Well, good morning, everyone. Whoa. So, relax. It’s really loud, that mic.
Well, it’s a real treat to be here with you, brothers and sisters, this week. We didn’t get to see many people because of the snow and the sickness, but we thank the Lord for every opportunity we get to come together.
If we could just start by reading a few verses together: 1 Samuel 16:6.
When they entered, he looked at Eliab, and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him.”
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance, or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him.
For God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
1 Samuel 13:14.
But now your kingdom shall not endure. The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded.
If we could just pray.
Lord, we just want to bless You and thank You, Lord. We thank You, Lord, that Your love for us is steadfast. We do thank You, Lord, for bringing us here this morning. Lord, we believe that You have something You want to say.
And Lord, we just trust in You. We know You can speak even through a donkey. Lord, You know I feel like a donkey this morning. Oh Lord, would You not speak to Your people?
We really love You, Lord, and we want to be fully captured for You. Lord, we want to be as those who have a heart after Your heart—a heart that is completely Yours. Lord, do touch our hearts and do speak to us this morning. We ask this in Your name. Amen.
“Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him.
For God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
You know, naturally speaking, this is our way. We’re ones who look at the outward things. Even like with Saul: when he was presented as king, they said, “Look to the people. Look, look at your king. He’s so tall. He’s a head taller than everyone else. And boy, is he good-looking!”
It says he was the best-looking man in all of Israel. And the people were pleased. They were very pleased with Saul as king. And we see that this is the natural way. Our natural way is that we look at the outward of things. This is the way man looks at things: he looks at the outward.
But the Lord—the Lord looks at the heart. He’s not concerned with the outward. What He’s concerned with is the heart. He’s looking for those pure hearts, those hearts that are wholly His: an open heart and a willing heart.
And so we see that heart in David. David was one who had a heart after God’s heart. But Saul was one who didn’t have a heart after God’s own heart. He had a hard heart, and his life was centered around himself. And so the Lord rejected him.
So I just want to share this morning. I’ll be honest, I was struggling a little bit, and I just want to share this morning a little bit about Saul and David. May the Lord just reveal His heart to us.
You know, with Saul, we see even early on in 1 Samuel 13:18—well, actually, even before that—we see with Saul in the very beginning, if you remember the beginning of Saul’s life, after he had been presented as king before the people, he went back.
The men of the Ammonites came and surrounded the men of Jabesh. And when they had surrounded them, the Spirit of God mightily came upon Saul. Saul came out—I think he cut up all the oxen and sent them out to all of Israel—and said, “This will be what happens to you too if you don’t come.”
He gathered the people together, went against those who were surrounding Jabesh, attacked, and rescued the people of Jabesh.
Now, in the beginning, it seems like Saul, in this way, was small in his own sight. Remember, when he was being presented king, he went and hid behind the baggage. And even later on Samuel says, “In the beginning, you were small in your own sight.”
And so we see that Saul starts off in a small way. He doesn’t think so much of himself. He’s not such a proud man. And it seems as if, even when he goes against the Ammonites that are attacking Jabesh, there is something more genuine, because the hearts of those who are in Jabesh are knit to Saul.
You know, when you really minister to someone in a real, living way—when it’s Christ ministering to someone—there’s a certain bonding, a certain knitting, that happens between you and them.
And the men of Jabesh, if you remember, at the end of Saul’s life, actually go back and rescue his body off the wall after Saul and his sons have been killed. All I’m trying to say is, it seems as if, in the beginning, Saul starts off in a good way. He’s small in his own sight.
But shortly after that, in 1 Samuel 13:8:
Now he waited seven days, according to the appointed time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him.
So Saul said, “Bring to me the burnt offering and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering.
As soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him and to greet him.
But Samuel said, “What have you done?”
And Saul said, “Because I saw the people scattering from me, and that you did not come within the appointed days, and that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash, therefore I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not asked the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering.”
So what we see here is Saul’s going out to battle. He’s got five thousand men, and they’re terrified. They’re all shaken in their boots. Saul’s going into the fight, and he’s waiting for Samuel for the seventh day, and Samuel just isn’t showing up yet.
