A Man after God's own heart

I greet everybody in Jesus' name this morning. I'm thankful again to be gathered with you. I appreciate what you shared this morning. Many good thoughts. I just appreciate it. Say amen. Let's stand and pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. We pray that you would be with us today, Father. Help us to be faithful in everything. Help us to have a hunger, or give us a hunger and a thirst for righteousness. All things that pertain to you, we pray for your blessing on the rest of this day. Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever. Today, I'd like to talk about that subject that I meant to talk about last week. Well, I didn't mean to talk about it last week, but I had planned to talk about it last week. And then I got on a trail that took me somewhere else. But today, I'd like to get out there to where I was going before I came to that trail. And I'd like to talk about that topic, or maybe I should say that person, that I wanted to look into and look at some things about his life. And because it's somewhat of a sequel to that message. In fact, I think the trail that I investigated the other time, the things that we learned as we looked at Jesus' interaction with that Samaritan woman, where he came to that point where he told this woman that the true worshipers will worship him in spirit and truth. I think, at least for me, that has only enriched the meat that I hope to bring home today. And maybe just to refresh us or to remind us, Jesus said to that woman that the time will come that the true worshipers will worship him in spirit and truth. And then he says, God is spirit. And then he restates it, like, the true worshipers will worship him in spirit and truth. God is spirit. Jesus is truth. Jesus is the fullness of God. He's the reality of it. And in a similar way, the kingdom of God that is a spiritual kingdom and is within us, that we receive by faith, in working it out in our lives, dare I say, doing it in the flesh, like, living out the things of God in this life here now, presently, with our hands, with our feet, with our eyes, with our ears, with our mouth, like, living that out can make this kingdom of God not only a kingdom in spirit, but a kingdom in truth, a kingdom in reality that is right in our midst. The reality of this spirit and this truth together is where salvation is found. There's no salvation in any other. It is found when faith is worked out, when it's brought forth in its fullness, its faithfulness. Today, I want to go to that spot where I see a man, and though he's in the old covenant, I see a man who worshiped God in spirit and truth, at least to the extent that was possible in the old covenant, whose life is rich in faith, in an inner relationship with Jehovah. That relationship that he has within himself, it's abundantly evident in this person. He worshiped God in his heart, personally expressing his gratitude and adoration for the Creator, but that's not all, I didn't end there. His faith was lived out in fullness, in truth, in reality, in the everyday things of life, in a very humble occupation. He proved himself faithful when he was all by himself. He proved himself faithful with another man's possessions. He proved himself faithful first in the little things and then in the big things. He proved himself faithful first in his private life and then in the spectacle of the great arena that he entered. In the old covenant, his greatness is equal to that of Moses and Abraham. He truly was a man after God's own heart. His name? David of Bethlehemite. We first read about David in 1 Samuel, chapter 16, and I'll read there if you desire to turn there. Probably not necessary to give much of a history about what's going on here. Saul is king, he's the first king of Israel. He's head and shoulders taller than everybody. His appearance is a man of a leader. His appearance is a man that should be able to lead the battles of God, but he failed. After a few victories, it happened to him what happens to so many people after a few victories. He started overstepping the authority that he had and not fulfilling the things that he was commanded. Not totally, like enough that he could say, well, I kind of did this. Not totally, not completely, not diligently, not to the best of his ability. The spirit of God started withdrawing himself from Saul and Saul felt this. Saul was on his way out, on his decline as a king there in Israel. Here's what it says in chapter 16. Now the Lord said to Samuel, how long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided myself a king among his sons. And Samuel said, how can I go? When Saul hears it, he will kill me. But the Lord said, take a heifer with you and say, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice and I will show you what you shall do. You shall anoint for me the one I named to you. So Samuel did what the Lord said and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming and said, do you come peaceably? And he said, peaceably, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Sanctify yourself and come with me to the sacrifice. Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. So it was when they came that he looked at Eliab and said, surely the Lord's anointed is before him. But the Lord said to Samuel, do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as a man sees. For a man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. So Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, neither has the Lord chosen this one. Then Jesse made Shammah pass by and he said, neither has the Lord chosen this one. Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, the Lord has not chosen these. And Samuel said to Jesse, are all the young men here? Then he said, there remains yet the youngest. And there he is keeping the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, send and bring him. For we will not sit down till he comes here. So he sent and brought him. Now he was ruddy and bright eyed. He was ruddy with bright eyes and good looking. And the Lord said, arise and anoint him, for this is the one. And Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah. Here we get the first glimpses of this man. He's taking care of his father's sheep. We get a little bit of his appearance. The impression I get is he was a bright eyed, youthful looking young man. Possibly red haired. Ruddy can mean red. Maybe he had a reddish complexion. Maybe he had red hair. I don't know. But it says he was ruddy and bright eyed and fair looking. We're not sure of his age. I did a little research. I would say around 15ish. A couple of years younger or older, I'd be fairly sure he fits somewhere in there. But that's a little bit of how this young man looked. He's accustomed to grunt work. He does not have a high position. He has a job that largely goes unnoticed. It was common because shepherding was not hard work. There were some aspects of it that made them hard. But still it was work that a young man could do. For the most part it didn't require an enormous amount of strength. It often fell to one of the youngest in the family. Maybe at first, like Jesse had 8 sons. The way this likely would work in a family like this is once the oldest is 8, 9, 10 years old he starts tending the sheep. But as the other needs of the household and the farm and raising grain and plowing fields and bringing in