Answers Bible Curriculum Year 2 Quarter 1 Lesson 12
In this lesson, David Capoccia looks at the account of David’s anointing as king of Israel. David Capoccia investigates especially why God chooses David, and, by implication, why God chooses to bless and covenant with believers today.
Auto Transcript
Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.
well good morning and welcome back to our answers Bible curriculum and it’s about the curriculum Sunday School let’s begin becoming near the end of our first quarter in the second year with this material a theme of our study for this quarter as you can see in the screen has been obedience and disobedience last week we saw how the theme this theme interacted with God’s rejection of Saul as king that’s review a little bit what two sins did Saul commit that cause God to announce to saw that God had rejected saw what was one of those great sins yeah Danny that’s right he failed to fulfill the mission that God had given him to destroy utterly destroy the Amalekites and their animals he’s spared a gag and he spared the best the animals what was his other great sin yeah he that’s right he offered animal sacrifice instead of Samuel he wouldn’t wait for Samuel he did it himself well confronted over these sins so protested his innocence by blaming others and by seeking the Lord’s favor via animal sacrifice he says all right it may have done those things but I did sacrifice to God but what does Sam you’ll say is more precious to God than any sacrifice true obedience that’s right obedience is more sweet to God a soul sins were very great and as the King and leader of Israel he was even more accountable than a normal person to God but what was in Souls heart that kept leading him to sin in these ways we tried to examine the root of Saul since last week what were some roots of his sin fear fear of fear of men especially but fear in general not trusting that the Lord would provide for him thinking that he needed the fear man what else yeah he wasn’t you right you know we did know that last week he kept saying the Lord your God is sent to Lord my God so yeah in a real sense he was not treating Yahweh as his Lord what else yeah his pride remember he sets up a monument to himself he’s trying to show off a gag as a captive King he takes the role of priest pride fear of man the trust and external earthly provisions for his security rather than the invisible God all of these were at the root of his sins and because he didn’t deal with those issues he kept finding himself falling and failing the Lord’s commands really got her Saul makes the same exchange that Israel does Israel wanted to exchange God for the security of a human King and saw one to exchange God also for the security of man’s favor and for the strength of armies but this was a foolish exchange because the security that he supposedly gained was illusory and he lost God the greatest treasure and security of all these things that he obtained the favor of man and his army strength they never actually made Saul feel secure if we go to the rest of the Old Testament you see that he’s very insecure all the time but worst of all these things could not keep for him that which he seems to desire most the kingship he was going to lose it let us beware of believing the lies thats all believed that obtaining and keeping something in this world will make us more secure more satisfied than simply having God take care of us if we really trust God to be our security and to provide for us what we need we will be obedient questions about last week’s lesson okay well God told Saul that God was going to give the kingdom to another person to a better man a man with a heart like gods and that man is David we’re going to talk about him today title the lesson is God chooses David now why does God choose David and how does God make his choice known and how are we to be instructed by God’s raising up David and casting down Saul we’re going to investigate those questions together this morning is our outline take a look at the anointing of David in First Samuel 16 113 then we’ll discuss that length why God chose David and then we’ll examine David’s arrival into the court of Saul and First Samuel 16 14 to 23 so just focusing on that one chapter scripture today let’s pray father I pray that you would speak clearly through me now as I seek to explain your word help help me to be able to or give me the words to speak and I pray that though I seem to be faithful in this task father you must do the work in hearts I pray spirit that you would accomplish your great work of sanctification of conviction and of encouragement that your church should be built up in Jesus name Amen let’s start by looking at David’s anointing and First Samuel 16 12 13 so please open your Bibles and turn their recall that in the previous chapter which we looked at last time Saul has just failed in his mission to the Amalekites Samuel rebukes Saul he announces God’s rejection of Saul for a second time and then same MO goes home never again to see Saul but all the while he is grieved over Saul and even God says that he regrets making Saul King now we’ll look at verse 1 of chapter 16 follow along with me now the Lord said to Samuel how long will you grieve over Saul since I have rejected him from being king over Israel fill your horn with oil and go I will send you to Jesse the Bethlem light for I have selected a king for myself among his sons but Samuel said how can I go when Saul here’s a bit he will kill me and Lord said take a heifer with you and say I have come to sacrifice to the Lord you shall invite jesse to the sacrifice and i will show you what you shall do and you shall anoint from me the one whom i designate to you so Samuel did with the Lord said and came to Bethlehem and the elders of the city came trembling to meet him and said do you come in peace he said in peace I have come to sacrifice to the Lord consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice he also consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice when they entered he looked at ely ab and thought surely the Lord’s anointed is before him but the Lord said to Samuel do not look at his appearance were 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 then Jesse called a bin adapt and made him past before Samuel and he said the Lord has not chosen this one either next Jesse made shamma pass by and he said the Lord has not chosen this one either thus Jesse made seven of his sons passed before Samuel but Samuel said to Jesse the Lord has not chosen knees and Samuel said to Jesse are these all the children and he said there remains yet the youngest and behold he is tending the sheep and Samuel said to Jesse send and bring him for we will not sit down until he comes or until he comes here so we sent and brought him in now he was ruddy but beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance and the Lord said arise anoint him for this is he then Samuel took the Horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward and Samuel arose and went to Rama alright let’s begin our analysis of this text with simple observations God call Samuel to stop grieving over Saul but instead to set about commissioning God’s replacement King where does God send Samuel to Bethlehem right so where jesse lives now Samuel expresses concern over this trip of what is Samuel afraid it’s all is going to kill him that’s right but God tells Samuel what to say to Saul and any others that might question what Samuel is doing what is Samuel to say I’m here to offer sacrifice that’s why I’m here and he’s got a heifer as proof take that heifer with you you’re going to offer the heifer as a sacrifice now how is Samuel going to meet with Jesse if he’s just an offer a sacrifice that’s right I’m going to invite jesse to the sacrifice so he does this he journeys to Bethlehem how did the elders of Bethlehem react when they see Samuel a-rod’s afraid do you come in peace they’re afraid Samuel says I do come in peace and he invites the elders and the family Jesse to the sacrifice now what does Samuel note about Ely AB Jesse’s son that makes a mule think that ely AB is God’s next king yeah yeah his appearance we don’t hear that specifically from Sam nobody says surely the Lord’s anointed is before him and then God says don’t look at his appearance or his what stature which means tight don’t look at those things because I’ve rejected you yeah God doesn’t look at the outward appearance but the heart how many sons passed before Samuel 7 but each time Samuel says the Lord is not chosen this one now David the youngest son of jesse was not there with the rest of the family at the sacrifice why not he was tending the sheep when Tim well here’s is one more sunny says we’re not going to sit down to eat until David comes we’re not going to enjoy the sacrificial meal when David comes David is described as ruddy and handsome but beautiful eyes remem’er eyes are particularly important to the Hebrew concept of beauty if you remember Leah Jacobs wife what was her one drawback she had weak eyes so that’s kind of central to what they thought a beautiful person looked like what is ruddy mean means red yeah so this means our it’s red or reddish so either refers to his skin or his hair he’s either red haired or had like a red tone to his skin the same word is used to describe Harry Esau at it in his birth at his birth at Genesis 25 hmm what description of both Saul and Iliad excuse me is missing from David yeah Duane what okay that’s right he’s not tall is apparently not fall or kingly looking at God tell Samuel that David is God’s chosen one and he tells Samuel to anoint him with oil and Samuel does so he anoints David in the midst of his brothers I mean this must have been a surprising and perplexing development to all at the sacrificial feast the youngest son of Jesse a shepherd a youth is being anointed by Samuel God’s prophet in the side of all when also in the Bible do we see older children being passed over while younger children receive honor and blessing Jacob and Esau that’s right Jacob was the younger and where else Joseph and his brothers Joseph was honored among them and even between Joseph’s two sons the younger was given greater honor and blessing what happens to David as a result of his anointing the Spirit of the Lord mightily comes upon him from that day forward and we don’t hear about the rest of the sacrificial celebration in Bethlehem but after the anointing Samuel goes home to Rama now that we’ve made these observations let’s interpret that’s some interpretive questions why is Samuel concern that anointing a new king would cause Saul to kill Samuel why does he think that doing so will result in execution Iran yes I wanted to be king that’s right he doesn’t want any threats to his kingship he didn’t want anybody else to be anointed king so if he knew that was going on Samuel expected that’s all would try to kill him this is the same thing same thing we see with Herod right in the New Testament when he hears that there’s a king of the jews somewhere in his territory why not where he is I can go worship Him no flag no kill him and when he threats and we see this later was solved interactions with David as he sees David become one more of a threat he seeks to kill him now was was Samuel’s explanation as to why he was going to Bethlehem truthful or deceptive it was truthful my say but but was it deceptive too well Samuel does tell the truth he is truly going to Bethlehem to offer a sacrifice at the Lord’s direction but Samuel leaves out and whenever he answers questions he leaves out the more important part of his going to Bethlehem is a more important purpose which is to anoint a new king how is this deception I don’t think that’s a great word to describe what Samuel is doing but if you maintain that it is deception well it’s not unrighteous because who tell Samuel to do it God unless you want accuse a god of sin you can’t find fault with Samuel here God is a God of truth God cannot lie yet God permits and even command