Saul’s in a crisis because he sees that the Philistines are beginning to gather together. What he feels is, “If something doesn’t happen, I’m going to perish.” He’s in a crisis, and he’s feeling a threat to his life.
Now, we can experience this in the same way. We’re going through a certain situation which is actually brought to us by the Lord, and we feel as if, “I don’t see any way out. I’m going to perish.” Our life begins to get threatened.
And so we have this temptation to force ourselves. We don’t sense the Spirit of the Lord leading us in a certain way, but yet we force ourselves to move—to move outside of the Spirit and to do something, not what the Lord has commanded us, but to do the opposite and do our own thing to preserve our life.
Now, I remember when I had my house here in Richmond. After I had moved, I came back, and I think I was about to get married. It didn’t seem like I had renters for the home, and I said, “Oh, I need to sell the house.”
And not only that, I thought, “You know, if I’m going to sell the house, I’ve got to go ahead and fix it all up. I’ve got to put in new appliances. I’ve got to turn this into a bedroom, because if there are only two bedrooms and not three bedrooms, it won’t sell for enough,” right?
So I see like I’m in this situation, but I have no sense of the Lord to do anything. I was here visiting the saints, and I came actually in fellowship with the saints. But because of this crisis—this was a crisis for me at the time—I forced myself.
I went and spent money I didn’t have, and I began to fix up the home. Some of the poor brothers in this room, I dragged them over. They spent their weekend, instead of having fellowship and being built up—and most of these guys do hard work for a living—spending their whole weekend helping me fix up the house.
But I remember when I got home, I called one of those brothers. He said, “You know, brother, last time you came, there was a lot less of Christ and a lot more of you.”
And it was true. This is the flesh. This is our natural way: we preserve self.
And because of that, we see with Saul: he preserved himself, he disobeyed the Lord, and he got bigger.
Now, perhaps Saul—what if he had waited? Well, maybe he just waited fifteen minutes. It seems like Samuel was right around the corner. But maybe if he had waited a little longer, he would have gone down from five thousand men to three hundred.
Perhaps then the Lord would have defeated the army like with Gideon, with those three hundred men. Instead of Saul getting a little bit bigger, a little more proud, a little more puffed up, perhaps he would have been humbled.
You know, that’s really why the Lord, back with Gideon, cut them down to three hundred: lest the Israelites would think, “It was by our power that we won this victory.”
The Lord’s work in these situations—all that He’s allowing in our lives—is to strip us down, to strip down what is of ourselves, to decrease us so that He might increase; that He might increase in our hearts, and that our hearts would be fully His.
And so we find that these situations that come upon us are not just situations in life. These are actually things the Lord has brought into our life to cause us to entrust ourselves to Him.
And we have that choice. Every time a situation comes, we can either try to preserve ourselves, take matters into our own hands like Saul did, or we can trust in the Lord and experience a bit of His salvation. This is God’s saving work.
And so we see Saul is one—he’s a man after the flesh. He’s a type of the flesh, a picture of that. In 1 Samuel 14:24:
Now the men of Israel were hard pressed on that day, for Saul had put the people under an oath, saying, “Cursed be the man who eats food before evening, and until I have avenged myself on my enemies.”
So none of the people tasted food. All the people of the land entered the forest, and there was honey on the ground.
When the people entered the forest, behold, there was a flow of honey, but no man put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath.
But Jonathan had not heard when his father put the people under the oath. Therefore, he put out the end of his staff that was in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes brightened.
Then one of the people said, “Your father strictly put the people under an oath, saying, ‘Cursed be any man who eats food today,’” and the people were weary.
Then Jonathan said, “My father has troubled the land. See now, how my eyes have brightened because I tasted a little of this honey. How much more if only the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found! For now the slaughter among the Philistines has not been great.”
And so you see that sometimes this is just another aspect of the flesh: we have this fleshly zeal, and we, in a sense, make another attempt to preserve ourselves or even to have some righteousness in ourselves.
