Christ the King/Story, Wk. 11 11/20/16—Highland—Meute
“Full of Spirit and Heart”
I Samuel 17: 19-27, 41-51; Luke 1: 68-80
Pearl: Relate to God with great spirit and heart.
Function: To motivate worshippers to emulate David in his closeness with the Lord.
Last week in The Story you learned how God’s ancient people literally rejected him as their King, asking for a human king to lead them and to fight their battles so that they could be like the other nations. I’ll say it again, “They rejected the living God of the universe and requested a human king instead.”
1. Neither the prophet Samuel nor God approved but God permitted a human king to be crowned. The first king of God’s people was Saul.
a. Saul looked every bit the part of a king! He stood taller than most other men. He was handsome. He was capable. He was a proven warrior.
b. He was a likely choice among men to be elevated to the status of King.
c. But Saul was a failure. He failed as king because he did not trust God. He was impatient. He would not wait for God. He ruled and conducted himself according to his own strength, wisdom, and capability.
2. So before his career as King of Israel was even over God sent Samuel to the house of Jesse to anoint the next king of Israel.
a. When Samuel looked at the sons of Jesse one after another he did not find the next king. He finally asked if there were any other sons. They answered that there was still one more, but he was out taking care of the sheep. No one thought to even consider David.
b. (Taking care of the sheep—a seemingly mundane task—turns out that David had to defend the sheep from predators. David was out there defending sheep from lions and other predators.)
c. Samuel ordered that they bring him in. As soon as Samuel saw him he discerned the Lord’s leading that this was the one! He anointed him on the spot and moved on.
3. So while there was a king ruling on the throne, another king was already anointed to take over. David would by no means ascend the throne anytime soon.
a. The scriptures made a comment at the anointing of David that I highlight to you: “…from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David.”
b. This is something that you can feel and sense as you read the career of David.
4. Next to Jesus Christ Himself, there was no greater King of God’s people than King David!
a. In fact, one among many of the names of our Lord Jesus Christ is: “Son of David.”
David never lost sight of God walking closely with the living God and knowing very well the true King of Israel.
David’s youthful coming out before the nation well illustrates his singular awareness of and trust in the living God.
1. David was sent on a simple mission to go to the front line of the battlefield to bring supplies to his older brother soldiers who along with the army of Israel were locked in a standoff with the Philistine army.
a. Simply fulfilling his mission he happened upon a spectacle which was happening daily. A solitary Philistine soldier, a giant of a man named Goliath, stood before the army of Israel shouting insults at them and at their God and asking for a contender.
b. Daily he offered a deal that if any could defeat him the Philistines would become slaves of Israel. If he was victor then the army of Israel would become Philistine slaves.
i. Daily he defied the God of Israel shouting, “…I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man, that we may fight together!”
c. David witnessed, with his own eyes, this enemy outrage and was incensed! Then David witnessed his brothers and all of the Israelite soldiers cower in fear. No one would respond. It was a standoff.
2. David looked at his brothers; he looked to the rest of the army; he looked in the direction of King Saul; he looked to his God and he looked within himself; and he cried out with grave indignation:
a. “WHO IS THIS UNCIRCUMCISED PHILISINE THAT HE SHOULD DEFY THE ARMIES OF THE LIVING GOD?!!!”
3. Did you feel the hair on your arms stand up with those words? Did you feel a bit of a power surge?
a. David spoke with righteous indignation, filled with the Spirit of God, and in that same anointing offered to defend the honor of God.
b. Not even a soldier, not even an enlisted man, he offered to go up against a proven, battle-scarred champion.
c. David did not see the situation in the same way that all others saw it. David was not looking at the man. He only saw an outrageous offense and public insulting of the God of Israel. David accepted the challenge taking confidence not in himself but in God. David saw things completely opposite of what everyone else on that battlefield saw that day.
4. When David stepped forward toward Goliath, the Philistine more than ever spewed insults…seeing a youth not big enough even to wear armor with no sword…
a. He shouted “’Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?’ And the Philistine cursed David by his gods…Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field” (I Sam. 17).
b. David’s response speaks volumes to David’s character:
i. “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This very day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head; and I will give it to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’s and he will give you into our hand” (I Sam. 17).
5. With that before Goliath even moved David ran toward him, picking a stone out of his bag and slinging it like he did so often to scare away prey from his sheep, and he hit the giant between the eyes and dropped him.
David did not see this as a contest between himself and the giant but between God and the giant. He alone on that battlefield saw the odds exactly opposite what all others saw that day.
David never lost sight of God; God was never out of David’s mind or far from his heart. David was full of the Spirit of God and related to God with all of his heart!
1. Many of the Psalms seem to come straight from the heart and soul of David. So King David still informs God’s people even today. The Psalms are the prayer book of the people of God.
2. In reading the Psalms you pray. In praying the Psalms you relate to God. There was a span of time before David took the throne when the former King Saul pursued David to kill him and eliminate him from competition to the throne. David had to be on the run and hide out from Saul and his soldiers. Hear David’s appeal to God found in Psalm 59:
a. “Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise up against me…Deliver me from those who work evil; from the bloodthirsty save me…
b. Rouse yourself, come to my help and see! You LORD God of hosts, are God of Israel. Awake to punish all the nations; spare none of those who treacherously plot evil…My God in his steadfast love will meet me; my God will let me look in triumph on my enemies…I will sing of your might; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been a fortress for me and a refuge in the day of my distress. O my strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love” (Psalm 29: selected verses).
3. Throughout David’s life and career he never lost sight of God. He continually demonstrated a life animated by the Spirit of God.
a. One time as David was hiding out seeking to escape Saul and his pursuing army, David and his men were hiding in a cave. Saul came near and entered the same cave to relieve himself. David’s men told him that God had delivered his enemy to him and that he should kill him right then and there.
b. David refused because he was well aware that Saul was the anointed King of Israel and he would not raise his hand against the Lord’s anointed. For David it was always about God first!
i. Saul was clearly his mortal enemy. But David did not see only on the human “Lower Story” level; he always had his eyes on God and the “Upper Story” as well.
David never lost sight of the Lord. Most other future Kings of Israel did not walk with God; David always clung to God.
This is why Jesus Christ is referred to as Son of David. Jesus was the perfect model of a life united to God.
David, as human king of Israel, was the preeminent model of a life in God prior to the Savior’s appearing; Jesus, the true King of the Universe, was and is the Son of David.
Not many are spoken of in the same way! Jesus is not known as the Son of Abraham or Moses! Jesus, the risen, reigning Lord is the Son of David! David was by no means perfect, as you will read in the continuing Story.
Yet David never lost sight of God and never let go of his connection to the living God. David foreshadowed a life born of the Spirit of God, now the rule of life since the gift of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.
Names come in and out of vogue through the generations. The name David does not drop from any generation. The reigning Lord Jesus Christ forever points back to King David, who always pointed forward to Jesus Christ, the King!