Samuel to share some true information while also withholding other true information this is a line of a biblical principle principle that we’ve discussed in previous classes Christians may never lie but they can and sometimes should withhold part of the truth in certain situations with what kind of oil does Samuel anoint David it’s not explicitly stated here just says oil but it’s best for us to understand this as the holy oil from the tabernacle this is not simply olive oil or some other kind of oil that people often anoint to themselves with to improve their appearance that was basically how you made yourself look nice you anointed yourself with oil this is the kind of oil that we see at Solomon’s coronation Solomon’s anointing at 1st Kings 139 we read Zadok the priest then took the Horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon that is the tent of meeting that was an annual tent that was the tabernacle temple hadn’t been built the holy oil of the tabernacle was going to be used to anoint Solomon the oil of the tent this holy oil is described in Exodus 30 also it’s called the anointing oil it originally was part of cleansing and setting apart the holy objects of the tabernacle therefore by pouring this oil on first saw and then David Samuel and God were designating these Kings as set apart among the people and before the Lord indeed this meant that the King had a special commission and sanctioned from God it’s no accident that David and though he is anointed to be the next king he refuses to do any harm to Saul saying explicitly I will not lift my hand up against the Lord’s what I know it did it’s a big deal he’s been anointed by God I’m not going to mess with that the people were to have reverence for God’s anointed Kings just as they did the holy objects of the tabernacle they were anointed with the same holy oil now for the most important question why did God choose David to replace all as king there are a number of ways that we can accurately answer this question but what’s one yes d oh you’re talking about the coming Messiah yeah so part of it is the fulfillment of God’s promises some prophecies that haven’t been said yet but some even that have like back in Genesis where the throne or the scepter is not going to depart from Judah until Shiloh combs and to him will be the obedience of all the peoples that looks at not just a king from Judah but also kings and even a special king from Judah that is to come so part of the reason he chooses David Davidson the line of Judah and it’s part of filling his promises to Israel what else or why else Iran you yeah so as part of his fulfillment of what he said to Saul I promised that you would lose the kingship get I’m giving it to another man and I’m going to do that but this uh there’s a special quality to this other man is not just some other random guy what’s the special quality ya doing that’s right God had promised to solve that i’m going to pick a man who has a heart like mine we’ll talk more about that in just a second but God’s like to David because David had a godly heart why else st mmm right yeah I think the fact that David is a shepherd is going to be important for multiple reasons one as a just as some practical wisdom for kingship it’s also has to do with some of the pictures that God intends to show of himself but also a shepherd is very exalted position I mean David wasn’t allowed to come to the sacrifice which was the place of honor because he had to go take care of the sheet that was and it was apparently the job given to the youngest and the youngest is not going to get the best job so being a shepherd was not not honorable and yet God says I’m choosing a shepherd to be the next king of Israel pardon me for one moment so we see a number of different reasons for why God chooses David let’s talk about some of these a little bit more in detail we’ve noted that one reason that we can say that God chose David is because David was righteous they even had a godly heart it’s all her God said to Saul as Dwayne note in First Samuel 13 I sought out for myself a man after my own heart and first annual 15 God says to saw I’m giving the kingdom to a neighbor of yours who was better than you and then he corrects God correct Samuels misunderstanding of who the anointed king would be by saying don’t look at his appearance I don’t do that I look at the heart by implication saying the one I choose is going to have a good heart so david has a good heart david was chosen by God because David was righteous David had genuine faith which manifest itself and genuine obedience at heart like God’s own in a sense the exultation of thanks for exultation of David to the kingship was a reward to David for his righteousness but as we are aware of the rest of Scripture we should ask this corollary why did David have such faith that manifested in a righteous life he was chosen because he was righteous but why was he righteous yeah exactly because God chose to be kind to him God chose to make David righteous God mercifully gave David the gift of faith there’s not something innately in David that made him righteous or even made him more prone to choose righteousness or faith David himself confesses in Psalm 51 5 behold I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me now he’s not saying that the act of his conception was sinful he’s saying that I’ve been a sinner since I began to exist David was an inheritor of the spiritual death of his forefather Adam just like everyone else he was a born rebel against God a sinner committed to his own way unrepentant and unable to repent radically corrupt but God had mercy on David he opened David’s eyes to God’s truth he gave David the gift of faith God’s Spirit gave life to David spirit and David therefore believe and became obedient to God David did nothing to deserve this kindness it was an act of undeserved favor or what we call grace so yes it is true that God bestowed the kingship on David as a result of David’s righteousness but it’s also true that David was