And so Saul makes this foolish order. Because of that, the slaughter was not great. They could have just had a little bit of nourishment.
You know, we can do this too. We add certain things—self-righteous types of things, certain laws—to ourselves that are not from the Lord, and it causes the slaughter not to be great.
I’ll give you an example. You know, my first time I shared here—it was the first time I think I’d ever shared here, six years ago—I shared on faith.
On Friday night before the meeting, I thought, “Now, if you’re going to share a word, you have to fast.” Now granted, oftentimes if you’re ministering the word, you may need to fast to release the burden. So this isn’t about fasting itself, okay?
So on Friday night, I started to fast. Come Saturday, I was so stressed out. I had been preparing for two months. I mean, I don’t know how to trust. I’m thinking, “I’m not trusting in the Lord.” It was all about me putting together my energy to make this thing happen, right?
But really, at the root of it, the reason I was putting so much effort into the message was because this is what I wanted to say when I got up and shared and failed: “It wasn’t from a lack of effort on my part.”
Now, I didn’t get it at the time. The Lord doesn’t care about effort; He cares about obedience. He cares about the heart, where the heart is at. I’m not saying we don’t need to be diligent.
But at the root of it, the root of the fasting was that there was a certain self-righteousness in me, a certain righteousness of my own: that it wasn’t because of my lack that the word didn’t get released. It wasn’t my fault.
And the slaughter wasn’t great.
But you know, three weeks ago, I shared a word on “Seek First the Kingdom of God” with the saints back home. I remember in the morning I got up, and I was before the Lord. My wife said, “Do you want something to eat?” And I just said, “Yeah, yeah.”
So she made me little scrambled eggs with toast. When she brought it out to me and I put that warm plate on my legs—I was cold out in the garage—I was like, “Thank You, Lord. What a provision.” It was His provision even to warm me up.
And when I began to eat those eggs and that toast, let me tell you, it was like my eyes brightened like Jonathan’s, you know?
I went and shared the word, and you know what the saints said? They said, “That was the clearest, most powerful word we’ve ever heard you share.” The slaughter was great. Why? Because I was able to receive the Lord’s provision.
All I’m trying to say is, if we put things on ourselves that we have not received from the Lord—something in our minds—our slaughter will not be great. To serve the Lord, we need to serve in the light we have, and not just be afraid, feeling we have to justify ourselves before men.
That’s preserving self. That’s the flesh. So we need to reject those things. Now again, if the Lord leads you to fast, fast. Praise the Lord. I’m not saying that whatsoever, but it should come from the Lord.
1 Samuel 15:1.
Then Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you as king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, listen to the words of the Lord.
Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt.
Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”
Verse 9.
But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good; and they were not willing to destroy them utterly. But everything despised and worthless they utterly destroyed.
Verse 13.
Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of the Lord. I have carried out the command of the Lord.”
But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”
Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed.”
Verse 17.
Samuel said, “Is it not true, though you were little in your own eyes, you were made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed you king over Israel?
Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord, but rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord?”
Who was Saul? He was just a nobody. And yet the Lord highly exalted him and made him king over His people.
Who are we? I don’t know about you, but when the Lord found me, I was just a big nobody. My life meant nothing to me. I actually wanted to die. I was hoping a bus would hit me. I knew better than to kill myself.
My life meant nothing to me. I’m just a nobody.
And in the Lord’s mercy, even though we’re nobodies, the Lord has chosen us—chosen us as His people—with a certain responsibility: to set forth the excellency of Him who has called us out of darkness into light.
You know, Saul, though he started in this small way, got big. And what I mean by that is, his life began to be more dear to him than the Lord. You know, that can happen to us.
If we’re not willing to allow the cross to work in our lives, to lose our lives in these situations by the grace of God, to say, “Lord, I am willing”—if we don’t have a willing heart, an open heart to the Lord, if we are unwilling to put our lives in the hands of the Lord—what will happen is we’ll find that we get big.
Our lives become more important than the Lord. We would rather see ourselves preserved than see the Lord’s will and His end accomplished.