harvests and all these things start demanding more help. These older guys take this and the next one younger tends the sheep. And finally it comes down to the youngest of the sheep and he tends the sheep longer than the others. And here's David. I get the impression he's been taking care of sheep for a long time. It's his job. And shepherding is one of those things where a guy spent a lot of time alone. He spent a lot of time out away from everybody else. He missed out on a lot of the excitement that happened in social life in the village and at home. The appearance, I'm reading into this quite a bit. But the appearance that I have of the way this passage reads is that first of all Samuel comes. He's the prophet, he's the seer, he's the one man over all of Israel that is considered the prophet, the judge. And he comes unexpected, uninvited, unannounced to Bethlehem. And the whole city trembles and says, do you come peaceably? And he says, I come peaceably. There's a lot of excitement involved around Samuel showing up in this very little town in Bethlehem. And so after some talking there and after Samuel saw that it was none of these seven men, he asked, is there not another one? And the way Jesse says this, he says like, in verse 11 he says, Samuel asks, are these all the young men? And he says, there remains yet the youngest. And there he is, taking care of the sheep. And the impression I have is that he was somewhere on a distant hill within sight, but probably outside of ear reach. It wasn't like Jesse just hollered over and said, hey, David, come on in. He had to send somebody out to bring him in. And I just, again, I'm adding some of my imagination in here, but just imagine all the excitement surrounding this happening of Jesse coming in here. And David out there on a distant hill, very likely able to see all this excitement, seeing that the whole town is coming together for a sacrifice. But he just stayed there. He's got an assignment. It's to keep the sheep. And he keeps the sheep. And I don't doubt that there's many a 14, 15, 16-year-old boy whose curiosity would have got the best of him. And they'd have been tempted, very much tempted and possibly would have done, left the sheep there and gone to sneak up there and see what's going on. Want to be a part of this excitement, but not David. He has a charge to keep. And he keeps it. He keeps it faithfully. Doesn't matter if he misses out on the excitement. Doesn't matter if at the end of the day he's the most unnoticed person in the whole town. It didn't end up that way, but that's David. A shepherd's life was a life of getting up day after day after day and getting up early and taking the flocks out. Often the flocks belonged to someone else. It wasn't even as if you were taking out your own sheep. You were taking care of someone else's sheep. And seasons brought changes. Maybe in the spring they could graze their sheep real close to the village, real close to home. But once the crops were planted in the fields, they had to take them out to the wilderness. And this wasn't even the wilderness like we would look at, where there's all kinds of green. This barren land, if you look at it from a desert, they would take them far out there into the hills and the mountains to find forage for their sheep. And then maybe in the fall, after the fields are harvested, they could bring them back into the fields and graze the stubble. They endured the heat of the summer. They endured the frost of the winter. They endured day after day of being out there all by themselves. Lonely hours. Those were all just common things to a shepherd's life. A shepherd always had to be watchful. There were always things, there could always be a chance of some predator lurking around looking for a sheep. They always had to be watchful and at the same time, they always had quite a bit of idle time. It wasn't like they were always active. And yet they couldn't just lay down and sleep all afternoon. Or fiddle their time away being distracted. You know, most people, especially young people, I don't know about mostly young people, most people when they have a lot of idle time on their hands, they get into mischief. They don't know what to do with not being active, not being in something all the time. And they get into bad things. They start entertaining bad thoughts. And they get into, idle time is the devil's workshop, is a common saying. And it just is so true and yet it doesn't have to be that way. Not for David. What I think David was about when he was out there on the hills all these day after day, all by himself. I think, I have this impression mostly based on the Psalms that he wrote. He wrote most of the Psalms. Maybe not necessarily all while he was a shepherd, but he did write some while he was a shepherd. But even just the impression of the man, David, that I get is that he observed nature. He worshipped the Creator. He wrote poetry. He played music. He was a man of much meditation. His Psalms express it over and over. In the 143rd Psalm he says, I remember the days of old. I meditate on all your works. I amuse on the works of your hands. There is something valuable, even priceless, about being able to learn the laws of God. From history, from nature, and from creation. There is something just really, really valuable. When someone can just patiently observe and learn the ways of God. I have nothing against schooling. I have nothing against education systems. I have nothing against textbooks. I am not even altogether against colleges. All these things can have an appropriate place. But there is just something about when somebody can be educated by their daily tasks. And just by careful and patient observation, can learn the lessons in life. And learn the laws of God. And the things about the ways that are right and wrong. That puts such a person far ahead of the textbook scholars. Sometimes, now and then, one of my children will express something that they learned. And they didn't learn it because I told them. They didn't read it. They didn't watch it on a YouTube. They just observed it by the consequences of something natural. And it warms my heart. It's special to me if they can learn something like that. And I just, I guess I want to challenge us all. Myself first, and us all. What do we do with idle time? What do we do when the work is over and we sit down for a little bit? Between, like, just take notice of what it is. Whenever you have these moments. Whether it be the half minute you sit at the traffic light waiting to go. Or the half hour you take a lunch break. Or whatever. What is it that we automatically tend to do? And this is what I want to challenge us with. If our automatic tendency is to pull out our smart devices and be connected with everything that's going on across the world. Like, really, really, we're in a, in the ages of, in the time of, that humanity has been here. Like, we're in this, the fact that we can even do that. We're in this wee little span of time. Maybe it's the time in which the scriptures say that knowledge is increased. But it is certainly at the expense of, of, of meditation. Of, of being able to just patiently observe and to learn in a, in a real way. I know I'm challenged by that. But, I think these are some of the things that God saw in David. That, that made him choose him over all the brothers that were bigger, stronger, older. Just by