righteous because God gave David the gift of saving faith so therefore another way to actually answer the question of why did God choose David to be king has nothing to do with David at all it’s simply because God chose to it pleased God to do so it pleased God to show mercy on David by giving him faith and then rewarding him with the kingship it simply pleased God to make David King God did not have to choose to give David the gift of faith David would still have been responsible for his chosen path of sin but without God’s saving intervention David would never have chosen to follow after God and without a heart of faith God would have had no reason to give David the kingship so the choice for King ultimately was not based on David’s righteousness it was on God’s good pleasure this may remind you the same realization that we made about Abraham and God’s covenant with Abraham because God tells Abraham you may remember that God is going to set up a unilateral covenant of blessing with Abraham that is regardless of what Abraham does God is going to fulfill certain promises but at the same time later God tells Abraham because you have acted in righteous faith I will bring to pass all the promises that I’ve made in my covenant with you which is it God is your covenant a blessing unilateral or bilateral does it depend on one person or does it depend on both is it unconditional or is it conditional well the answer is yes to explain again the covenant of blessing was dependent on Abraham’s righteousness that is Abraham needed to have faith and demonstrate that faith in his obedience but God Himself was going to be the one to provide Abraham with that necessary faith and this way God is both the provider of and the rewarder of righteousness says I can only bless you if you’re righteous but I’m going to make you righteous in that sense the covenant is completely unilateral it’s the exact same for us who will receive the Blessed inheritance of God for eternity well those who persevere in faith who will persevere in faith of those who God calls and to whom God gives the gift of faith Ephesians 2 for 2 10 says all this explicitly I’ll read it to you Ephesians 2 4 to 10 but God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our transgressions made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the ages to come he might show their surpassing riches of His grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus so if you hear the first part of this verse is as gods chose certain people to just rain down blessings for eternity to show his rich kindness for eternity and then the rest of her says for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not as a result of works so that no one may boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them so you can see the three stages there once again God call certain people he enables them to do or yeah by faith he enables them to actually live lives of obedience and then he rewards them for all eternity for their faith and obedience but it’s all of God it’s all a gift of God so back to David yes it is true that David was chosen as king because of his righteousness but that righteousness was provided by God in the first place so it’s also true David was simply chosen according to God’s good pleasure to other reasons I want to explore a little bit more for why God chose David as Steve mentioned God is going to be faithful to his promises promises of judgment to Saul his promises to do good to Israel his promise is promise to send a deliverer that would um i would have the obedience of all the peoples and david as the as a righteous man from judah would be necessary to fulfill these promises but also another big reason for why God chooses David and we touched on this a little bit already is that God was going to use foolishness to glorify himself now I want you to turn to another section of Scripture hold your place in First Samuel but turn to first Corinthians 1 for a moment first Corinthians 1 if you’re in homegroups last sunday or friday you probably looked at this passage a little bit first Corinthians one I want to look at verses 26 to 31 because we see a gospel principles set forth in context Paul is using it to rebuke the Corinthians and exhort them to unity to stop being proud against one another but it’s a principle that applies in many situations look at verses 26 to 31 in first Corinthians 14 consider your calling brethren that there were not many wise according to the flesh not many mighty not many noble but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong and the base things of the world and the despise God has chosen the things that are not so that he may notify the things that are so that no man may boast before God but by his doing you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption so that just as that is written let him who boasts boast in the Lord this is God’s heart God loves to confound the wisdom of the so-called wise men of the world and to show the so-called strong their utter powerlessness how does he do this by exalting the lowly by taking the week the ignorant and the despised and turning them into powerful and glorious instruments of God and one a week and the foolish triumph who gets the glory it’s only God like you says is I do this so that no man may boast except in the Lord God delights to raise up and choose David the youngest the one given shepherd duty the one who’s not even brought to the sacrificial celebration the one whose appearance does not look kingly it’s beautiful but it’s not kingly God chose not only to make such a one king but to grant this one success at every turn and to even establish his line permanently over Israel’s kingship and indeed because his own son God’s Son to come from the line of David it’s incredible honor that is an incredible exultation and what does David’s response to this we haven’t read it yet it’ll come later did you say wow how great I am you must have found some really great stuff in me to do all this for me now he says God Who