Samuel No.14 Commendable Humility

The Lord has rejected Saul from the monarchy, everything he does seems to be an absolute failure whilst David is increasingly prospering. 1 Samuel chapter 18, after David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David and he loved him as himself. From that day, Saul kept David with him and did not let him return to his father's house.

And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic and even his sword, his bow, and his belt. Whatever Saul sent him to do, David did it successfully and Saul gave him a high rank in the army.

This pleased all the people and Saul's officers as well. When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing with joyful songs and with tambourines and lutes. As they danced, they sang, Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands.

Saul was very angry. This refrain galled him. They have credited David with tens of thousands, he thought, but me with only thousands.

What more can he get but the kingdom? And from that time on, Saul kept a jealous eye on David. The next day, an evil spirit from God came forcefully upon Saul. He was prophesying in his house while David was playing the harp, as he usually did.

Saul had a spear in his hand and he hurled it, saying to himself, I'll pin David to the wall. But David eluded him twice. Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with David, but had left Saul.

So he sent David away from him and gave him command over a thousand men. And David led the troops in their campaigns. In everything he did, he had great success because the Lord was with him.

When Saul saw how successful he was, he was afraid of him. But all Israel and Judah loved David because he led them in their campaigns. Saul said to David, here is my elder daughter Merab.

I will give her to you in marriage. Only serve me bravely and fight the battles of the Lord. For Saul said to himself, I will not raise a hand against him.

Let the Philistines do it. But David said to Saul, who am I? And what is my family or my father's clan in Israel? That I should become the king's son-in-law. So when the time came for Merab, Saul's daughter, to be given to David, she was given in marriage to Adriel of Mechola.

Now, Saul's daughter Michal was in love with David. And when they told Saul about it, he was pleased. I will give her to him, he thought, so that she may be a snare to him.

And so that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. So Saul said to David, now you have a second opportunity to become my son-in-law. Then Saul ordered his attendants, speak to David privately and say, look, the king is pleased with you and his attendants all like you.

Now, become his son-in-law. They repeated these words to David. But David said, do you think it is a small matter to become the king's son-in-law? I am only a poor man and little known.

When Saul's servants told him what David had said, Saul replied, say to David, the king wants no other price for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins to take revenge on his enemies. Saul's plan was to have David fall by the hands of the Philistines. When the attendants told David these things, he was pleased to become the king's son-in-law.

So therefore he, before the allotted time elapsed, David and his men went out and killed 200 Philistines. He brought their foreskins and presented the full number to the king so that he might become the king's son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.

When Saul realized that the Lord was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David, Saul became still more afraid of him and he remained his enemy for the rest of his days. The Philistine commanders continued to go out to battle and as often as they did, David met with more success than the rest of Saul's officers and his name became well known. May God be pleased to add his blessing to that reading from his holy word.

Meekness and majesty, manhood and deity, imperfect harmony, the man who is God, Lord of eternity, dwells in humanity, kneels in humility and washes our feet. O words of mystery, meekness and majesty, bow down and worship, for this is your God. Innocence, innocence, obedience, to death or life, conquering through sacrifice, and lastly, praising by praise, Father, forgive.

O words of mystery, meekness and majesty, this is your God. This is your God. God, the aim is destructible.

You can certainly lift our humanity to the heights of mystery. Majesty, this is your God. Let's turn to Samuel in chapter 18, which Andrew Bryant read so clearly to us a few moments ago.

Last week I was addressing you on the logic of David and I did so by drawing your attention to the 37th verse of the previous chapter. The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. And I suggested that that logical statement there was one that you ought to impound as far as its meaning is concerned.

You need to seize it. You need to buckle it around your waist and live by it as you're confronted with difficulties, as you're confronted with challenges, as before you come all the unknowns. The God who helped me in the past and delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me in the future.