all appearances were more likely to be anointed as a king. And yet God saw, these were some of the things that God saw in, in David. I'll continue to read here in verse 14. But the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him. And Saul's servants said to him, Surely a distressing spirit from God is troubling you. Let our master now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is a skillful player of the harp. And it shall be that he will play it with his hands when the distressing spirit from God is upon you, and you shall be well. So Saul said to the servants, Provide me, provide me now a man who can play well and bring him to me. And one of the servants answered and said, Look, I have seen a son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in his speech, and a handsome person. And the Lord is with him. Here again we get, we get, we get some more description. I'm actually kind of amazed about this statement about him. Like, Jesse's still just, he's just this young man. Like, okay, in Israel you did not, according, if I understand the laws right, like you didn't, you didn't join the army under the age of 20. David has not yet joined the army. He's under 20, for sure, under 20. But, but still it describes him as skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war. It's, it's giving this description of him. But, but one thing that I, this is maybe one of the things that I, that I think make him, is one of the big things that make him a man after God's own heart. I feel like David was like the full range of, of what a God, what God wants a man to be. He was like, he was like able to express or, or have the, the, either the, either the perfect balance or the completeness of, of, of some of God's characteristics that, that sometimes seem to oppose each other. And what's so common for us is that we, that we major on one characteristic of God at the expense of another. Like, love and truth have to go together. And, and we can, we can so easily just major on love at the expense of truth. Or we can major on truth at the expense of love. Or, or mercy and judgment. Mercy and judgment have to go together. To, to be, to be full and complete, they have to go together. And we can major on mercy at the expense of judgment. Or, or, or major on judgment at the expense of mercy. And, and, and I think I see this, I'm really only going to touch on a very small portion of David's life. And maybe if time allowed it, we could go on through it. But, but if you look at other, if you look at his whole life, and I won't get to the end of his life, but like, he, he met this man one time, this man named Shimei, who just cursed him something awful. And, and, and that kind of thing would deserve punishment. It would deserve, you can't do that kind of thing to God's anointed person. It's, it's wrong. It would deserve death. And, and yet, and yet David says, let him curse it. We'll, we'll suffer this. Let's be merciful to him. Maybe God has a purpose in this. Don't, his men, David's men that were with him said, let's go take his head off. And David's like, no, no, don't do that. But, but, but David was not without the reality that such a thing is, is punished worthy. Like at the end of his life, he, he made recognition to Solomon. Look, there's still this man Shimei here. Watch him. I can't even quite remember what the end of all that was. But, but like he, he's recognizing that, I guess what I see there in David is that like, he was, he was able to suffer long without compromising on righteousness. In other words, I feel like he was, he was this man who could truly worship in spirit and truth. There are so many ways in life that, that there's, that we need this combination of two seemingly opposing forces. If we want to hit perfection, if we want to hit bullseye, it's almost like the two limbs of a bow. And they oppose each other. Like you've got, you've got a handle and you've got a limb going up this way and you've got a limb coming down this way. And your string is connected to both of them. And as you pull back, they oppose each other. If you only had the one, like, and you were, your arrow would fly way up. Or if you only had the other one, it would fly way down. But as they oppose each other, you can shoot an arrow straight. Those, in that way, love and truth and mercy and judgment, if we can, if we can have the perfect tension of both of them or balance or completeness, we can hit the mark. And I think, I think that is, I think I see that in David. And I think that's why he is called a man at the God's own heart. There's, I once listened to a message by Matthew Melioni, and he said this thing that fits right in here, where he said there's this, there's a propensity in men to, to control and to create order. Or to create order and therefore, and therefore we control, we, we, we want stability, we want predictability, we want order, we want to know what's happening. And, and so we, so we structure our lives with, with, with that, with that propensity to do those things. It's, it's that propensity that, that built this building here, right? Instead of just, instead of just throwing up a tent. It's that, it's that part in us that, that, that builds something and even controls the environment inside of it. Because, because we, we want that kind of order or structure in our life. But the problem with that is, and there's a problem, there's a problem that goes with order. And that, and that is that if you take it to its end, without having it, without having it balanced out with anything, it, it leads to tyranny. Okay? So, order begets security, security begets stringency, and stringency begets tyranny. It's the way it goes in life. Okay, so we might ask the question, well, why then, are we not all under some tyrannical regime? Why are we not all under that kind of a, under that kind of a control? And that is because there's another propensity that we have. It, it could be called creativity. There's something in us, there's something in us that wants to be creative. There's something in us, there's another force in us that impulses us to have new ideas, to think outside the box, to, to explore, to try new things. And, and from it, we get a lot of innovative ideas, and we get art, and we get music, but if you take that thing to its end, it creates chaos. And, and I would say something like, creativity begets disarray, disarray begets confusion, and confusion begets chaos. But with the, with the perfect balance or the perfect completeness of these two men, is where men seem to do the best. It's where we, it's where man thrives. It's where, it's, it's, it's the equal tension of those two that makes an arrow fly straight. I, I think I could say within the church, it is, it is the perfect balance of those two where, where, where we do the best spiritually. It's where, I think I dare say, the spirit can have its most effective workings within the church. I see in David this full range of these characteristics. He's skillful at playing, right? He's, he loves music, he's skillful at playing, and yet he's a man of war. He, he's bright-eyed and fair, fair-headed, and yet he's a mighty man of valor. He can pen the most inspiring poetry and do the most dull, monotonous work, like kicking his father's sheep. Okay, we'll go on to chapter 17, and here's, here's now, I'll just, this is all pretty familiar text to us, but maybe I'll, I'll start reading. Now the Philistines gathered their armies to the battle and were gathered to, at Soka, which belongs to Judah. They encamped between Soka, and Azekiah, and Azka, and Ephes, the men. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and they encamped in the valley of Elah, and grew up in the battle, grew up in battle array against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines named Goliath from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and his weight, and the weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of bronze. He had a bronze armor on his legs, and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his iron spearhead weighed 600 shekels, and a shield-bearer went before him. Then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel and said to them, Why have you come out to lie up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourself, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, you shall be our servants and serve us. And the Philistines said, I defy the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together. And when Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistines, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem, Judah, whose name was Jesse, and who had eight sons. And the man was old, advanced in years in the days of Saul. The three oldest sons of Jesse had gone to follow Saul to the battle. The names of the three sons who went to the battle were Eliab, the firstborn, next to him was Abinadab, and the third was Shammah. David was the youngest, and he and the three oldest followed Saul. But David occasionally went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. And the Philistines drew near and presented himself forty days, morning and evening. Then Jesse said to his son David, Take now for your brothers an ephah of this dry grain and these ten loaves, and run to your brothers at the camp, and carry these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousands, and see how your brothers fare, and bring back news of them. Now Saul and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. And so David rose early in the morning, left the sheep at the keeper, and took the things and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the camp, as the army was going out to fight and shouting for battle. For Israel and the Philistines had drawn up in battle array, army against army. And David left his supplies in the hand of the supply keeper, ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers. Then as he talked with them, there was the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, coming up from the armies of the Philistines. And he spoke according to the same words, so David heard them. And all of the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were dreadfully afraid. So the men of Israel said, Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel, and it shall be that the man who kills him, the king with great riches, will give him his daughter and will give his father's house exemption from taxes in Israel. Then David spoke to the man who stood by him, saying, What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? And the people answered in this manner, saying, So it shall be done for the man who kills him. Now Eliab, his oldest brother, heard when he spoke to the men, and Eliab's anger was aroused against David, and he said, Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle. And David said, What have I done now? Is there not a cause? Then he turned from him toward another and said the same thing, and these people answered him as the first ones did. Now when the words which David spoke were heard, they were reported to Saul, and he sent for him. And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with the Philistine. And Saul said to David, You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. But David said to Saul, Your servant used to keep his father's sheep, and when a lion and a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it and delivered the lamb from its mouth. And when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God. Moreover, David said, The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said to David, Go, and the Lord be with you. So Saul closed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head, and he closed him with a coat of mail. And David fastened his sword to his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them. So David took them off, and he took his staff and his hand, and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in his shepherd's bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine. So the Philistine came and began to draw near to David, and the man who bore the shield went before him. And when the Philistine looked at him about and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and good-looking. So the Philistine said to David, Am I a dog? Did you come to me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. Then David said to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword and with a spear and a javelin, in the name of the Lord of hosts and the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all the assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's, and not the Philistine's. So it was, when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. Then David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead and he fell on his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone and struck the Philistine and killed him. Now there was no sword in the hand of David, therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword, and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistine saw that their champion was dead, they fled. Now the men of Israel and Judah rose and shouted and pursued the Philistine as far as the entrance of the valley and at the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell along the road to Ekron. Then the children of Israel returned from chasing the Philistines and they plundered their tents and David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem. But he put the armor in his tent. And we'll just stop there. Okay, there are so many lessons we can get out of this. And I'm guessing I'll only be scratching the surface of what we can all get out of this story. There's a warfare between good and evil. You know, there's that passage in Revelation 17 about the war that was in heaven between Michael and his angels waging war against the dragon. You know, that old serpent that one named the devil and Satan. And they cast him out and he came down here on earth. And there was great rejoicing in heaven but it says, Woe to the inhabitants of the earth for he goes about and knows that he has a short time. Well, that's where we're at. We're here on the earth. And that old dragon, that old serpent named the devil and Satan, he's here. And he's waging a war. He's against God. God defeated him and he's against God. And he's against us because we're made in the image of God. And the more we try to conform ourselves to the image of God, the more he is against us. There are things that threaten us in our personal lives. There are things, there's things that prowl around instigated by this enemy, but they prowl around and they try to attack us as an individual, in our personal lives. Things like lust and greed and