am I and what is my house that you should honor me in such a way you deserve all the honor and praise oh god I don’t deserve any of it you have been incredibly kind to me God loves to do this kind of thing he did it with David and he’s still doing it with his Saints today we are as Paul described we are the week we are the foolish we are the ignorant according to the world and we carry about with us a foolish gospel but through God we are more than conquerors and we will one day be vindicated and exalted by God to even rule and reign with Christ that’s an incredible reversal but God delights to do this God is opposed to the proud but he gives grace to the humble because in doing so he gives the glory that he himself is due to himself so certainly these four reasons are at the heart of why God chooses to make David King we could probably say others certainly kind of through all this it’s a loving act of God to Israel but these are some of the main reasons but when would the kingship actually arrive for David well not for some time God ordained in God’s own wisdom that David should enter into Saul service and become a greater and greater blessing to Saul and to the people of Israel but without becoming king in the meanwhile Saul becomes a greater and greater curse both to himself and to the people and we see the beginnings of that even in the next section of chapter 16 so back in First Samuel look now at the second half of chapter 16 starting in verse 14 and we’re going to read to the end of the chapter by the way apologize for my voice today still a little bit scratchy verse 14 2 verse 23 first name First Samuel 16 now the spirit of the lord departed from song and an evil spirit from the Lord terrorized him Saul servants then said to him behold now an evil spirit from God is terrorizing you let our Lord now command your servants who are before you let them seek a man who was a skillful player on the harp and the chil come about when the evil spirit from God is on you that he shall play the harp with his hand and you will be well so Saul said to his servants provide for me now a man who can play well and bring him to me and one of the young men said Behold I’ve seen a son of Jesse the Batla might who is a skillful musician a mighty man of Valor a warrior one prudent in speech and a handsome man and the Lord is with him so Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said send me your son David who was with the flop Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread and a jug of wine and a young goat and sent them to Saul by David his son and David came to Saul and attended him and Saul loved him greatly and he became his armor bearer soul sent to Jessie saying let David now stand before me he has found favor in my sight so came about whenever the evil spirit from God came to Saul David would take the harp and play it with his hand and saw would be refreshed and be well and the evil spirit would depart from him okay let’s analyze this section of text as well some quick observations as the Spirit of God comes mightily upon David what happens to solve the Spirit of God departs from him and more than that an evil spirit takes its place and where’s this evil spirit said to come from from God this evil spirit also translated distressing a harmful spirit is the cause of David coming to Saul’s court for what could David do that was supposed to ease Saul’s anguish he could play the harp skillfully David is not only called a skillful musician here but also a mighty man of Valor a warrior a man prudent in speech a handsome man and one with whom the Lord is and David’s music is able to give Saul refreshment and relief whenever this evil spirit this tormenting spirit comes upon Saul in fact what becomes Saul’s attitude toward David he loves him gross to love David and Saul oh so pleased with David in general that he makes David his armor bearer now what’s an armor bearer you ask well this was a special servants position in Israel’s early monarchy you don’t see it later on after David’s monarchy but you do see it installs time in David’s time the armor bearer or the shield bearer was a trusted marshal companion who accompanied his master into battle the armor bearer carried carried extra weapons or equipment for his master and the two formed a kind of battle duo for example if the master struck an enemy soldier with a ranged weapon either by bow or by javelin he wounded that enemy soldier the armor bearer was to go at close range and finish off the enemy combatant armor bearers were also sometimes entrusted with the duty of when asked by their master to kill their masters so that the enemies could not torture mutilate or kill them themselves so soul is making David an armor bearer was a mark of great trust and affection now we made these observations let’s ask a few interpretive questions did Saul lose a salvation when the spirit left him no no he did not whether Saul is actually saved or whether her you ever become saved is an entirely different question though most of what we see in Saul’s life is pretty rotten fruit even at the end of his life but regardless of whether sollen saved salt is saved we should not understand the coming or leaving of the Holy Spirit within individuals in the Old Testament as referring to gaining or losing salvation God certain is certainly active in the Old Testament in producing salvation and sanctification just as he is in the New Testament times but there is there’s also a difference in the New Testament but the Old Testament doesn’t specifically describe that aspect of the Holy Spirit’s work rather an Old Testament times whenever we hear about the Spirit of God coming upon a person it’s always for supernatural empowerment either for service or for prophecy like on the craftsman when the tabernacle was being instructed said the Spirit of God came upon a certain guy a certain I think male one or two guys and they suddenly are not suddenly but they had the wisdom and skill necessary to form the various parts of the tabernacle