But now I want to take you on into this 18th chapter and once more we focus in on a very strong characteristic which is dominant in the personality of David and I refer to his humility. And I'm so impressed by the sheer self-effacing personality of David that I'd be more precise in addressing this particular sermon in enticing it commendable humility because it seems to me that this which David illustrates in the 18th chapter is something that you and I also like his logic need to impound need to absorb need to live by. Twice it comes through in this chapter the self-effacing of David look at the pardon the marks of getting old look at the 18th verse for a moment but Paul's anyone who laughs gets excommunicated I have a job with these numbers I thought it was the print of the NIV the optician has cruelly told me it's got nothing to do with the print of the NIV it has other factors in mind verse 18 David said to Saul who am I and what is my family or my father's clan in Israel that I should become the king's son-in-law and again the 23rd do you think it is a small matter to become the king's son-in-law I am only a poor man and little known of all the virtues that are possible within the personality of a God-fearing man humility is the prime it was pride that marked the exit door from paradise and it's humility that pinpoints the re-entry I said a little while ago when preaching from 1 Samuel that there is a sense in which you can catch the eye of God and it seems to me that when Samuel or rather when God looks down upon David the thing that attracts him to this remarkable man is his sheer honest-to-goodness self-effacing humility it's not a mock thing it's not a sort of uriah heap cosmetic development of something that is not really valid an outflowing of the real person wherever you see David and you'll see many a flaw as we go through his life there is one thing that will always remain dominant deep seated within his personality and it's his humility and humility I argue catches the eye of God because it reproduces something of the nature of his son and the reason why you and I need if it is possible to develop such an attribute as this the reason why we need to give attention to it is because if we have a grain of sense then we want to catch the eye of God now our Lord Jesus is famous for his great condescending love the apostle makes it very clear as he writes to the Corinthians in the second epistle he tells us of the great virtue of our Lord Jesus that outstanding characteristic chapter 8 verse 9 for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor so that you through his poverty might become rich the humility of Christ it comes through even further in the epistle that Paul writes to the Philippians when in the second chapter and in the fifth verse he says this your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made himself nothing taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross you see the apostle he's talking to you about the sterling characteristic of Jesus Christ the thing that is dominant above every aspect of his personality and he says it's his humility aye he says he's obedient obedient to death and even death by crucifixion now as a result of that humility what happened to Jesus well he's raised he's raised from the depths of Calvary he's lifted to the throne room he's given a name that is above every name and that compels a great preacher of yesteryear Campbell Morgan to say this that the way to the throne is always downstairs the way to the throne is always downstairs now you see my excursion into the personality of our Lord Jesus is utterly necessary for you to understand why it is that David is referred to as a man after God's own heart because there is something about David which reminds the father about his son and when David says do you think it is a small matter to become the king's son-in-law I am only a poor man and little known he is revealing there the modesty of his character now I must go into the context just a little further and then take you to another verse in the New Testament which will help us to prise open the whole challenge of humility today you see the context is briefly sketched out in convenient fashion David is in front of Saul Saul is the king David has won a great victory on behalf of Israel when he felled Goliath Saul has been somewhat slow in delivering to David his promises that the man who rid Israel of its great enemy would receive the hand in marriage of his daughter but here are possibilities that this belated promise might now be realised to David and so he's contemplating entering into the family circle of the king and when he comes to that particular point he hovers on the brink and again it's no false modesty that David is exhibiting here in that 18th verse who am I and what is my family or my father's plan in Israel that I should become the king's son-in-law verse 23 do you think it's a small matter to become the king's son-in-law I'm only a poor man and little known now my friend hold it for a moment in your mind and let me put this challenge to you how do you describe yourself spiritually speaking I mean what is the nature of the position that you find yourself in this morning let's go to John's epistle the first epistle of John and the third chapter and the first verse 1 John chapter 3 and verse 1 how great is the love the father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God and that