Brothers and sisters, is this our case?
1 Samuel 15:23:
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you from being king.
Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I have indeed transgressed the command of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and listened to their voice.”
Are our lives so precious to us—more precious to us than the Lord—that we are unwilling to surrender? I ask that question to myself.
Are we willing to be foolish, to fall down on our faces before the brethren, to be exposed?
David was willing to be exposed. He danced before the Lord like a fool, you could say—at least according to his wife. He didn’t care, because the Lord was more important than his life.
Are we willing to be exposed before one another?
It could be the spoil. Are we willing to lay down this world and the things of this world? Or do they mean more to us than the Lord?
Who are we? We’re nobodies. I mean, we’re precious in His sight—don’t get me wrong—but we’re not to be the center of things. He is to be the center of things.
If we’re in such a place, I hope nobody here is in such a place, but if we’re in such a place, may the Lord help us. We just need to repent and just tell the Lord, “I love myself, but I don’t want to love myself more than You. Lord, draw me. Draw me close to You. I lay it down again to hear You say that I’m Your friend.”
And even in a more earnest way than we see with Saul here, listen to what Saul says. First Samuel 15:25.
“Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me, that I may worship the Lord.”
But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”
As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the edge of his robe and tore it.
So Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor, who is better than you.
Also, the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind, for He is not a man that He should change His mind.”
Then he said, “I have sinned, but please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and go back with me, that I may worship the Lord.”
So it seems like Saul repents, right? He says, “I have sinned. I repent.” But was it true repentance?
Because later on, first he gets angry over Samuel. He grabs at that robe. But he says, “Go back with me,” not so that he can worship the Lord: “Please honor me now before the elders of my people, before Israel.”
His true heart is exposed. Saul should have been devastated by what happened. He should have been devastated, but instead he wasn’t willing. His heart was hard.
And this, I hate to say it, brothers and sisters, but if we’re not careful, our hearts can become hard toward the Lord, and we’re just not willing to really turn from this self-centered way.
He wanted the glory of man rather than the glory of God.
You know, this happens in our lives if we sing that song, “Lord, draw me, draw me close to You. Never let me go. I lay it all down again to hear You say that I’m Your friend.”
I’m actually not going to go that way. And I’m sorry this is a bit scattered, but bear with me here, because I believe there’s something for us on the Lord’s heart.
Here’s what I guess I’m trying to get at: how desperate are we to be delivered from ourselves? Are we willing to be delivered from ourselves even if it costs us everything?
I mean, do we see, “Oh, wretched man that I am, who can deliver me from this body of death?” Do we see—Gail prayed this prayer—“Thank You, Lord, for Your salvation,” because it’s more than just the blood.
Thank the Lord for the precious blood, but it’s that way to be set free from this wretched man, from this self-centered man, to be delivered from ourselves.
But here’s the thing: are we willing? Are we wanting? Do we really want to be stripped of those things? Now, we can’t do it. This is only the work the Holy Spirit can do. We can’t set ourselves free from ourselves.
But that heart—a heart after God’s own heart, the heart David had—was a heart open to the Lord. He was willing to go the Lord’s way. He was willing to be stripped, and Saul wasn’t willing to be stripped.
And we see the outcome of Saul’s life. Now look at what Saul had. I mean, he did preserve his life, and he had, in a way, an easy life.
He was good-looking. We talked about that already. He had the kingdom. He reigned for forty-two years. Not many people reigned as long as Saul reigned—for forty-two years.
And the procedure of the king, if you remember, is he had everything, right? He had the best choice piece of land. So in Richmond, he’s got one of those homes off Old Gun—you know, those castles back there. Have you ever driven by those? He’s got those castles back there.
He’s got the best of the fields and the vineyards. He took the daughters of Israel. He’s got butlers and chefs and perfumers. Now, do you all know what a perfumer is?
Now, that’s somebody who walks around with a bottle of perfume—a nice young lady, one of the daughters of Israel—and she just sprays perfume through the house. You don’t need air fresheners, I think. If I’m wrong, someone correct me after. Let me know, but I think that’s what a perfumer is.