anger, jealousy, sexuality, gluttony, drunkenness. These kind of things that affect you as an individual and maybe to varying degrees from one to the other but of this list and the list is not extensive but of this list we all face these things. They're like, they're kind of like the lions and the bears. They're, you know, in the animal kingdom if there's any two animals that are described as like the enemy of man, it's the lion and the bear. And these are, these are the things that you face in the wilderness. These are the things that David faced when he was out there all by himself. Nobody was around and he faced these enemies. He was so diligent, if you read carefully how he described that, he was so diligent that he was like a sheep that he wasn't, he wasn't about to even let this enemy destroy anything in his father's household. This, if these bears and lions are these personal kind of sins he was diligent about it not harming anything that belonged to his father. And not only, not only when one of these things came and snagged one of the sheep and then when they turned on me I got him by the beard and I killed him. He took the battle to them. He didn't just, he wasn't just playing defense, he was playing offense. Most sports teams find out that the best defense is good offense. And I just think that that is how we need to face the enemy and his attacks. If our idea of dealing with the things that want to come against us is to retreat and to try to build us a strong enough fortress to hide in, one way or another he'll get inside there. The way to attack these things is to confront them, to go out and to deal with them. I think it's probably what Jesus meant when he said to Peter upon this rock will I build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Why will the gates of hell not prevail against the church? Because the church is storming it. It's David's faithfulness in dealing with the lions and the bears in his life. While he was all alone that prepared him, it was that needful preparation that he went through that made him ready to battle against a giant that was defying the armies of God. There's other kinds of attacks from this enemy that we have about us, this serpent, this devil called Satan. Other than just the ways he attacks us personally, he attacks the church. He attacks the assembly of people that are God's people. He attacks in ways that affect all of us. I feel like that's the kind of guy that he represents. These are sometimes cultural movements around us, like ecumenism, like feminism, like evolutionism, patriotism, these kind of things. And then there's probably a lot more like cultural movements that have a way of attacking God's ways. There's the giants of false teachings and lies and false accusations against the brethren. There's hierarchy structures and lawless chaos and all kinds of things. Max talked about this combat in the temple between these really religious people and the truth. These are kind of battles that face us at large in a way that affect all of us. Consider some of the things that attacked the seven churches in Revelation. There's formality, there's lukewarmness, there's Sardis had some kind of a spiritual death about them. Some of these things are the kind of things that creep in, a bit less a type of Goliath, but still these things are giants that defy God's people. And that's the kind of guy Goliath is. And what we see here play out is first of all we've got Saul who's the leader and he's afraid. He retreats. His faith, his courage, and his trust are gone. And here's just a very, very true reality is when the leaders are afraid it tends to discourage the whole flock. We can apply this in our homes, we can apply it in church, we can apply it wherever. Once the man who's supposed to take responsibility, once he loses his faith and his trust and becomes discouraged, it just nearly automatically makes everybody under him discouraged. And that was happening here. I think it's why God told, I think it's in the first or second chapter of Joshua, maybe in both chapters God told Joshua over and over and over again be of good courage. Do not be afraid. He had this assignment of conquering Israel and he knew, he knew that if Joshua got discouraged everybody's going to be discouraged. The Goliath is this man, there is some debate about his actual size. For instance, the Masoretic text and the Septuagint don't nearly say the same thing about his size. If the Masoretic text is right, and if a cubit, which is not an exact measurement, but if it's close, like he's a nine foot man, he's huge, his appearance would intimidate all of us, but regardless exactly what it is, he's huge, his weapons are huge, he really, his appearance and probably his voice as he boomed out these defying statements, all those things are very intimidating and all of Israel trembled about this. But David, when he came there, he heard those same words, he saw that same man, he saw those same weapons, but he also saw something else, in the same way that God saw in David where he said, I'm not looking at the outward appearance, I'm looking at the heart, like David was a man that also didn't just see outward appearance, he saw an uncircumcised Philistine who was not with God, who was not right with God, who was in the eyes of God a very, very conquerable enemy and he saw that too, he was able to see that. And then, so he comes in and he has this fresh perspective, he's not been affected by everybody's fear and he says, who is this man? Come on, he's an uncircumcised Philistine defying the armies of God, I'll go up against him. And then here's what happens, and this is exactly what happened with his brothers, when someone demonstrates faith, there's often somebody who lacks faith and this often young person's faith is a rebuke to this lack of faith, it exposes somebody's unbelief and if this person, which is so often the case, they're more concerned about their own honour than they are about the honour of God, they're more concerned about their own reputation than whether God gets glorified and when they see that, jealousy sets in and they start thinking of ways to accuse him, who are you? That's just what his brother said, what are you here for? And he started giving these accusations, what did you do with the sheep in the wilderness? If that accusation was accurate, if the thing that David's brother said was accurate, If David would have just left the sheep in the wilderness and come out here, it would have been a legitimate accusation. Somebody should have said, David, you need to go take care of the little things in your life first. But David had that all taken care of. It says he left the sheep with the keeper. And then he came and he left the supplies with the supply keeper. And then he came into the valley. These little things in David's life are taken care of. That's the kind of man he is. He carefully takes care of these things. And therefore, the blame is on his brothers who are jealous, whose unbelief is exposed. And he says, is there not a cause? He was doing what his father told him. There's plenty of people who would like to do great things. They would like to be there in the arena. When they could be in the spotlight and get recognition, they would like to do great things. But not so careful, not so minded to take care of the dirty little jobs, the unnoticed little things. If we could think of