouting a battle cry, but nobody goes to the battle line until David shows up.
[3:30] When David shows up, he shows up in a different point of view. He sees it as the Lord sees it. It's not his battle to fight. It's not the nation of Israel's battle to fight.
[3:41] It's the Lord's battle to fight. And he bases everything he does upon the glory of the Lord. Now, I know all this is in the 17th chapter. One of the most amazing things we find in that account is not that just a shepherd boy, David, can take a sling and sling a rock and hit a giant in the middle of the forehead and knock him down and don't go unsheathe the giant's sword and cut his own head off.
[4:02] As awesome as that is. But what is amazing is the response of the people because of that one man. David saw the battle in its right light, stood up for the glory of God's name and charged the battle.
[4:23] Now, the agreement was, give me a man and we will fight one another. Are you not the servants of Saul? This is Goliath's taunt.
[4:33] If I beat him, then the people of Israel will be our slaves. If he beats me, then the Philistines will be your slaves. That was the agreement. The agreement was, let two men fight it out for the destiny of the entire nations.
[4:50] David goes out there and in the name of the Lord God, fights the giant and his actions motivate the people of God. Because then it says that after he did it, then every man arose and pursued the Philistines.
[5:07] His influence and his impact on the battlefield is instantaneous. Those that were scared to fight all of a sudden are ready and they pursue them all day long.
[5:21] And they come back and plunder. They are finally doing what God told them to do. For years, the Philistines have been that which had pursued and pushed back and really thwarted the plans of God among the nation of Israel.
[5:33] And it goes back to the period that precedes the period of the judges and the ineptness of the nation of Israel and the unwillingness in the nation of Israel to push out the enemies that God had commanded.
[5:44] And they allowed them to linger. And the enemy hung around long enough that it got strong enough that it began to be on the offensive. And the nation of Israel just sat there and let it take place until that day. What an impact.
[5:55] David made on the battlefield. Now we transition to the 18th chapter. David will go back and forth to the battlefield a lot. But I want you to see the impact of God's presence through David.
[6:13] Notice when we read this chapter, we'll read it in its entirety. Three times it declares in this chapter, for the Lord was with him. For the Lord was with him.
[6:25] For the Lord was with him. The impact is not just the impact of the man. It is the impact of God's presence on the man.
[6:36] And what it has not just on the battlefield. But the impact of God's presence on all around them. Okay. So we read 1 Samuel chapter 18.
[6:48] Now it came about when he had finished speaking to Saul. Remember after the battle he came back home. Goliath's head. Saul said, whose son are you? So when he had finished speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David.
[7:02] And Jonathan loved him as himself. Saul took him that day and did not let him return to his father's house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David with his armor, including his sword and his bow and his belt.
[7:19] So David went out wherever Saul sent him and prospered. And Saul sent him over the men of war. And it was pleasing in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants.
[7:31] It happened as they were coming when David returned from killing the Philistine that the women came out of all the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet King Saul with tambourines, with joy and with musical instruments.
[7:43] The women sang as they played and said, Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands. Then Saul became very angry for this saying displeased him.
[7:54] And he said, they have ascribed to David ten thousands, but to me they have ascribed thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom? So Saul looked at David with suspicion from that day on.
[8:05] Now it came about on the next day when an evil spirit, or that an evil spirit from God came mildly upon Saul and he raved in the midst of the house while David was playing the harp with his hand as usual.
[8:17] And the spear was in Saul's hand. And Saul hurled the spear for he thought, I will pin David to the wall. But David escaped from his presence twice. Now Saul was afraid of David, for the Lord was with him, but had departed from Saul.
[8:34] Therefore Saul removed him from his presence and appointed him as commander of a thousand. And he went out and came in before the people. And David was prospering in all his ways, for the Lord was with him.
[8:47] When Saul saw that he was prospering greatly, he dreaded him. But all Israel and Judah loved David, and he went out and came in before them. Then Saul said to David, Here is my older daughter Merib.
[9:00] I will give her to you as a wife. Only be a valiant man for me and fight the Lord's battles. For Saul thought, My hand shall not be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him. But David said to Saul, Who am I?
[9:13] And what is my life or my father's family in Israel, that I should be the king's son-in-law? So it came about in the time when Merib, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David, that she was given to Adriel the Mahalithite for a wife.
[9:27] Now Michael, Saul's daughter, loved David. When they told Saul the thing was agreeable to him, Saul thought, I will give her to him, that she may become a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.
