April 23, 2025 • 52 mins
🎙️ Episode Title: The Shepherd King: God's Will in God's Way
📅 Original Sermon Date: August 20, 1989 📖 Series: The Life of David 👤 Speaker: Pastor Chuck Rains 🎧 Hosted by: Marcus Onate 🎚️ Archive Source: Fellowship Bible Church Tape Archives
📌 Summary:
In this sermon from 2 Samuel 5, Pastor Rains explores how David's rise to kingship illustrates the importance of doing God’s will in God’s way. While David was clearly God’s chosen, the path to his rightful reign required faith, patience, and integrity—not manipulation or force. Pastor Rains contrasts David's approach with those who acted out of self-will, like Abner, Joab, and the assassins of Ish-bosheth, emphasizing that divine purpose must never be fulfilled through fleshly means.
🧠 Key Themes:
- God’s Sovereignty in Leadership David was anointed to lead—not by man’s appointment, but by God’s call.
- The Danger of Doing God's Work Man's Way Examples from Abner and Ish-bosheth highlight how personal agendas lead to destruction.
- David’s Integrity and Restraint Even when given the chance, David refused to take the throne by violence or vengeance.
- Shepherding Over Kingship God called David not just to rule, but to shepherd His people—leading, feeding, and protecting them.
- Christ as the Ultimate Shepherd King Through David’s story, we see a shadow of Jesus, the Good, Great, and Chief Shepherd, who leads in love and righteousness.
📖 Scripture References:
- 2 Samuel 2–5
- James 1:10 – “The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.”
- Psalm 51:4 – “That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest…”
- Matthew 6:33 – “Seek ye first the kingdom of God…”
- Isaiah 40:9–11 – A prophetic picture of Christ as Shepherd
- John 10 – Jesus, the Good Shepherd
- 1 Peter 5 – Instructions for church leaders to shepherd the flock
- Hebrews 13:20–21 – Benediction referencing Jesus as the Great Shepherd
🧾 Notable Quotes:
“You don't accomplish the will of God by the power of your flesh.”
“If God put him there, God has to remove him.”
“David had to learn that if he was going to be king God’s way, he had to first be a shepherd.”
“Love knows no limit.”
🙏 Application:
This episode challenges listeners to examine how they pursue their calling—whether in leadership, family, ministry, or daily life. Are we seeking to fulfill God's purpose by relying on our own strength and timing? Or are we walking in humility, patience, and surrender, allowing God to lead?
📌 Resources:
- Full transcript available on legacybiblepodcast.com
- Audio versions also available on YouTube and podcast platforms
- For feedback or questions, reach out via the comment form on the website
- Thanks for listening and please subscribe.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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Well friends and podcast listeners, this is the Legacy Bible podcast, a place where
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you will hear legacy audio from the tape archives of the Fellowship Bible Church in
Joliet Il. My name is Marcus Onate. I'm going to be bringing to you another one
from the tape archive. This was from, let me see, it's August 20th, 1989 and it's part of the
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series of Life of David. We had a lot of them from 1989 to life of David and I think this is one
of the last ones that I have from that series, but are the last ones I have from 89. So I think
this is the last one for a while unless I find some more tapes from 89. So far I think this will
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be it. The last one from the Life of David, which we've been doing for quite a long time. Okay,
this one is called the Shepherd King doing God's will in God's way. Alrighty then, so that's a great
to it and take it away past the Rains. In 2 Samuel chapter 5, Life of David, David chosen to be
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Captain over Israel. You see, David was chosen by the Lord to be King of the Lord's people Israel.
Let me read again for you. Chapter 5 verses 1 and 2, then came all the tribes of Israel to David
and to Hebron and spake saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. Also in time past when
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Saul was King over us, thou wan out, thou was he that let us out and brought us in Israel. And the
Lord sent to thee, and here's their admission, recognizing here this quotation, that the Lord had
been the one who had anointed, who had chosen, who had appointed David as King. It says, thou shall feed
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my people Israel, and thou shall be a captain over Israel. So David was chosen by the Lord to be
captain over God's people Israel. Now to make it possible for him to be King, Saul had to be removed,
but how, how was Saul going to be removed? Do you know that the Lord used Saul's disobedience,
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Saul's stubbornness of heart, to bring him to his final fall?
Saul refused to kill all the Amalekites, and it was an Amalekite that struck the last blow
in killing Saul. Then Saul's lack of faith and his fear ravaged heart. Just think of those times
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when that fear gripped him to the place where he was out of his mind.