is what we are the reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him dear friends now are we children of God the authorised version is much more beautiful behold what manner of love the father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God have you got that in your mind do you appreciate the amazing privilege that is yours you are called a son of God a daughter a son of God now take that statement from 1 John 3 1 back to 1 Samuel 18 do you think it is a small matter to become the king's son in law I'm only a poor man I'm little known you see as far as David was concerned there were certain considerations that threatened the humility that was his there may be certain factors in your life that have caused you to lose the humility that once was yours when you became a child of God you see if I am right in saying and I don't think you can argue against this that humility is the chiefest of virtues then the devil wants to stifle you from ever exhibiting that virtue at least in any degree you are a son of God a daughter of God does that thought ever blow your mind here I am not just an ordinary person in the congregation this morning I am a son I am a daughter of God but that's an amazing thing to say isn't it that's why I got Betty to lead off in our first hymn amazing grace how sweet the sound that saves a wretch like me you see Wesley he never fell foul in this whole area of humility he recognized that what he was by God's grace had delivered him from what he naturally was I said Wesley I mean John Newton and naturally speaking you're not a son of God naturally speaking you're not a daughter of God and the amazing thing in the love of the Lord is that he's directed towards you his grace so that you from the obscurity of the life into which you were born have been brought into such a relationship with the Heavenly Father that you are addressed as his children now do you think that's a small matter are there any considerations that threaten you maintaining the humility that once you knew when you became a child of God well there were certain threats upon David's humility which you can work out in this chapter there was the threat of what I've called a deep and satisfying relationship in the opening verses you see he's brought into contact with at least we are given a further introduction into the emerging fellowship of David the shepherd boy with Jonathan the son of Saul and the love of the latter for the shepherd boy is such that Jonathan divests himself the fore of his robe and gives it to David along with his tunic and even his sword his bow and his belt so here is this obscure fellow who's in from the countryside and he has set up as a result of the esteem that Jonathan has him in there is being set up a relationship which is deep and satisfying now will that relationship in any way topple David as far as his humility is concerned who's the greatest person that you know in England or that you'd like to know Mrs. Thatcher the Queen Mr. Kinnock just to balance my first suggestion let's be a little bit more realistic a little bit more serious is there a relationship into which you find yourself involved which takes a prime position over your affections than that which you would give to God because Jesus said that if a man esteemed his father or his mother or his brother more than he esteemed himself he is not fit for the kingdom David is pressurized as far as his natural humility is concerned by almost overnight becoming the bosom pal of the second most important man in the land the son of Saul what's more his humility is threatened by these stupid women who greet him when he's returned from his conquest look at the 7th verse as they danced they sang Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands both David and Saul were great warriors and these Hebrew ladies they were wanting to make an impression upon David they didn't have the same spirituality as Miriam who led you remember some centuries before this who led the Hebrew maidens in dancing and worship before the Lord because the savior of the Hebrews at that point Moses Miriam's brother had been used by the Lord to open the sea and they'd gone through but when Miriam leads worship and praise at that point she offers glory to the God of Israel who has done all these things who has delivered the Hebrews from the power of Egypt but here you see these silly women are personalizing this they're saying well Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands now remember David is just a young man and he's got all these women chasing him you see what I mean by threat threat to his humility I'm really being quite serious you see I see within the adulation that these women offered which should have been directed to the Lord I see nothing more than Satan coming along again and trying to stifle David of that most precious commodity which caught the eye of God his humility considerations that threaten it a deep and satisfying relationship accepting a proffered but dangerous glory and then here's another example reacting to undeserved treatment here's David with Saul, Saul is a megalomaniac he's a man who's very very depressive you can't trust a man like Saul although he is the king and you find in the tenth verse brought out more forcefully in the authorized version that at one point as David has a hand in his harp so Saul has a spear in his hand David has a harp in his hand did I get the wrong way