and to direct others to help create those things the Spirit came upon Jacob toward the end of his life and he prophesied about the future of his descendants Israel’s judges many times have the Spirit come upon them as they said about to deliver Israel and lead Israel’s armies into battle most famously in Samson Samson was able to perform feats of supernatural strength because God’s Spirit came upon him the Spirit of God also came upon Saul and Saul became suture net supernaturally empowered in his role as king gob was granting saw wisdom strength and fortitude a mind to do what he needed to do as the king of Israel but understand that this empowerment of God’s Spirit does not make one invincible against sin nor is it necessarily permanent in fact sin could cause the loss of such an equipping Spirit of God you may remember with Samsung while we didn’t go over in this class but you may know when Samson gives up the secret of his strength and his hair is cut judges 620 says the Lord departed from Samson and Samson no longer was able to perform his feats of strength though God did later empower him once more in the temple of Dagon to destroy the Philistines in assuming the way part of God’s judgment of rejection on Saul is the removal of God’s empowering spirit spirit leaves saw the special empowering spirit leave saw and it comes upon David so that David may fight a praise and may rule with special empowerment from the Lord so no we should not see the departure of the spirit as something to do with salvation what about this evil spirit what is this evil spirit from God this is a highly debated subject though really there’s nothing wrong with us after some working through it in our minds there’s nothing wrong with us taking the description here at face value that is this is an evil spirit that is it is a demon sent by God to harass and afflicts all now some would say whoa whoa whoa whoa this can be an actual demon since its sent by God how can a righteous God control demons or send them to afflict people and yet if God is completely sovereign which he is he must have control of demons and indeed of all evil in the world after all in the Bible God often sends the armies of wicked nations as judgments on other nations or God ordained sinful atrocities as part of his judgment on specific persons or people’s does this make audio is he the cause of sin or see the cause of evil absolutely not James tells us emphatically that God is not a tempter nor is he himself tempted Paul furthermore says in Romans that as the judge of all the world God by definition must be righteous completely and no man may use God’s sovereignty as a way to excuse their own sin people and demons are all completely responsible for their own evil acts that which they desire to do and God has and will judge people and demons for their evil and yet God is in complete control of them no evil can be done unless it is ordained by god for his glorious purposes when we see this explicitly in the Bible Satan has to ask God for permission to a flick job even more interestingly there after God grant Satan permission the Satan comes back into Saul’s court God says have you considered my servant job he holds to his integrity though you incited me to afflict him without cause wait I thought Satan did it what God was in control furthermore Satan hat demands permission from Christ to sift Peter like wheat the Legion asked permission for Christ from Christ to enter the pigs get in the game who see the evil ones there are under god’s control Martin Luther is reported to have once remarked the devil is God’s devil that is to say provocatively Satan cannot act at all without the express decree of God so what we’re seeing here is to biblical truth that seemed to contradict each other but are actually both true at the same time God exercises complete control over all things including evil forces and yet God is not evil nor the cause of evil we cannot completely unravel how these truths fit together but the Bible unapologetically presents them both to us as true back to Saul hear or say one more thing another get your question we need not search for some symbolic interpretation here for this evil spirit and be like I you know was it just like a mental thing you know this wasn’t really a wicked spirit wasn’t no this was a real wicked spirit it was allowed it was ordained you could even say it was sent by God apparently to cause mental agony for Saul some kind of mental agony and we see later in his life various manifestations of fear anxiety depression maybe even hallucination because of this wicked spirit but God sends this to Saul yet he also sends in he ordains one who could skillfully play for Saul to dispel this affliction the sweet psalmist of Israel David was your question Shang ok hmm mhm he I hmm hmm you send a number of things che I’ll make a couple comments on them and the maybe we could talk more about this afterwards but certainly we see other instances in the Bible where this connection between God’s sovereignty and evil especially demons is really put in the forefront and that other instance I forget where it is but there’s a vision given to one of the prophets where he sees almost like a council before God and he says you know how how are we going to make this can go up to the battle and be destroyed and then different spirits offer different approaches and then one says I will be a lying spirit in his prophets and I will cause them to tell him to go to battle and God says go and do so they say you know God was in control of that is he is he causing something evil to happen well he’s in control and yet he’s not the cause of evil where you mentioned Jesus being led into the wilderness to be tempted it is very interesting how James says let no one say when he is tempted I’m being tempted by God because you might say wait God’s sovereign aren’t temptations all from God essentially he says I don’t want you to describe it in that way because that seems to abdicate responsibility for yourself or for those