A tenth of the flocks. He had no need to work. He had all the provision of food, male and female servants, no more chores, no making his bed—people making his bed for him—no responsibility, the best young men, and donkeys used for work.
The point is, Saul had an easy life. But he didn’t have the Glory of Israel. He didn’t have the Lord.
You know, before I moved down to Port Charlotte, during the end of my time while I was here in Richmond, I was just dying inside. But it had nothing to do with Richmond. It was because I was exceedingly proud.
And I went down there with these saints down in Port Charlotte, just ate with them, and I was at their prayer meeting. Let me tell you, man, I was tearing them to shreds in my mind. I’m thinking, “You call this a prayer meeting?”
Now, I wasn’t really saying that out loud—don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t that overt. But they even sang a song halfway through, and I was so proud I couldn’t even sing it. Couldn’t even sing the song.
But you know what? The Lord really struck me during that meeting. He said, “You know so much. You’re so much better than them. But you don’t have Me.”
They had the Lord.
I had everything I thought they wanted, but they had the Lord.
1 Samuel 16:6:
When they entered, he looked at Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him.”
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him.
For God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
The Lord’s not concerned just with the outward. You know, it’s good to mature in prayer. It’s good to mature in the ministry of the word. It’s good to mature in our way before the Lord. But what the Lord is ultimately looking at is the heart.
He’s not concerned so much with the outward if the heart is not right.
You know, Saul had everything, but he lived a miserable life. If you remember, the Spirit of God left him, and he had this evil spirit come and torment him. We see this in 1 Samuel 16:14.
Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit, a tormenting spirit from the Lord, terrorized him.
Saul’s servants then said to him, “Behold now, an evil spirit from God is terrorizing you.”
1 Samuel 18:10.
Now it came about on the next day that an evil spirit from God came mightily upon Saul, and he raved in the midst of the house.
And in 1 Samuel 19:9:
But one day, when Saul was sitting at home with a spear in his hand, the tormenting spirit from the Lord suddenly came upon him again.
And as David played his harp, Saul hurled his spear at him. But David dodged out of the way, and leaving the spear stuck in the wall, he fled and escaped in the night.
You know, this is the reality: if we try to preserve our lives, if we try to hold onto our lives like Saul, what we find is we lose it. That’s what the Scripture says: “He who tries to gain his life shall lose it, but he who loses it for My sake shall find it.”
You know, if we try to preserve life, this is the outcome. You think that keeping your life in your own hands, you’re going to be able to preserve it. You’ll preserve it all right, but you’ll be miserable because you won’t have the Lord.
You’ll live a tormented life. And look at Saul at the end of his life. First Samuel 28:19:
Moreover, the Lord will also give over Israel along with you into the hands of the Philistines. Therefore tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. Indeed, the Lord will give over the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.
Then Saul immediately fell full length upon the ground and was very afraid because of the words of Samuel.
This is the end of man. If we try to preserve ourselves, we’ll come to the end of our lives. What will we have in that day?
“Tomorrow you will be with me.” Tomorrow Saul was going to be with Samuel. In that day, will we end that day in fear, or will we end that day in joy?
If we hold on to our lives, I think we’ll end up this way with Saul. We’ll be afraid to meet the Lord. It ought not to be that way. It ought to be that we go to meet the Lord with joy.
What will we have if we preserve our lives? Will we have experiences? “Well, I have a Facebook page going back twenty years that has my whole life recorded and all that I did.”
What will that mean on that day? All that Saul preserved meant nothing on that day. Let me tell you, he fell on his face in fear. He couldn’t eat. He couldn’t move.
Brothers and sisters, there is not a more excellent way. There is only one way to salvation: it’s the way of the cross.
We have to be willing—willing to be willing. “Lord, You know me. You know I love myself. You know I don’t ever want to serve You. I just want to run away. I want to run away from responsibility. I don’t want to yield my life.”
“But Lord, I’m willing. Take me that way. Deliver me. Strip me of these things. Help me to learn to trust You. Don’t let me throw away my life.”