And David had to come and play his harp to soothe his spirit.
That led to the dividing of allegiances among the people. As far as their commitment of themselves
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wholeheartedly to Saul as King in the face of his weaknesses,
and when there was a division ultimately from David, the one that stood there as the kind of the
strong man that led the armies of Israel out and led them back in,
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point the battles of Israel so that the people's hearts could gain confidence and see God was with
them. And showing his power and defending his glory when David was separated from Saul,
and Saul sought David to kill him, then the people's hearts weakened.
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And even Saul's military power was drained away. Yes, he said Abner is his captain over his army,
but you see the military was weakened by the heart of the people being drained away. There was no
commitment to Saul as unto the Lord, unto death. And so the Philistines mounted their armies there
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in the valley of Esbron, you know, Armageddon and the just real and came against him.
And the Philistines defeated Saul and killed him, and he killed his sons Jonathan.
And Israel was scattered, and there was a vacuum.
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Well, Saul's captain Abner stepped into that vacuum in the flesh, and he made Ish-Bershev King.
Here it is in 2 Samuel 2, at verse 8 and 9, gives it very briefly. So Abner, the son of Nure,
captain of Saul's host, host their friend to his military host, his army, took Ish-Bershev,
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the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanai, and made him king over Gilead, and over the
ashirites, and over Jezreel, and over ifrime, and over Benjamin, and over all Israel.
Notice who made Ish-Bershev King. It's not like this verse over here in chapter 5, where the men
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of Israel are saying this about the Lord, where the quote is, thou shalt feed my people Israel,
and thou shalt be a captain over Israel. That's the Lord, because they admit that.
It says, the Lord said to thee, the Lord made David, captain over Israel, who made Ish-Bershev
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captain over Israel, the 10 tribes up there. Well, it included Benjamin, I might add.
Simeon gets somehow lost in people's reckoning of where the 12 tribes are, and I forget that
is part of a Judah, don't you? But nonetheless, Benjamin was up there with Israel's other tribes.
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Who made Ish-Bershev King? Not God. It was a man. It was a man.
It was Abner. I am king by the power of Abner. Did you prefer that, or would you prefer I am king
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by the power of the Lord God? Ish-Bershev reigned for only two years.
And not that some of those that God would have had be king reigned always great lengths of time,
but I think that's a commentary and not so much just the time element, but how that rain went,
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and what finally brought Ish-Bershev to his final end? Ish-Bershev had to be removed in order for
David to be king over all the tribes of Israel. But how? How is he going to be removed?
Who came this way? Abner defected to David. The one that had made him king switched his allegiance,
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and he went to David and made an alliance with David.
And the reason he did, it's not a very glorious reason, was that Ish-Bershev had charged Abner
with immorality with one of the concubines of his father Saul.
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And Abner was so infuriated by that that he would be charged with that sin,
that he would be so dealt with, so treated, so his very name, his purity, of his honor,
so questioned that he couldn't stand it. You see, he recognized that he had been absolutely and
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utterly misjudged, and it sent him to David, and he went to David.
I mean, I want you to understand, he didn't go to David first because of his great love for God.
First because he wanted God's will. First because he wanted God's choice on the throne. He went to
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David only second after his own will, his own flesh, failed after it turned and bit him like a
serpent. Then he was willing to admit what God had said all the time, that David was to be king
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over Israel. Then there was great jealousy for God's righteousness and glory.
Then there was the proper place for the love of God. Then there was the desire for God's will and
God's choice to make David king. But it's not supposed to be that way, people. We're not supposed to first
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put our will and our determination about life out there. And only after that stripped away from us,
then be brought to the end of ourselves and say, well, then I'll go along with the will of God.
It's not how it's supposed to be. Now God is to let us come to that place often,
to bring us to a place where we'll say to ourselves with honesty, you know, my will
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isn't such a delight. I want to surrender to the Lord. God's way is better.
I know clearly what God says. There's so many times I talk with folk and I can't teach them
anything about the righteousness of God. They know they have studied the Word of God and I don't
mean to be their teacher. The truth is I've talked with some who know the Word. Well,
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they perhaps know the Lord longer than I have. 38 years I've known the Lord.
But sometimes I get to talk to people who've known Him 50 years. I remember one man
came to a service that I was preaching at. Al was his name. And he broke before God
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and cried out for forgiveness. And then after the service he told me his story, 52 years before that day
Al had walked away from his lords, keeping care, shepherding. And he'd gone out into the world.
