1 SAMUEL, PART 2 (WHO ARE YOU MOST LIKE – SAUL OR DAVID?)
PROGRAM 10 (#911020)
WEEK 2 (911304)
2011 PRECEPT MINISTRIES INTERNATIONAL
1
PRECEPTS FOR LIFE
If you have questions concerning the material covered in this broadcast, Kay has published a number of books explaining the Scripture in depth. These books may be ordered by contacting the telephone number or address printed above.
SERIES: 1 Samuel, Part 2 (Who Are You Most Like – Saul or David?)
OPEN
Is everything going absolutely great for you, Beloved? I mean can you feel the wind of the Spirit behind your back? Can you sense His power on your life? That is great. That is awesome. I am thrilled for you. But be careful, be very, very careful that all of a sudden you don’t forget where the wind of the Spirit is coming from, where the power is coming from, because if you forget, then you’re in danger. We’ll talk about it today.
PART ONE
David has brought down Goliath, this young man; this ruddy youth stood before this giant on the battlefield. He has run to the front line; he has pulled out a stone; he has put it in a sling; he has slung that thing around his head and let it go. It hits the giant Goliath; the Philistine straight in the forehead and the giant falls flat on his face. He’s come over; he’s taken out the giant’s sword and he’s cut off his head and he just picks up that head in great
purpose on this program is to take you through the Word of God book-by-book, chapter-by-chapter, verse-by-verse. We are a ministry that is looking for people who are looking for truth that are really serious about their spirituality, serious about being a man or woman of God, serious about consecrating your life to God and living for Him whether by life or by death. And that’s what Paul said, [“Whether I live or die my one ambition is to be pleasing to God.”] (Paraphrase, 2 Corinthians 5:9) So if there is a gnawing and a drawing inside of you I want you to know that it’s no accident that you found this program, because I’ve been praying, and our staff has been praying. And we have been praying that God would create a hunger and thirst in people’s hearts and in people’s lives for righteousness. What is righteousness? It is living right. Right, according to whom, you say? Well that’s a good question in a day when we don’t want any absolutes, when we don’t want any authority, when each one of us wants to be our own man or our own woman and do our own thing and call the shots and say what’s right and what’s wrong. And you know what? You can do that and you can believe that lie, but you have been blinded by the enemy. You have been blindsided by the forces of darkness and it’s only going to end in your death and destruction. God has a way for us to live and it’s found in this Book. So let’s get into the book. Let’s go to 1 Samuel, chapter 17. Remember David has now taken off the head of the enemy. In verse 50 we pick it up. And it says, “Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and he struck the Philistine and killed him; but there was no sword in his hand. Then David ran….” Remember we saw he didn’t hesitate. “…[he ran, he] stood over the Philistine, [he] took his sword and [he] drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. [And] When the Philistines saw that their champion…,”(1Samuel 17:50-51a) and you marked the champion the same way you mark the Philistine. When you mark key repeated words, and in this chapter I don’t always mark the main characters of the chapter; but I did here, because I wanted to see every time that the Philistine was mentioned. And so, as we suggest in your
1study guide, which you can download by going to preceptsforlife.com, preceptsforlife.com, I told you to put a brown box around the Philistine. Well, when you come here you’ve to a synonym and you want to mark the synonyms in the same way. And what you see is, “…When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.”(17:51b)
Now do you know what’s going to happen? Someday, Beloved, the whole world is going to see that Jesus Christ is Lord. The whole world is going to bow the knee. The whole world is going to confess that there is no other God, but Jesus Christ; and they’re going to give obedience to Him. But when they see Him, when they see Him what they’re going to do is they’re going to flee. I mean they’re going to absolutely flee. All right so it says that, “The men of Israel and Judah…,” when they started to flee, “The men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines…,”(17:52a) Once again they’re following David’s example. The enemy has to be dealt with thoroughly and completely. “…and [they] pursued [them] the Philistines as far as the valley, and to the gates of Ekron….”