[9:39] Therefore Saul said to David, For a second time, you may be my son-in-law today. Then Saul commanded his servants, Speak to David secretly, saying, Behold, the king delights in you, and all his servants love you.
[9:51] Now therefore, become the king's son-in-law. So Saul's servants spoke these words to David. But David said, Is it trivial in your sight to become the king's son-in-law?
[10:03] Since I am a poor man and lightly esteemed. The servants of Saul reported to him according to these words which David spoke. Saul then said, Thus you shall say to David, The king does not desire any dowry except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines to take vengeance on the king's enemies.
[10:22] Now Saul planned to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. When his servants told David these words, it pleased David to become the king's son-in-law. Before the days had expired, David rose up and went, he and his men, and struck down two hundred men among the Philistines.
[10:38] Then David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full number to the king that he might become the king's son-in-law. So Saul gave him Michael, his daughter, for a wife. When Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David and that Michael, Saul's daughter, loved him, then Saul was even more afraid of David.
[11:01] Thus Saul was David's enemy continually. Then the commanders of the Philistines went out to battle, and it happened as often as they went out that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul.
[11:14] So his name was highly esteemed. 1 Samuel 18, the impact of God's presence. When David showed up on the scene, standing on a mountaintop as they're overlooking the valley, and Goliath comes out, the thing introduced into the equation was the presence of God.
[11:38] Now God was there. God is present among his people all the time, but David is the man that is covered with the Spirit of God. The only, if not one of the few, the only one that I have found in the Old Testament that is covered with the Spirit from that day forward.
[11:53] So everywhere he went, he took with him the covering of the Spirit. Being led by the Spirit, being influenced by the Spirit, not the indwelling, he was not indwelt with the Spirit or filled with the Spirit, he was covered with the Spirit.
[12:07] It's a big difference. We have that difference in Scripture because no one is filled with the Spirit until Christ is raised and ascends to the Father.
[12:18] That is the gift of the ascension. Right? So we have to understand that there's the covering of the Spirit is kind of like a cloak. We've talked about that, how he covers and moves and overwhelms, but that does not change who we are on the inside.
[12:32] That overrides who we are and uses us for his purpose. We've seen that in how God uses false prophets, God uses donkeys, God uses all those things in the Old Testament.
[12:43] In the New Testament, God is not overriding us, he is changing us, he's renewing us. We are born again. Yet when David shows up, the Spirit of God shows up with him and it makes a big difference.
[12:58] After the battle, life goes on, things continue to be. Saul brings David back to his house and the presence of God comes in to the king's palace and begins to make an impact almost immediately.
[13:14] We see it three times throughout the scripture in this chapter that the Lord was with him. The influence of the Lord upon the life of David bought him both prosperity, it brought him success, but it also brought him opposition because the presence of God upon the life of David is the very thing that causes Saul to oppose him and is threatened by him.
[13:47] We understand this. Jesus says in the New Testament, in this life, you will suffer. They will oppose you because they have opposed me. If they've hated me, they will hate you too. It's very clear.
[13:58] We see it. And we even see this implication and application in the Old Testament, in particular in the life of David, that David's blessing became Saul's cursing, but David's blessing also created some problems for David.
[14:12] It wasn't easy. He is on his way to the throne. He will get to the throne through suffering and trial and pain and struggles and hardships because this begins the years-long battle of Saul pursuing him, trying to kill him.
[14:29] Eventually it's going to lead to him fleeting away and it does not end until Saul dies in battle. David twice, you remember the account, could have taken his life but did not. We see this over and over again, the impact and the influence of God's presence, but we see in particular in this 18th chapter three things that really resonate in this.
[14:49] The first thing we see is the security that David enjoyed. The security that David enjoyed. After Saul speaks to David, he brings him into his presence and we have the introduction here of the friendship of Jonathan and David.
[15:09] People throughout history and some people still point back to that in a twisted fashion. We need to understand this. There's no twisted euros, erotica, inappropriate, love or fellowship going on here.
[15:22] More than likely, Jonathan is quite a bit older. Some people say 20 to 30 years older than David, right? And he's looking upon him as a junior young man. But what he sees, also if you think about it, most of Saul's victories were a result of Jonathan's initiation.
[15:38] Remember that? Jonathan is the warrior and the battler and the one who says, the Lord is going to deliver him, we're going to go and he moves forward in faith. And he sees that being reflected even in the person of David. But what we also understand in the scripture is that Jonathan, the heir to the throne, because he's the oldest of Saul's descendants, makes a covenant and initiates the covenant with David.