Naaman, who would have been quite happy to receive Elisha's gift. If there could have been a big ado, hey, we've got Naaman here, we're going to have a big healing thing here. Come on, look at this. And he would have been so happy with that. But if it meant... I mean, Elisha didn't even come out of his house. He just sent his servant and said, go tell him to walk into Jordan. That was too much. For all he was expecting, that was a pretty big blow. And he just couldn't do it until someone brought him to his senses. Or think about, what's that guy's name in Acts? Maybe Simon, or the guy who wanted that power? He watched the disciples go and lay hands on people. And the people got healed, and people started speaking in tongues, and miraculous things started to happen. And this man was like, wow, I wish I could do that. And so he said, hey, I'll give you some money, give me that power. I want to be able to have this honor, this thing where people will also be like, wow, look at him. And Peter just said, trust in you with your money. But you think the gift of God can be purchased with money. This is not David. Not David at all. David is not looking for position. He is not looking for honor. He identified... Take me right on that. He's not looking for the honor of men. He is concerned about the honor of God. He is concerned about when his name gets defied. He can identify this enemy. So, they brought him to Saul. The word was going around, hey, we got a young guy here willing to fight. And the word came to Saul, and Saul said, fetch him. And they brought him to Saul, and Saul looked at him. And he was like, what? You are but a youth. I still think at this point he was maybe somewhere between 15 and 20, but he was still not 20. He was still not in the army. He was this young man. A lot of people looked at him and said he was good looking, fair-headed. I think he still looked like an innocent person. Kind of like a youth who is still just fresh and bright-eyed. And Saul looked at him and said, this man has been a man of war from his youth. And then David told him about how he took care of the lion, how he took care of the bear. And this is an uncircumcised Philistine. He is going to be like one of those. And Saul said, okay, go. And Saul takes off his armor and puts it on David. And David tries to walk. This is a breastplate, a helmet, I don't know what all. Maybe a shield and a spear. And David tries to walk, and he is like, I can't walk like this. I have not tested them. It says in King James, I have not proved them. This is out of my experience. I can't go like this. And I think we can learn a lot from that. We will never defeat the enemies that come against us by putting on another man's suit. We will never learn enough what other men tell us to say to be able to then say that to defeat the enemy. It will not work to just memorize the textbooks that we have studied in and think, okay, when we come up against the enemy, that's what we'll say. Those things just don't work. It's not saying that the men who said these things, said good things, that they were wrong. It's just that this is not your battle. This is not how you can fight. You have got to recognize the enemy, recognize what you're familiar with, what the weapons are that you can handle. It's also not that there was something wrong with Saul's armor. Like later, David went to battle and he wore these things. The point here is not never put on a helmet and armor to go fight the enemy. That's not the point. Later in life, he went to battle like that. I don't know, but I have an idea that perhaps David had already analyzed this thing and thought, okay. It is very true that there's no one in the army of Israel that can handle this guy in hand-to-hand combat. This guy is what? Probably three, four times the weight of any of us. His spear, three, four times the length. It's very possible that that may not be possible, but he saw a way. And he was willing to take that way. And it was a way that he was familiar with. He just took his trusty sling and he picked out five stones, something he was very familiar with. In faith, in good confidence of the Lord, in complete trust that this guy is an enemy. And there is a God in Israel who is against him. He just goes out and he defeats this enemy. I really like that thing that he said about when they tried to put this armor on him. He said, I have not proved these things. And I asked us, all the things that man has set up that is supposed to help us be better Christians, all the programs, all the seminaries, all the things that you can go through that's supposed to help everything from the youth to the addict, to the guys with post-traumatic stress disorder and all these things, fancy names that they give these things, all the programs and stuff that are set up for those people. What have they proved? Have they produced godly men who can defeat the lions and bears in their own life? Have they proved that they are effective in that? For the most part, no. And so, he gets his staff, and he gets his stones, and he gets his shepherd's clothes, and he starts down this valley. Remember, Israel is here on one ridge, and this valley, and the Philistines are up on this ridge. It's like this is an arena, right? We've got people on the bleachers, we've got the arena down here. And David starts heading to it. No one else in Israel was daring to step down in there. Where are we? Are we satisfied being fans? Are we satisfied sitting on the bleachers, or are we willing to get down there? Are we willing to put our life on the line? David did. The man after God's own heart is willing to do that. And he goes down in there. I can only imagine the intensity of this moment, as every spectator has his eyes on this thing. And he draws an eye to Saul, and Saul looks this guy over, and he disdains him. He's, what's his name? Goliath. Goliath, sorry, yep, Goliath. And he calls him, he says, what am I, a dog? Did you come to me with sticks? And he says, I come to you in the name of God. And you have defied the armies of the living God, and I will take your life. And the odds were all stacked against David. He takes this weapon that he's familiar with, and he slays this enemy. And you notice what happens next, as soon as he's slung that stone. And by the way, these slings that we, this is not a child's slingshot toy. Like, this really is a weapon of war. This is something that they could swirl at extremely high speeds and hit with extreme accuracy, and stones that really had a lot of punch when they hit. It wasn't something normally just used to knock out a few sparrows and rats here and there. This was a weapon that was proved. It was a weapon that was proved. Many a battle in Israel was won by slingers. And David went out there like that. And notice what happens. As soon as he is slung, and he has hit the giant in the forehead, and the giant collapses on his face, what happens with the rest of the enemy? They flee. They're gone. And I just want us to think about how the difference between facing, this was their champion, this was where they had, where they rested their hope in, and if you get that thing, the lesser enemies will flee. So imagine the difference in the outcome of this battle, if David or the Israelites would have thought, you know, let's not deal with that guy. He's too strong. But let's kind of try to come around the back and pick off