Saul’s life was a waste of life. It was a ruined life. For what? A few miserable years here on this earth? It ought not to be that way.
But brethren, we are convinced of better things concerning you. If I can borrow this verse, Hebrews 6:1:
Therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.
Verse 9:
But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way.
For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints.
And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end.
God’s intention for us is not to be a Saul. Thank God. We are not to be a people of the flesh. The Lord wants to deliver us from ourselves, and He wants us to be a people like David in the end: a people whose hearts are completely His. This is our salvation.
Thank God, the Lord has better things concerning us.
David, now, he didn’t have an easy life. He had a difficult life. He had a lot of trials. He lived an uncomfortable life.
You know, to go this way with the Lord means an uncomfortable life. To remain on the altar, you’re always in an uncomfortable situation. The Lord, He’s always got you somewhere because He’s trying to strip out more of yourself, because He’s decreasing you down to not ten percent, but zero.
And so it’s difficult. It’s not always an easy life. The cross is the cross. I remember Lance once said, “Don’t trivialize the cross. The cross is the cross.” But it’s our salvation.
You know, look at just a few examples. First Samuel 19. We read this just a moment ago:
One day, Saul was sitting at home with his spear in his hand. The tormenting spirit from the Lord suddenly came upon him again, and as David played his harp, Saul hurled his spear at David.
But David dodged out of the way, and leaving the spear stuck in the wall, he fled and escaped in the night.
Now, if you go this way, what’s going to happen is you’re going to be attacked by the near and dear. Just like David—he’s running from Saul for four years, right?
And this happens. When you go the narrow way, what happens is you experience the blessedness of the Lord. People say, “Saul has killed his thousands, but David his ten thousands.”
Actually, what begins to happen is the people are pleased because you’re manifesting life. You’re manifesting what’s good. And those who are in the flesh will get jealous, and you’ll be attacked. I mean, that’s part of going the narrow way.
First Samuel 22:22.
We know we war not against flesh and blood. We understand that. But what happens is the Lord will use people, even those close to us, to continue to set us free, to strip away that which is not of the Lord.
Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have brought about the death of every person in your father’s house.”
Now, remember the story. When David first fled from Saul, he fled and went to Nob. While he was there, he went to the priest and asked for the bread from the table of showbread. He got his sword from Goliath, and the innocent priest there, who didn’t know what was going on, helped him out.
So then Saul ended up slaughtering everyone in that town.
You know, sometimes when we go this way, as we grow up in the Lord, we even make mistakes. Now, I don’t know. Some believe David made a mistake by going there. I don’t know if he made a mistake or not.
But sometimes, even in our mistakes, we affect other people. You know, that’s part of going the narrow way: making mistakes, doing things that sometimes affect the saints in a way you didn’t intend to. It’s not your heart to do it, but that’s part of growing up. We make mistakes.
You know, David didn’t take the easy way out. He had several occasions where he was able to kill Saul. He’s fleeing, going from battle to battle. He’s battling the Philistines, completely relying upon the Lord, and he’s running from Saul all the time, from cave to cave.
Can you imagine? He’d rather have been at home, back at his original home with his dad and the sheep. Not like this. He’s like a man without any home. It was a difficult life.
And we find that if we’re going to go on with the Lord, we’ll go from battle to battle. It seems like sometimes you go from fight to fight. The Lord’s using all those things, and the temptation is to take the easy way out.
There’s an easier way. The enemy will tempt us: “Ah, why don’t you leave the saints and move here? Come here, come be with your family, and you’ll be okay.” There’s some temptation to leave, to escape the situation.
And David could have done that. On several occasions, he could have killed Saul, and he would have had an easy way out. But David knew the way of the Lord. The Lord’s way isn’t to take the easy way out.
By God’s grace, we have to continue on with the Lord and allow Him to strip us and set us free.
What is the outcome of such a life?
Simply put, David’s rise to the throne was full of trials. But the Lord was with him in all that he did, and there was a certain blessedness upon him.