[16:00] So more than just seeing a great warrior, Jonathan, we can ascertain from scripture and even in other places, more than likely realizes David's the next king.
[16:10] And he enters into a covenant agreement with him and he verifies this covenant through the giving of the gifts of his cloak and his sword and his armor and his, you know, all of these things.
[16:24] He had his belt and shield and all these things that really were kind of ascribed just to Saul and Jonathan. Now they're given to David and they're just a symbol of we're signing this covenant, we're making an agreement.
[16:35] And there's a covenant of friendship, there's a covenant of concern, and there was a way in which God would have allowed if Saul had walked in perfect harmony where Jonathan and David would have been co-reigners.
[16:48] David would have been an eternal kingdom, we see that through the lineage of Judah, we don't have time really to get into that, but Jonathan would have reigned with him. David honors that through Mephibosheth, we see it later on as he sits at his table and dines with him.
[17:03] But we begin to see this security that is kind of coming from David at the very beginning because even Jonathan recognizes it and responds properly to it.
[17:14] Well as he comes in, he's coming in victorious and he comes in as a great warrior and God is with him in all of his battles and plants and it doesn't take very long before Saul begins to get very jealous of him.
[17:27] And it is here we begin to read of Saul's wrestlings again we're introduced to the same thing we were introduced to in 1 Samuel 16 that an evil spirit from the Lord came and just tormented him.
[17:37] By the way, I did a little bit more research on that and I kind of confirmed some things I'll kind of open that up to. Evil, there's the word raw. Raw means disrupting, disruptive, convicting, kind of unsettling, a disruptive spirit, something that is evil not in nature but kind of evil in practice that this is not a pleasant feeling that I have going on inside of me.
[18:02] Okay, so it's not like it's an evil angel the way we're thinking of evil angels not a dark angel but it is, this is not good. I don't like this, this is painful, this is just not a good feeling, it's really upsetting me right now.
[18:16] So that's kind of the root of that word raw, means to be disruptive spirit would be your consciousness the way it is described. He was upset in his eternal, internal man which fellowships or communes or has the ability to commune with God.
[18:32] So essentially what's going on, God is bringing unbearable conviction upon the soul of Saul and he's wrestling this internal battle for eternity is set in the heart of all men.
[18:43] All men know. We understand that, right? And this evil spirit that's coming upon him is this internal conviction that what he's doing is not right, that he's not walking in proper fellowship.
[18:59] He has really listened to the word of God coming from the mouth of Samuel. He's been anointed by Samuel. He's had the purposes of God declared to him and yet he has failed in all of those and he is just in the inner man and in his, we would call it, gut.
[19:16] He just doesn't feel right. His conscience is tormenting him. His spirit is becoming really evil to him and we have to reconcile this, okay? And this is where we kind of get into this.
[19:28] I know we spend a little bit of time here but we need to understand it because this plays a major role in this. This is where we have to allow God to be sovereign, okay? Because God ministers to us for our good but God also has the sovereignty to minister for his judgment.
[19:46] And God's judgment upon Saul is the tormenting of his soul while he's alive. that God is showing him his own failures, his own weaknesses.
[19:59] He is bringing deep unsettled conviction to him. In the New Testament, Paul refers to it this way in Romans chapter 2.
[20:12] He also does it in 2 Thessalonians where it says God gave them over. I've said quite often that is some of the scariest things we can ever think.
[20:25] When Paul is writing to the church in Rome and says that, you know, men have this unholy craving and have a desire to do what they shouldn't do and women have the same thing and God gave them over to the desires of their hearts.
[20:37] Why is that scary? Because the Bible tells us that the heart is desperately wicked. That the intention of every man's heart is evil and if God gave us over or gives us over to the desires of our hearts, he is giving us over to something that will ultimately destroy us.
[20:54] That's God's judgment. He has the divine right to do that. And I'm just being honest, in American Christianity we have a hard time acknowledging that and accepting that and being okay with that.
[21:09] But he is God. He is God. And therefore, he has the right to give someone over to something which causes them displeasure, pain, discomfort to the depth of their being much like what's going on in the tormenting of Saul's soul.
[21:29] But do not forget that Saul chose that. Right? Saul rebelled. And God is disciplining him for that.
[21:40] That is heightened when David is present because it says that when he's playing the harp all of a sudden it doesn't have this calming influence on him anymore because he's holding a spear and he slings the spear and he won't pin him to the wall.