a few here and there. It would have been a totally different outcome. And just again, like David is one of these men who, he'll face it. He'll face the enemy. He's willing to take the battle right to the source of the problem and deal with it. And the rest of the enemies flee. So, I'll try to close things here. David accomplished great things. But not because he was looking for a position to accomplish great things. He accomplished great things because he faithfully took care of the little things that were right in front of him. He faced his enemies. He took the fight to them. He did not flee. He put them to flight. He was able to identify that this enemy, that his appearance looks so terrifying, is not so bad that you think. You know that song we just sang has that one verse that says something like, At the end, when we look upon our ancient enemies, saying, Is this who made the world to tremble? I think the idea comes maybe out of the Pilgrim's Progress, where when you look back, once you see that these giants were all just fluffed and created terror that was very comparable. What do you think happened when David carried the head of the Philistine into Jerusalem and people were like, Is this the one who made us tremble? Very defeatable if we are a man after God's own heart. We have the lions and the bears in our lives. When we are all alone, we must deal with them or we will never be ready to face the giants that defy the armies. We have these valleys of Elah in our own lives. Just like we can have this city of Zion like we talked about last week in our lives. Just like that heavenly Zion that Jerusalem can be a reality in our midst, so are these valleys of Elah that take intense faith and battling. Let me close with Hebrews chapter 12. I'll start reading in verse 12. Therefore, remember what I talked about, within the characteristics of God there is often these two elements that are somewhat opposing forces and yet they have to go together. They have to work together if we are going to hit the mark, if we are going to shoot a straight arrow, if we are going to walk a straight path. They have to go together. In light of that, think about what he says here. Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down in the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be dislocated but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all men and holiness without which no one will see God. So he's giving this impression about walking and healing that thing which is lame. If we have a lame leg and we favor one leg, it's not as easy to walk a straight path. We would be inclined to walk a crooked path. Or if our one hand or one arm or shoulder is crippled, it's harder to do something that is needed to do with both arms because we're lame. And I think in light of that, like he says, pursue peace and holiness. We can be so concerned about trying to be at peace with everybody and we reject holiness. Or we can be so staunch on holiness that soon there's nobody we're at peace with. He says pursue peace and holiness like two legs working together or two arms working together. And to heal that which, to strengthen that which is lame. Going on in verse 14 he says, looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble and by this many become defiled. Lest there be any fornicators or profane persons like Esau who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterwards when he wanted to inherit a blessing he was rejected and he found no place for repentance though he sought it diligently with tears. For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire and that the blackness and darkness and tempest and the sound of the trumpet and the voice of words so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore for they could not endure what was commanded. And if so much as a beast touched the mountain it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow. And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said I am exceedingly afraid and trembling. But you have come to mountains. And the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable company of angels to the general assembly and church of the first born who are registered in heaven to God the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of the sprinkling the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. See that you do not refuse him who speaks. For if they do not escape who refused him who spoke on earth much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him who speaks in heaven whose voice then shook the earth. But now he has promised saying yet once more I shake not only earth but also heaven. Now this yet once more indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken as of things that are made that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire. The prophet Isaiah says those who guard the truth and walk in peace will enter the gate. May the Lord add his blessings and I'll open it up for any comments and corrections and don't I know there's so much more we could talk about concerning the man after God's own heart feel free to add those ideas. Amen brother Dwayne. I think you could have a little more enthusiasm in this thing. Get more enthusiastic in this stuff. You brought to life a thrilling story no matter how old we are we can hear more of it. David and Goliath it's thrilling. Daniel in the lion's den. It's something that God has given us through his word. Appreciate how you bring it to life brother like you were there. It's a thrilling story. As a shepherd boy I guess we did look up at the stars at night and I get a thrill of it every night. I did this morning. The heavens declared the glory of God. By the hand of the word of the Lord the heavens were made and on the sound. Of course the Lord is my shepherd. Who should I fear? What can man do to me? Psalm 27 the Lord is my light. Who shall I fear? I work with a young man at Domino's Adrian a good friend of mine. He was the heavyweight state champ for wrestling in the state of Missouri. And he's very humble. And he asked me one time did you ever hear of Dan Gable? And he was a wrestler from Iowa and he would be older than me. And I said oh yeah I heard of him. He said he used to get an apple in his hand and before the match he could squish the apple and he was a light thing. Kind of a psychological edge when you see someone squish an apple. But he could squish an apple and he had almost an undefeated record. And of course the young people at work they talk about you don't play anymore but Shaquille O'Neal was just a giant of a man and strong. But this guy Goliath 8 or 9 feet tall a warrior from his youth out. And when David said that his brother Dwayne brought out you know is there a cause? Who is this guy? They probably said hush keep it down Goliath you may hear you. And he got more motivated and it wasn't jive or trash talk. He just as soon as they exchanged words his brother Dwayne he ran out. He ran out. I mean what kind of courage is that? Well I guess he already fought a lion and a bear. But anyway and in that song that we sang the church of God triumphed. I thought you were going to mention the other one Dwayne about the gates of hell should not prevail. And that gates of hell we take it I think it's taken out of context. We put it the gates of hell should not prevail. It's like the church is on the defense. No the gates of Hades