around? and Saul has a spear in his hand and Saul takes a spear and he tries to pin David to the wall now how does David respond in the treacherous company of a man like Saul well it would be easy wouldn't it for David to feel vindictive towards Saul, for David to lose every sense of being a self effacing humble man and returning to Saul the currency which Saul directed towards David now what happens when the devil comes in your life and he so arranges circumstances that you're in a pressurized condition just like the javelin about to be thrown at you how do you react when people are not dealing with you in the way that you think they ought to deal with you, you give them a bit of your mind or do you do what David does discreetly gets out of the way until Saul is in a better state and when Saul is just sick but not about to kill him use your hand in calming Saul from the mental depression which grips him you see the devil has many ways in which to try to rob us of the humility which is as I say an outstanding characteristic and catches the attention of God he'll offer you a kingdom as he offered it to the Lord Jesus he'll bring to you the praises of the people as he brought the praises of the women folk to David anything to stop you having that characteristic that reminds the father of the son the conditions, the considerations that threatened David's humility do you think it's a small matter to become the king's son-in-law I'm only a poor man and little known let's think through further, the conditions that sustained David's humility, the convictions that sustained it you see what David never did was this, he never forgot that the honor of being king in Israel was an honor that is traceable right back to God himself, in other words it was God who set up the appointment that's why when David is writing or when it's written of David in 1 Chronicles chapter 16 they rehearse his words in the 22nd verse, do not touch my anointed ones, do my prophets no harm, David never failed to appreciate that though the man who was on the throne of Israel had in many senses forfeited every right to act as monarch, nonetheless the position was there by the decree of God and David appreciates the enormous honor that there is of in any sense being directed to God through the monarchy of Israel, now my friend let's interpret that in terms of your position before the Lord now do you realize what a sublime privilege it is to be a Christian do you realize that the greatest honor that there is in your life is that which makes you a son or a daughter of the living God brothers, now are we the sons of God behold what manner of love the Father has declared upon us you see it's a very personal thing that isn't it, those early Christians they never forgot the privileged position that was theirs they never in any way cheapened the fact that they by the grace of God had been lifted into such a position that they might be called the children of God the convictions that sustained David's humility, he never forgot the honor of the office and what's more he never forgot who he was do you think it's a small matter to become the king's son-in-law, I am only a poor man and little known do you remember how Paul expresses it when he's writing one of his final letters to a friend of his I am less than the least of all the saints do you forget that my friend do you remember the pit from which you were, the rock from which you were hewn, the pit from which you were lifted the burning from which you were plucked it's a terrible thing when a Christian forgets what he was before the grace of God was operative in his life David was just a poor man just a shepherd boy on the undulating slopes around Bethlehem with nothing really going for him as far as he was concerned a fellow looking after his father's sheep, strumming his harp singing his songs forced into isolation not that he minded that but there was nothing really going for David far from him ever to think that he might be catapulted to the forefront of history and become one of the greatest men of the ancient world you think it's a small matter, says David to become the king's son-in-law I'm only a poor man and little known and you know my dear friends later on in his life, when he's king and when God has done a lot for him, even then with all the authority that's in the control of David you see him saying more or less the same thing in 1 Chronicles chapter 17 and verse 10, then King David went in and sat before the Lord and he said, who am I Lord, who am I O Lord God and what is my family that you have brought me thus far he never forgot whose he was and from where he had been taken it has been said this that he who would be knighted must first kneel when they give you your knighthood at Buckingham Palace to get it you'll kneel before the queen and the man the woman whom God seeks out to be his special acquaintances and all the choice friends of God were invariably humble people, they knelt before his majesty and they always kneel because they recognize from where they came and to where they have been brought it is with men, as it is as a Puritan preacher, as it is with wheat the light head are erect even in the presence of omnipotence but the full head bows down in reverence before him the humility of David we've looked first of all at the considerations that threatened it at the convictions that sustained it and now let's just spend a few moments on the lessons that