[21:54] And the thing that upsets him it tells us in scripture. Saul feared him because he knew the Lord was with him. Yet two times David gets away.
[22:09] So we begin to see the security that God is offering through his presence. Saul gets so upset about it he takes David from being commander over the army to putting him a commander over the thousand.
[22:21] He removes him from his presence. And the reason he removes him from his presence isn't just because well David will serve me better over there. We have to read into it a little bit more. He took or essentially he took David in American terms from the pentagon and put him on the front lines.
[22:36] he exposed him to a greater amount of risk. Yet David did good there. And each time Saul continues to put David in a path of greater harm we see the security that David enjoys because God has a purpose.
[22:56] it wasn't that David was just getting lucky breaks it's that God had a purpose and a plan and even the evil intentions of man will not thwart nor stop those plans and purposes because one of the things that the people of God enjoy as a result of the presence of God is security.
[23:22] I think I've mentioned this and it's the one message let's see almost 18 years later now I can't even tell you the text I preached it from but I'll never I guess as long as the Lord allows me to I'll never forget the title of the message and it was on Wednesday night of all things I was very young in the ministry probably was about four people there which is amazing when you consider well there might have been eight because let's see Carrie was there with our three kids you were probably there with your three kids so that's at least eight right so there might have been eight that were there and I'll never forget the title of the message was the untouchables that title was stuck in my head because the reality of scripture reminds us that we are untouchable until God is through with us it doesn't mean oh well I get to go out here and live like God now God can take you out any moment look at Saul but when
[24:23] God is using us for his purposes what he is destined what he has determined to do with us through us and in us will come about there's security okay we understand that so there's the security he enjoys next we notice the success that David enjoyed because with that security came also the amount of success this success is what gets him in trouble it is the song really that is sung Saul has slain his thousands David his ten of thousands and it is the reality that David is good on the battlefield and God is using him in a mighty way he puts him over the command of the thousands and there's this one thing that I want you to note here that it says that he went out and came in before the people he went out and he came in before the people and then we read a little bit later down in verse 16 but all the Israel and Judah loved David and he went out and came in before them the reality is that when God's presence is manifested on his people he always goes public with it right
[25:34] God's desire this is why Christ says to let your you are a city set on a hill let your light shine right this is why he doesn't say try to be a city on a hill he doesn't say maybe you should think about being a city on a hill he says you are a city set on a hill and he tells us to let our good work so shine before men that they may see them and glorify our father who's in heaven right God has a habit of making the efforts and the!
[26:09] activities of the! he's using public knowledge when David went to the battle line David's cry was I'm going to defeat you so that these people may know that the battle belongs to the Lord and not to man and that everyone will know there is a God in Israel who rules so David put himself out there and said God use me so that others may know how big and how grand and how great you are and as the spirit of God covers David and moves him and he goes from battle to battle to battle to battle he's going in and out before the people that is everybody's noticing what he's doing the measure of success there is so that God gets the greater glory not so that David gets more recognition it tells us at the end of the chapter essentially every time the
[27:12] Philistines wanted to move David was so much further ahead of them he was always successful Saul wanted 104 skins David and his men go out and get 200 we see this measure of success and the reason is not to puff David up later on we will meet David when he has all this success and he gets a little himself through the activities of David and we need to understand this there's a level of humility sure we ought to be humble we are called to be humble we are called to live with humility but we are also called to live in reality that God puts himself on display for a watching world to see in the lives of his people he hasn't called his people to gather together in holy cloisters and seclude themselves and to be way back here so that nobody sees he calls his people to be a city set on a hill right he calls them then in the name of
[28:16] God for the glory of God to live in a world going in and out before people that they may notice Jesus said by this will all people know that you love me your love for one another he made this declaration when we read the book of Acts probably one of the clearest examples we see in the book of Acts it was several years ago we went through the book of Acts and there was something I wanted you to underline I don't know if you did or not for those that were with us but we went through the book of Acts every time the gospel was going into a new region I nobody is going to know the reason for the hope that's in you but there's this combination right this is why
[29:41] John tells us in John 15 Jesus declared that he who abides in me I will abide in him and he will bear much fruit God has called us to fruit fullness not because the branches Jesus says I am the vine and you are the branches You don't!