So I’m just going to give a few examples of this blessedness.
2 Samuel 6:12.
Now it was told King David, saying, “The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, on account of the ark of God.”
David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with gladness.
And so it was that when the bearers of the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling.
And David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, and David was wearing a linen ephod.
Now, this was right after the Lord had struck Uzzah—for reaching out toward the ark. Now David was angry with the Lord when that happened, but I think the Lord was, in a way, disciplining David.
You know, the Lord disciplines those whom He loves. He chastens every son whom He receives. The Lord allows things in our lives. He’s disciplining us. He’s causing us to grow up, not because He’s punishing us, but because He’s bringing us into life and life abundant.
And what’s our reaction? I don’t know what Saul’s reaction would have been, but look at David’s reaction. He humbled himself before the Lord. He was willing to humble himself before the Lord. He didn’t harden his heart or get angry with the Lord.
He went and sought out the Lord, and he found out why that happened. He wasn’t doing it right. They should have been carrying the ark with the poles, not having it on the cart.
And out of that humility came a certain blessedness. You know, these are the peaceful fruits of righteousness that it talks about in Hebrews. When we’re willing to endure the discipline of the Lord, to go through all these things from the Lord, what we find is there’s a certain blessedness that comes upon our lives.
And we see that with David. I mean, he’s out there dancing with all his might. He’s full of the Lord. He’s full of the joy of the Lord.
He doesn’t even care in that moment about the cost. He cares that he has the Lord.
And I could have seen David out there singing:
Better is one day in His courts,
Better is one day in His house,
Better is one day in His courts
Than thousands elsewhere.
Better is one day in His courts,
Better is one day in His house,
Better is one day in His courts
Than thousands elsewhere, than thousands elsewhere.
He’d rather have one day with the Lord than a thousand days of Saul’s life.
Brothers and sisters, one day in the presence of the Lord is worth eighty, a hundred years living for ourselves. It just doesn’t compare.
The Lord’s not trying to take away anything from us. He’s trying to liberate us. He says, “I have come that you might have life, and life to the full.” There’s only fullness in the Lord. He is all there is.
He wants our hearts. That’s what He’s after. Are we willing to let Him gain our hearts? Are we willing to allow Him to really reveal Himself to us, to really know Him? The Lord wants us to come to know the better.
You know, David—he’s a wellspring. Walking through the valley of weeping, he makes it a spring. This is David’s way. All the people were pleased with David, everything he did.
When you go the Lord’s way and you’re being liberated from yourself, guess what? It’s not you. It’s Christ in you. People begin to taste Christ, and you get the opportunity to be a vessel, a wellspring of the Lord, to bring the living water.
This is who we ought to be. This is the responsibility of the church. We ought to be a wellspring, life unto death. This is the privilege of being chosen of the Lord.
And so, as we’re stripped—the more we’re stripped, the more we’re broken—the more that treasure within is able to come forth. The more we’re able to see the Lord nourish the saints and bring them back to life, and the more we’re able to lead lost souls out of darkness into the kingdom of God. We’re able to lead people to the Lord.
This is the result. This is the blessedness of going the Lord’s way.
And most importantly, we come to know the heart of God. Second Samuel 7:1:
Now it came about when the king lived in his house, and the Lord had given him rest on every side from all his enemies, that the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells within tent curtains.”
Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your mind, for the Lord is with you.”
But the same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, “Go and say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Are you the one who should build Me a house to dwell in?
For I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the sons of Israel from Egypt, even to this day; but I have been moving about in a tent, even in a tabernacle.
Whenever I have gone with all the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel, which I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’”
Now therefore, thus you shall say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be ruler over My people Israel.”’”
“See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells within tent curtains.” And this is the Lord’s response: “Are you the one who should build Me a house to dwell in?”
Verse 7:
Did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel, saying, “Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?”
Now, I don’t know if you get it here, but I think there’s something marvelous that happens here.
David finds the secret heart of the Lord. And I think the Lord’s choked up over it. I think what the Lord is saying to him is, “Are you the one who should build Me a house?”