who tempt you he says no actually when you’re tempted each one is led astray by his own lusts yes it’s true that God sovereign but don’t try and put the responsibility on god it’s yourself I think we could apply that same understanding to other supposed problems in God’s sovereignty and evil things in the Bible but what was the last thing you said oh I do want to be careful though when it comes to application to our own anxiety and fear or say like oh you know is this fear is this anxiety like a special distressing spirit from God sent to me well let’s remember that Saul probably not saved so there’s some things that are happening with Saul that if you’re a believer should not be happening to you but secondly we we do want to heed the excitation from James that things like anxiety or anger or depression these things are sin and if we give way to those things we are choosing to follow after sin we can’t be like a home you know God sent me this anxiety no we are choosing to go after that anxiety God may have allowed the circumstances or allow the temptation to come to you but he is not making you anxious he is not making you fearful or was he making you angry if you choose to do any of those things it is your sin and you need to repent of it so let’s we do want to make sure we don’t go we don’t apply this the wrong way in terms of how how God might even use evil spirits to afflict yeah ok hmm he hmm oh yeah that’s that’s a good point that’s great great points bill so specifically that in a way that God didn’t want them to do and that lying spirit and their defeat in battle was an act of judgment just as really this spirit on Saul is an act of judgment it is true that as you pointed out that God does allow people to be tested with various afflictions even Saul says that there was a thorn in the flesh given to me and that was under God’s sovereign control but the demonic activity that we’re seeing here they are acts of judgment and i think i will talk maybe herb this is one way that we can think about application is that if you don’t believe in the lord if you’re not under the Lord’s protection that the judgment of God is very real both in this life and then the next and you do not want to be placed into the hands of an angry god we could say other things about that but let’s move on for now this evil spirit from God which we had talked about one other question I want to ask is what does the author show us by giving us these details about David and Saul what are you showing us about David and Saul spirit leaves all evil spirit comes upon him it needs relief God causes an official to say oh I know somebody who can give you relief David comes to the cortisol loved by Saul becomes his armor bearer I’ll give us these details yeah Roy yeah we see God sovereignly remaining things and what specifically is God doing or beginning to do even in these details yeah Denny exactly we already see the beginning of God fulfilling what he promised us all I’m going to remove the kingship from you and I’m going to give it to a better person and we see David being brought into solid court and he’s now going to become more and more active on behalf of Saul on behalf of Israel and he’s going to gain the favor of Israel and we’re going to see thats all becomes more and more cursed we already see that curse being manifested here with the let departure of God’s Spirit and the coming of this evil spirit but David becomes more of a blessing even to Saul what I find really interesting is that when we consider this truth of God judging those who dishonor him and raising up those who honor him we’ve seen that twice here in First Samuel first with Eli and Samuel and then Saul and David and in both instances the replacement the one being exalted actually serves the one being judged Samuel served Eli David serves all exactly sure what to make of that but didn’t notice it you can say something Danny yeah this is going to be one of the defining marks of David as you point out Danny even though he’s anointed he doesn’t do anything he could have perhaps thought oh I can do I can start my own Kingdom or i can raise up a rebellion but he doesn’t he’s very patient to wait for the Lord to give him the kingdom and he will not raise his hand up against his anointed in fact again and again even when Saul is doing evil to David David’s trying to do good to Saul Saul tries to pin David to the top wall twice with a spear Dave is trying to like help him by playing music for him and so I was trying to kill him or even when fall comes after him he will not kill Saul he fights all his battles so we see just how great God’s blessing to Israel is going to be through David where he’s even a blessing to his master who was rejected by God and who is going to later try and kill David so we see Souls cursed david blessed but God is already accomplished arise of one and the fall of the other before we consider some application any any other questions about today’s lesson yeah Greg well it was public at least to a certain extent just to repeat your question was the public aware of David’s anointing was it a public event well it was a public sacrifice that he was part of in Bethlehem and it says that David was anointed in the midst of his brothers so at least his brothers saw it and probably those who were at the sacrificial feast saw because they’re all there I guess the sacrifice had been offered and there they’re going to eat of some of the sacrifice probably the peace offering which the offerors could be part of they’re all sitting down have this meal and then before they can do that he says I have to anoint this youth would the holy oil of the tabernacle how did they understand what that meant I don’t know when Saul was anointed it was private or at least the for the first time not sure he’s anointed more than once I don’t think he is but when Saul is anointed by Samuel it was done in secret he says tell your servant to go away and then he annoyed some of the holy oil so maybe it wasn’t quite understood at that