[30:01] plant a branch you plant a vine it is the vine that produces the fruit on the branch has nothing to do with the branches they're there to hold the fruit to show how healthy the vine is we understand that right we see it in the life of Christ we see it as he manifests the gospel through his activities we see it in David because he enjoys a measure of success everywhere he goes because he is a reflection to what it looks like when the spirit of God covers an individual he's God's person at that time for God's glory much like God has called us to himself and put us in a place in a season wherever that is doesn't always have to be on a battlefield there are battlefields fought at home there are battlefields fought in workplaces I know there's a lot of battlefields like that right but some of the greatest battles we ever fight is in the home front right there are battlefields fought all over those spiritual battles that
[31:03] God has put us there that we may glorify him and see a measure of success not for our own benefit and we see this the impact of God's presence the third thing is probably the one that's most uncomfortable and the thing that we wish didn't happen but when God's presence shows up something amazing happens to other people it's an encouragement to some but it's also a revelation because the third thing we see is the sin he revealed it's the sin God reveals and God reveals this sin through the presence of his man namely we knew Saul had problems but we don't see those problems coming to light really until David is present we see the torment of his soul we see the murderous intentions of his heart because he's casting a spear we see the manipulation behind the scenes because he continues to move
[32:08] David from here to there with the intended purpose of getting the Philistines to kill David for him unfortunately David does the same thing when he falls we see the lack of Saul being a man of his word remember the vow do you remember the vow Saul made a vow that the man who rises up and kills Goliath his father will be free of taxes they won't have to serve in the military and I'm going to give my daughter to his wife now Jesse may have been free of taxes David is most definitely serving in the military and then Saul tries to use his oldest daughter as a robbery to get David to go fight the Lord's battles Well he had already fought the battle that Saul had declared would be the reward of but he wanted to push him further because by this time he's suspicious of him and rightfully so he's the next king everybody knows it but Saul right even Saul at that point but he manipulates well that didn't work out too good because the righteousness of
[33:09] David shows himself and then here comes Michael and she's really in love and Saul! this is good to try to create a snare see all these things that are highlighted simply because David is present the fears of Saul the doubts the suspicion the anger the bitterness the hatred all these things are going to be shown Jonathan will test the waters later on we'll understand that as we move into the next couple of chapters and what David knows to be true of Saul Jonathan will begin to see being true because the reality is is that when the people of God show up and the spirit of God is present one of the attributes of the spirit remember is to reveal sinfulness of man
[34:11] Jesus says in John 3 19 right after that great verse of 3 16 verse we forget about a lot in 3 19 Jesus says that men love darkness rather than light because light is a revealer of sinfulness men would rather live in the darkness that hides their sin nature rather than having the presence of the light of Christ that reveals them the reason the world pushes back so hard against the church when the church really becomes the church it's a spiritual battle it's really not us it's really not us when the church becomes the church and begins to behave like the church and act like the church and do like the church and really be the church the church but really be the church the reason the world pushes back is because the world hates what it sees of itself when the church shows up
[35:27] I mean what upset you the most when you first heard the gospel I mean did you get irate and mad I didn't get irate and mad when someone told me Jesus died for me I didn't get irate mad when it says that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish and have every life and life I did not get mad when it says that God loved me while I was a sinner but I the sin that I try so hard to hide begins to be exposed by the word of God and it shows us our need for a savior man in his great efforts goes to great lengths to convince himself he's good enough mankind is really good at that one of the attributes of the spirit showing up with the people of
[36:39] God is it begins to illuminate the sin of man it really does I don't know how many times over the years when I was a lay leader in the church or whatever you want to call layman in the church before I was a pastor when I was a pastor and I was in a workplace and I remember one time I was I was putting a roof on a house I'm not a roofer I was just doing it because the guy I was working with was doing a roof and I was up there doing it and the man got so mad at me and asked me the first time I!
[37:37] it!
[38:07] people ought to be uncomfortable around us not because of who we are we don't we want to love them and accept them it's not judgmental we're not we're not talking about that but don't be surprised don't be surprised and I've seen it when the spirit in you does not agree with the spirit in them and don't apologize for that don't apologize for it because one of the ways God draws people to himself is by bringing them under deep conviction because of his presence in our lives and it begins to reveal the reality be honest about yourself I know who I am I'm not a perfect creature I'm a saint by calling but he that is in me is holy calls me to be holy
[39:13] I strive towards that holiness he brings me under conviction every day and the reality is that his presence in me should also bring others to the same conviction because he is holy and we are all too often not we see the sin he revealed what an impact the presence of God has not just on the battlefield but in the everyday day to day life and we see it being manifested in the person and work of David thank you brothers I appreciate it