stem from it another Puritan preacher says this, if you were closed only in your humility, would you this morning be well dressed or scantily clad, let's take another run at that one, if you were closed only in your humility would you be well dressed or scantily clad are you a humble person by nature do you think it's a small matter that you're a child of God no you say I realize that the amazing grace of God was encapsuled in Jesus Christ and his death on the cross and apart from that blood that flowed from the wounds of our saviour I would be nothing and as a result of this you appreciate that it was a colossal thing that God did to make you his son David you see is mesmerized at the possibility of becoming the king's son-in-law now quite frankly I wouldn't do a bundle on being part of the family circle of Saul I would quite happily pass that privilege by knowing what sort of father-in-law I got if I was marrying his daughter I'll stay with the father-in-law I've got he's a much nicer fellow actually but let's take this through into the new testament do you think it's a small matter not to become the Lord's son-in-law but the Lord's son in the gospel because that's what you and I are beloved as a result of what God has done for us in Christ we are made sons and daughters in the gospel of the heavenly father we never had a right to this Samuel came and took David by surprise as he anointed him just in the precincts of the family home and there was a day when Samuel in inverted commas came to us and the gospel was explained and as a result we became Christians but we had no right no rights whatsoever David's biggest hang up here when he's instructed that it's possible for him to become the son-in-law of the king is that he's got no dowry I'm only a poor man and little known you see I can't pay for such a wedding I can't give the king anything that used to be the practice in those days and as far as becoming a son of God is concerned nothing in my hand I bring there's no dowry you see there's nothing that you can bring to pay God for the privilege of having you in his family circle isn't it interesting that David goes and he brings to Saul the foreskins of the uncircumcised Philistines circumcision you see was a mark of the covenant it was that which marked the Israelites out from the Philistines who held circumcision in utter contempt what is it that marks the Christian out from the non-Christian the spiritual Hebrew out from the spiritual Philistine it's this that you and I recognize that in Jesus Christ the circumcision of the cross in the blood that he has shed we are made part of the family circle of the Lord and David appreciates the significance of what God has done for him and ultimately he comes into the family circle of King Saul as a further demonstration of the grace of the Lord you never know what might stem from being a humble person all men spake well of David as all men spake well of a greater than David even the Lord Jesus Christ and ultimately what is David known as well the final verse in this chapter will tell you his name becomes well known if you read it in the authorized version it will tell you that his name was much set by you can't really translate it accurately I understand from the Hebrew it's got the idea of his name becoming precious the connotation of his name being as ointment poured forth in other words there is something about David which anticipates our Lord Jesus Christ to whom is given the name that is above every name and because of David's transparent goodness at this point in his life and his humility his name becomes almost legendary as a young man throughout the whole of Israel now the reason why David was so blessed was because he had this natural humility which caught the eye of God is it a small matter for me to become the king's servant what about you behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us that you, you should be called the son the daughter of God as a result of what the dowry you brought no the shed blood of Jesus count yourself little in the kingdom but count the Saviour great and as a result of that you will cultivate the disposition that constantly attracts the eye of God let's turn to our final hymn 480 may the mind of Christ my Saviour live in me from day to day by his love and power controlling all I do and say may the mind of Christ my Saviour be in my heart so that all may see I Christ the Lord my Jesus as their waters fill us in him exalting self our face this is victory may I run may his beauty rest as I sing the gospel when I may forget her child save for me now father we appreciate that in one sense humility is not something we can work at in the fashion that one day we'll wake up and believe that we're there because if we believe we're there then it's an indication that we've not arrived but we do ask that you will help us to take certain steps to ensure that at least that quality which was so pleasing in our Lord Jesus may be seen in us help us to swallow our pride Lord we don't believe anyone ever got indigestion by swallowing pride help us to get rid of this help us to see that the way up is the way down and teach us in our dealings with one another not to be haughty or arrogant quick tempered easily armed with a javelin ready to throw it help us father we pray to exhibit the graces of our Lord Jesus and to appreciate ever the privilege that is ours that we are called the children of God Amen