time what anointing with holy oil meant they probably were asking questions like what could we just witness but whether they understood the full extent of what that anointing meant we can’t say probably I’m inclined to say that they didn’t understand what was happening because no one reports at the saw like oh by the way someone just got anointed king in fact it’s the guy who we just invited to your court now cuz saw was not suspicious of David not until david starts the game favor in battle so kind of a long way to say it was public but it seems like people didn’t understood the significance of what was happening other questions yeah Danny yeah great question and part of it has to do with what we talked a little bit about already but to repeat your question God as we point out chooses David gives David faith makes David righteous makes David King but he didn’t choose to give solve faith Saul was not righteous and saw lost the kingship so how why can God finds fault with saw when Saul was not going to be righteous if God didn’t give him the faith well people raised the same question to Paul in the enrollments and he he answers it very interestingly a number of ways but he says that God has mercy on whom he has mercy he’s not required to show mercy to all people he hardens whom he wishes to harden and he has mercy on whom he wishes to have mercy you do not have a right to question God or lay the responsibility on God no your sin is completely your own and you are judged for your sin so Saul chose to not honor God to not seek God to not use god as his security and God says I’m going to judge you for that David would have done the same thing but God says I’m going to be merciful to you I’m going to open your eyes to my truth I’m going to cause you to have faith College you to be righteous and then I’m going to reward you for that by giving you the kingship this is a this is profound it is even beyond us God has the right to do this we don’t have the right to expect this and when it happens or when we see it happen we just say God thank you for being merciful to me I don’t deserve this and this is what we’re going to be saying for all eternity God we didn’t deserve the kindness that you gave us we were all committed to our own ways we would have been justly destroyed for going that way you had been right to punish us for it but you instead cause us to turn to you good question Danny as we close today let’s consider two application questions there are a number of applications from today’s lesson but two I want to draw your attention to questions for you to ask yourself what kind of heart do you have before God is it like David’s that is is it like God’s heart do you genuinely desire to do all of God’s will are you a man or a woman after god’s own heart if you’re believer you ought to be that’s what it means to be a believer or is it the case that you are like Saul you have a heart like Saul’s you’re willing to put up a good facade you’re willing to fulfill certain external religious requirements but you are still devoted to something else other than God if you believe your heart is good and you are full of faith in Christ does then your heart manifests itself and a lifestyle of righteousness are your words thoughts and actions marked by goodness or does sin reign in various sections of your life Jesus says that a man brings forth from his heart into his actions an evil heart brings forth evil acts and they defile the person I cannot see your heart I can sometimes see the fruit but my ability perceives not perfect but God sees your heart God knows your heart what does God say when he sees your heart another question do you delight in the foolishness of God’s gospel are you glad to stand with God against that which is called wise strong praiseworthy today and stand with those and that which is called weak foolish and shameful are you glad to be a fool for Christ’s sake for example do you love to affirm the clarity authority and wisdom of the Bible and the face of those today who claim the bible is inaccurate outdated or incomprehensible do you delight and placing your trust and satisfaction in God by a shoeing the rat race of our world for more and more material treasures and security that’s foolish going to the world it’s wise according to God do you love to minister to and to stain with people that society places little value on today children the sick the elderly the imprisoned the unpopular the poor and the persecuted who’s your kind of people do you want to minister to and stand with those people or do you rather crave the acceptance of recognition of the world do you seek their praise and affirmation do you find yourself embracing their practices and their attitudes those who pay no attention to God’s Word beware because God will ultimately cause the foolish to shame the wise and the week to shame the strong because in doing so God will show himself to be glorious and rebellious man and all his pomp to be utterly to based God will vindicate the lowly but he will oppose the proud we have another week or two with our memory verse there’s no sunday school next week because of Resurrection Sunday but the following week will finish out the quarter and finish with a memory verse and yeah so don’t forget a memory verse yes Carol yes next week earth yes but there’s no fellowship portion right Wayne thank right yeah so service begins at eleven o’clock next week and not 930 for sunday school but good opportunity to invite those who normally couldn’t come to Sunday school or wouldn’t come to church because of Sunday School you can bring them to our main service let’s close in prayer father we thank you for your foolish and glorious or foolish go into the world it’s not foolish at all it’s completely wise we love the way that you do things God because you are glorious and you deserve all glory and man does not deserve glory thank you for being so kind to us in your sovereignty what caused us to know more and celebrate more about you in today’s service in Jesus name Amen