is on the defense and they're not going to prevail. The church of God is on its march. Satan is a roaring lion. Satan is compared to a roaring lion. And how do we combat that? Put on the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. And so when we have thoughts at night we can't sleep. When you get older you have thoughts and you can't sleep. Quote verses over and over again in your mind. And you'll have that peace that passes understanding and that's put into action. The Lord be magnified. Yeah I appreciate that hearing what we heard. David's one of my favorite characters. And I was listening through the songs again this week. And one thing that stands out in all of these battles that David fought. He was a man of war. But no matter what the weapon was one thing that he did not forget was that it wasn't him that was doing it. Like he didn't go out there whether it was fighting Goliath or fighting the Philistines or somewhere. Whatever else the battle was thinking I'm the man I can do this. Like he kept in mind that the battle is the Lord's. And he's the one that's going to provide the victory because this or that or the other is against God. And I'll be the instrument. Here I am. But it's not me. It's not my bow. It's not my shield. It's not my sling. It's not my strength. But I'm just a player in it. Yeah I want to give a hearty amen to it. I really appreciate the way it came together for you there brother. And in the comments I like those too. I looked up a verse that's been going through my mind. 2 Timothy 2 verse 22 it says, I don't know for sure. I think it came to my mind mostly because I mean if we look at David's life like I see a lot of evangelicals do. They get this idea that it gives them some kind of license to be the man to determine the war. The man to determine how to fight. And then just in a regular way go and fight it. David had admitted that the Lord is going to fight this thing and it won't be spears and swords that win the battle. And so I just think, I guess I call myself youthful and just be like well we need to remember that we need to flee youthful lusts. And David did this. It's not like this is contradicted to David's life. Like he fled youthful lusts. It was all pointed out really well how he did this. And we can't think that somehow this scripture is saying something different than what David's life was. And those things were pointed out but still if we now want to come to the New Testament and see well how does this work out. If we now look at our own lives and see how do we flee youthful lusts. I think David is still the example. He's still the example of doing the little important things so that he can be trusted in the greater things. And being trustworthy in the least and then God can trust him with actually the great things. You know the things that really matter. And so this is the thought I had. I appreciate everything. I just wanted to add that. Thank you. Yeah thanks Brother Duane. I appreciate that. I appreciate your thought about that in David kind of lies a whole range of. I don't know how you put it if it was like emotion or attitude or maybe just the way that he carries himself. Able to the idea that David was able to pass idle time in a profitable way that wasn't silly. And yet also be creative and write things like psalms and that he kind of had that right balance of tension. Or even furthermore the right balance of tension of what it takes to like hit the mark. To be given the title a man after God's own heart. And it made me think about earlier this week when we were having the fellowship meal. And we were talking about Abraham and how he's kind of a popular subject for criticism. And then somebody chimed in that. Yeah. And you know David kind of falls in there too. And certainly there were a lot of things that David did wrong. But when you look at it from the perspective of having the proper tension. He was always ready to repent and address the wrong in the right way. And if Jesus was the perfect man who lived a sinless life. And that's he's our captain and he's who we're striving to be. We have a lot to glean from since the scripture is pretty clear that we all have sinned. And we all are capable of wrong. Then we ought to have an attitude like David of being able to own it and to repent of it and turn away from it. Amen. He's a liar. He's a liar. No whisper is fair. He's a liar and lesser no prayer. He's. He's. He's. He's. He's. He's. He's. He's. He's. Yeah. Confidence of the innocent body Be silent, be silent, His grace be record Behold, what manner of man is this! He stands between God and man His eyes are as a flame of fire, His head is in His hand John saw him in a southern church, Just as a son, you brilliant see Behold, what manner of man is this! What manner of man is He! He's the Lord of Glory, He is the Great I Am He's the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End His name is wonderful, the Prince of Peace is He The Everlasting Father throughout Eternity Behold, what manner of man is this! His sins are countenance before He rules and reigns from heaven above, His children and His own He's the life and the life of Judah, the Son of David's King Behold, what manner of man is this! What manner of man is He! He's the Lord of Glory, He is the Great I Am He's the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End His name is wonderful, the Prince of Peace is He The Everlasting Father throughout Eternity Behold, what manner of man is this! His faith to the woman and the well Everlasting life out into the earth, His man can tell And whosoever shall drink of His well, shall live eternally Behold, what manner of man is this! What manner of man is He! He's the Lord of Glory, He is the Great I Am He's the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End His name is wonderful, the Prince of Peace is He The Everlasting Father throughout Eternity Behold, what manner of man is this! His faith to the woman and the well He's baptized into Heaven, He will not pass out and walk He stands on high, He's made pure, He's the life and the life of Jesus Behold, what manner of man is this! What manner of man is He! He's the Lord of Glory, He is the Great I Am He's the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End His name is wonderful, the Prince of Peace is He The Everlasting Father throughout Eternity The Church of God still marches for Triumph The Death of the Man, the Christ, the King of Kings The gates of Hell shall not prevail against Him Till the victors from the last great soldiers sing Her loyal subjects never fear her outcome As she is, will we faithful be Meers are the foes that plunder Satan's kingdom Spreading the field as far as I can see Worn by the fight, her languid steps march slower As she beholds her fallen comrades drowned Battle to battle, valiant numbers lower Shame and disgrace and lawlessness abound Then the Son of Glory turns His eyes to them Gaining anew the sight of God on high Misery's stormy beckons to His brethren Fight valiantly for victory is near Fellow as strong will do our God assemble Then look upon our ancient enemies Asking His heads to make the earth to tremble As shouts of triumph sound the victory The Church of God still marches forth triumphant At the covenant, the Christ, the King of Kings The gates of Hell shall not prevail against Him Till the victors' song the last great soldiers sing