My feeling is, the Lord is saying, “David, how did you find out the secret of My heart? When have I commanded this thing? When have I told anybody about this thing? How did you know it was in My heart?”
You know, when we go this way with the Lord, what happens is we come to know the deep things of the Lord. We come to know His heart. We minister to the Lord.
“David, how did you find out what was in My heart?” You know what the response is? The Lord just wants to pour out His blessing.
If I could just give a little example: I was shoveling the snow, getting my car out for work on Tuesday. And Jeffrey’s brother, Gray, came out. I was freezing out there, and I even took his gloves, so he doesn’t have gloves. He came out and he was shoveling that snow. He was wiping it off with his cold hand.
He really ministered to me. He seems like he’s got a big heart. I spent a week with this guy. He’s got a big heart.
And you know what? When it happened, you know what I wanted to do? I just said, “Man, I just want to bless him in every way.” I said, “Lord, bless this brother. Pour out the heavens upon him.”
I feel that’s kind of what happens here with David. It’s like David ministers to the Lord. He touches the very heart of God, and it’s like, “Now let Me tell you what I’m going to do for you, David.”
“You weren’t concerned about yourself, but you were concerned about Me. You were willing to lay down your life. And because you laid down your life, because you were stripped of yourself, you came to really know what My heart was. You’ve satisfied My heart.”
Who cares about the Lord? David cared about the Lord. He satisfied the heart of the Lord. He found the heart of the Lord, and he said, “Lord, I want to build You a house. I want what You want. I want what You’re after.”
The Lord was pleased. He was pleased with David. He wanted to bless David. “Your kingdom shall always endure.”
This is the Lord’s intention for us. He wants our hearts. He doesn’t care about everything else. He wants us.
Let’s not deprive the Lord of that. Is He not worth it? All He’s done for us. Who are we but some nobodies? And the Lord has been so good to us.
May we allow Him to do this salvation work. He’s just wanting to save us to the uttermost. May we be willing.
You know, what was David’s secret? Second Samuel 6:20:
But when David returned to bless his household, Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “How the king of Israel distinguished himself today! He uncovered himself today in the eyes of his servants’ maids as one of the foolish ones shamelessly uncovers himself.”
So David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore I will celebrate before the Lord.
I will be more lightly esteemed than this and will be humble in my own eyes. But with the maids of whom you have spoken, with them I will be distinguished.”
David doesn’t care about being exposed. He’s willing to be humbled before the Lord. He’s willing to be decreased, that he might have the Lord. This is the secret.
The secret is, even if we right now say—let’s be true to the Lord—the Lord can only meet us where we’re at: “I love myself. I do not want to be—I don’t want to give up my life. I don’t want to entrust my life to You. Lord, it’s scary to think about entrusting my life to You.”
If we’re willing to humble ourselves before the Lord and say, “Lord, have mercy. I’m willing to be willing. Take me this way,” even cold-blooded, the Lord will honor it.
Psalm 51:16:
For Thou delightest not in sacrifice; else would I give it:
Thou hast no pleasure in burnt-offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit:
A broken and contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.
Let’s pray.
Lord, we just want to come and thank You, Lord, that Your love for us is steadfast. And we thank You, Lord, that You have better things concerning us.
Lord, we just thank You that You never give up and You’re always pursuing us, even though, Lord, we often are prone to wander. We just thank You, Lord, for Your love.
Lord, we just tell You this morning: we know we’re a faulty people. Oh Lord, we want to know Your salvation. We thank You, Lord, for paying such a price that we could be saved, and saved to the uttermost. Lord, we don’t want to refuse any of that.
Lord, we just even want to humble ourselves before You. Lord, even if we’re to look a fool, to be exposed, Lord, we don’t want anything—Lord, we don’t want anything of this world, anything of ourselves—to keep us from really coming back to You.
We want to lay it all down again, to hear You say that I’m Your friend. So we just commit ourselves to You, Lord. We trust that, Lord, You’re calling us and You’re drawing us on. We do love You, Lord. Have Your way. In Your name, amen.