(17:52b) Now Ekron is one of the major cities of the Philistines and it’s on the way to Gaza, okay. And you know where Gaza is today, because Gaza is in the news. “…And the slain Philistines lay along the way to Shaaraim, even to Gath and Ekron.”(17:52c) Those are Philistine cities. “[And] the sons of Israel returned from chasing the Philistines and plundered their camps. Then David took the Philistine‟s head…,” Now this is so important. It’s so exciting! “…and [he] brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his weapons in his tent.”(17:53-54) Now when it says he brought it to Jerusalem, what he did was he brought to Jebus, J-e-b-u-s, and that was the previous name of Jerusalem. Later on it’s going to be named Jerusalem. And it’s going to be named that by David when David becomes the king over Israel. Now remember he’s already been anointed for that, but this has not happened. And it won’t happen for quite some time, because before he mounts the throne he has to be thoroughly tested by God. And he will be thoroughly tested and he will pass the test. You’ve got to know Beloved that when you
believe in Jesus and when you follow Him it does not mean that everything in life is going to be easy. It’s not going to be a piece of cake. Why? Because “…the whole world…,” 1 John 5:19, “…lies in the power of the evil one.”(1John 5:19b) because we’re in a warfare, as I’ve been telling you, because there are Goliaths that want to bring us down, that want to fight with us, that think that they can conquer us and think that they can defeat us. And if you and I don’t follow these principles you know what? They are going to get us on the ground. But we don’t have to be on the ground; we can stand firm. That’s what Ephesians, chapter 4 is about when it talks about spiritual warfare; [that we’re wrestling not with flesh and blood, but we’re wrestling with principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places.] (Paraphrased…Ephesians 6:11-12) Our struggle is against the devil. And the devil wants to take us and pen us to the ground. I mean it is a wrestling match that is not a put on show like some of the wrestling matches you see. I mean it’s a big, big show. It’s entertainment.But this is not entertainment; this is reality and the enemy wants to struggle against us. And it means to wrestle someone to the ground. But we can stand firm if we know and understand these precepts for life, these principles. So let’s get it. Now watch what he says. He takes the head of the enemy and this is common; they’re going to do this later on to Saul. They’re going to take off his head and they’re going to put his head on the walls of Beth-shean. It’s a place that we go when we take our annual study tour of Israel. And if you really want to study the Bible, go with us and you will get an Inductive Study Bible and you will study it on site and you won’t forget it. But it was common practice to take the head of the enemy and put it on the wall of the city so that they could say, “Hey, I brought down the enemy.” So David takes Goliath’s head; this is very, very beautiful, and he takes it to Jerusalem to Jebus and he nails it on the wall of this city. Well he takes the head there. “…[He] brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his weapons in his tent.”(1Samuel 17:54b) Now what is he showing us? There is a day coming when from Jerusalem, from Jerusalem the Messiah will rule and the enemies’ head will be totally taken
care of; He will bring down all the strongholds, all the head of evil, when Jesus Christ comes with all of His saints and ends up on earth and does battle right in Jerusalem and brings all the armies, multitudes, multitudes in the Valley of Decision, when He brings them to their knees. We’ll talk about it more when I come back.
PART TWO
You know cutting off the head of the enemy Beloved was a sign of triumph and that’s what David had. And so they would take that head and they would display it publicly, and it’s so significant, as I was saying before our break. That he took Goliath’s head and he took it to Jerusalem, and I believe that it’s a wonderful wonderful picture of the time of triumph, and you and I need to remember that. I told you in an earlier program that we work overseas. We work in 121 countries. We work in countries where people’s lives are laid on the line every single day. We have had people that have been martyred because of their Christianity. And I think about one dear brother. I was overseas and we bring people together from all these different countries and then I will teach them for a solid week. We call it our leadership training. These are heads of denominations.
They’re bishops, they’re heads of churches, they’re heads of women’s ministries, leaders that come by invitation. And so we’ll have maybe a 100 or 200 to be able to train them, and it’s such a time of encouragement. And I remember the day that Jack looked at this one man, and he was from this Muslim country, and he didn’t want us to take his picture because he knew that he was in danger. But I remember that man standing on the bus, and we were dropping him off; and as he was going to go to the train and he turned around and he looked at me and he said, “Sister Kay, would you please pray for me, pray for me?” And you know what? I didn’t pray for him as I ought to, and maybe a year later we heard that he had disappeared, and his wife didn’t know where he was. She didn’t know what had happened to him. And we all assumed that
he had been arrested because he was nowhere to be found. And then one day his wife went to the market place, and as she was walking through the market place, and this is where they buy their vegetables and fruits. It’s very different from our country. It’s not superstores like we have. And as she was walking through she looked up and she looked at her husband’s face and he was impaled up there; his head was on display. And what his head was saying to those people is, “Don’t you dare go against us. Don’t you dare stand for Jesus Christ.” That’s how she knew what had happened to her husband. We think that that’s a defeat, and yet, in a sense, there is a day when everyone of those knees that did that to that man are going to bow before God, bow before the Lord Jesus Christ, and they’re going to acknowledge that He is God and that there is no other. They are going to give obedience and obeisance to Him. They are going to bow and they are going to say, “There is only one God. His name is not Allah. He’s not the god of the Hindus. He’s not the god of the Muslims. He is not the spirit gods. There is only one God and His name is Jehovah, Yahweh. He is the one and only and true living God.” All the other gods are figments of our imagination. And yet others have persuaded men that you can believe in any god that you want.And Beloved, that’s not true. There is only one and there is only one way to God and Jesus said, [“I am the way, and I am the truth, and I am the life; and no one, absolutely no one, Jew or Gentile, comes to the Father except but through by Me.”] (John 14:6 Paraphrase) There’s only salvation in One; there’s only one Mediator between God and man and it’s the Lord Jesus Christ. And I just want to ask you a question. Have you bowed the knee to Him? Have you recognized that there is only one God and that there is only one way to God, and that’s through the One who came and was born of a virgin, who was God in the flesh, who died on the cross, who paid for your sins in full totally? There was one sacrifice for sin for all time and He made it with His body. He died on that cross. They buried Him. They knew He was dead, but God raised Him from the dead, because God’s holiness, God’s righteousness was satisfied with Jesus Christ’ death. And so
since His righteousness was satisfied He raised Him from the dead never to die again. Death has been conquered because Jesus paid the price. The question is: do you know that? Do you know that there is only one? Have you bowed the knee? Have you said, “My Lord and My God”? If you haven’t Beloved, then you’re not in the family. But I can tell you this: you’re hearing this because God wants to bring you into the family. God wants you to understand that Jesus is coming. He’s coming again a second time. And when He comes, He comes not for salvation, but He comes for judgment. [“It is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment.”] (Hebrews 9:27 Paraphrase) And when Jesus Christ comes the second time He comes not as a suffering Savior; He’s done that, but He comes as King of kings to rule. And the question is: will you bow the knee now? Because if you do not bow the knee now and you do not confess Him you will bow it when He comes, and then it will be too late, because then Beloved, you will be cast into the lake of fire, “…where the worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched.” (Mark 9:48)You say, “Well, I’ll just be burned up.” No you won’t. Hell is as eternal as life is. So what is the message here? That if you have bowed the knee, if you have received Jesus Christ as your Lord, as your Master, as your God, as your Savior, your sins are forgiven, and that you will never face them again. God has taken them and put them in the deepest ocean. He has put them behind His back. He remembers them no more. Your sins are forgiven. You have a brand new clean slate. [You have been made a new creature in Christ Jesus. Old things have passed away now. All things have become new.] (Paraphrase, 2 Corinthians 5:17) [You have died with Christ. You are buried with Christ. You were raised to walk in newness of life.] (Paraphrased, Romans 6:4) You have a brand new life before you. The enemy has been put to death. We have the victory, but we have to know that that victory did not come because of us; it only comes through us. And David sees that. Now watch what happens. It says, “Then David took the Philistine‟s head…,” I’m in verse 54, “…and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his weapons in his tent.”(1Samuel 17:54) You
want to watch that, because you know where they are and David’s going to use that sword later. “Now when Saul saw David going out against the Philistine, he said to Abner the commander of the army, „Abner, whose son is that young man?‟ And Abner said, „By your life, O king, I do [don’t] not know.‟”(17:55) In other words, David had been there and had been in the presence of Saul, and yet he never really hit him who he was. And he says, [“Now whose this man’s father?”] “[And] The king said, „You inquire whose son the youth is.‟”(17:56) And he wants to inquire because he’s going to bring David into his home. It says, “So when David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the Philistine‟s head in his hand.”(17:57) So it’s before David takes the Philistine’s head to Jebus or to Jerusalem. And, “Saul said to him, „Whose son are you, young man?‟
And David answered…,”(17:58a) Now listen, he didn’t say, “It doesn’t matter whose son I am. I just conquered the Philistine. I just brought the enemy down.” He doesn’t say that. This is what he says: “…„I am the son of your servant, [your servant] Jesse the Bethlehemite.‟”(17:58b) In other words, Jesse’s from Bethlehem and I’m his son. Aha, the Messiah has to come from Bethlehem. That’s what we’ll hear later from the prophet Micah. So God is establishing the lineage of the next king of Israel, upon whose throne the Messiah will someday sit. You say, “Okay, but tell me more.” Well, that’ll come in the next program, because we’re going to see now how David has to remember that this victory that he has had is because of God. And he’s going to understand that, [“It’s not by might, and it’s not by power, it’s by My Spirit,” saith the Lord.] (Zechariah 4:6 Paraphrase)