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Though a child of God had gone out into the world to live life for his own pleasure, 52 years later,
here he was, really at the end of life, now crying out to God for forgiveness, 52 years wasted.
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But what a sweet brother he was in the years that remained.
I thank God. That little church had no organist.
Al was a musician and he sat down at that organ and began to play.
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He finally found an opportunity to praise God with his musical abilities.
One that had played with Paul Whiteman, which means nothing to most people.
Florida, do you remember that name? Do you? Oh boy.
Oh yeah.
Marge, do you remember that name? You've heard it. Okay, just to
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Well, he was a, he was a, you know, in the world, he was a famous band leader.
This man was very famous, played with that band. And that's, by the way, another Christian who played in that band
was a great witness for God.
But he came back.
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His will was not better than the will of God. And Israel was finally coming to that place to say that.
Abner was finally coming to that place to admit that.
But you know, Abner had to be removed and you say, well, he defected to David, but there was still
hatred in Joab, David's captain's heart. And Joab worked out a plan and carried it out and
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cheer in chapter three at verse 27. And Joab wanted Abner out of the way his way. And when Abner was
returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly and smote him there
under the fifth rib that he died for the blood of Asah, asah, his brother.
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Joab was determined to get rid of Abner his way.
And the sons of Rimam, the berythite, Rikhab and Bana went and came about the heat of the day
to the house of Ishposhap, who lay on a bed at noon. Now people, you're not really supposed to be
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sleeping at noon, but I don't want to go into that right now. But nonetheless, this fellow was in
this bed at noon. And they came thither into the midst of the house. I just trust he was
up night all night praying, maybe or something. I doubt that. But they came thither into the
midst of the house as though they would have fetched wheat. In other words, they came,
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as I'm sure some of the Israelites would have, to the king's house and no doubt the king had a store
of grain. And it was perhaps expected that the king would be benevolent and oversee the dispensing
of that for the sake of some that were truly in need. I don't believe we're reading too much
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into that to suppose that that was the ruse being used here. And they smote him under the fifth rib.
And Rikhab and Bana, his brother, escaped. For when they came into the house, he lay on his bed
in his bed chamber, and they smote him and slew him and beheaded him,
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and took his head and got them away through the plane all night. That is a bloody scene.
You see, the idea under the fifth rib, you're reading this all fifth through and fifth
rib, but they're doing as they're trying to pierce so that they pierce into the heart.
That's the idea. You're on a spear or a sword through a man's heart. He doesn't live. He bleeds
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to death. Do you think that the bedroom scene?
Bleed to death, and they cut his head off right there and took his head with him.
Bloody, bloody murder. And they brought the head of Isposhapha unto David at Hebrew,
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and said to the king, can you imagine, are holding up the head of this man?
Behold, the head of Isposhapha, the son of Saul, the anemone. Here it is. Recognize it.
Which saunt thy life, and the Lord hath avenged my Lord, the king, this day of Saul, and of his seed.
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Has David learned his lesson yet? Do you remember those two times when he could have taken the life
of Saul once in the cave, once in the trench, you remember? Once in the cave, when he was
with his men there, hidden in the back, recesses of the cave, and he came out and saw was asleep
at the front part of the cave, and he came up to Saul, and his men basically were saying,
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Go ahead, go ahead, kill him. He's your enemy, kill him.
And David just cut a piece of his garment off, and went back into the cave. And then the next day,
he showed to Saul the garment piece. The Lord smote his heart for that,
because by touching even the garment of that man, David was saying in that little way,
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by taking a little piece of the garment, he was saying, I want you out of the way,
and I want you out of the way now. I'm going to use my power and my force to get the will of God,
and even though he just took a little bit of the garment, you say, boy, that's pushing the
principle off the far, but you can push principles to the extreme and they're righteous.
It was no more righteous to cut a piece of the man's garment off than it was to kill him,
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pertain to his person. It's no right to use his power to work the purpose of God.
Your power is only to be used to work the purpose of God under the control of the Spirit of God,
not for your selfish purposes, and according to your wisdom, it's just not supposed to be used that
way. Second time when he and a man with him, crowed literally over the sleeping bodies of Saul's
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army and finding Saul in the trench where he was supposed to be super safe for his army all around
him. These two men in the middle of the night got there and they came right up the Saul,
and of course the fellow with David said, go ahead, kill him, kill him. He's right there.
David said, I can't do that. He took his spear and his bolster off. They went, and the next day
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again, David showed that the Saul showing him that he could have taken his life, but this time he
was wise. He would not even touch the garment. He would not touch the person of the king.
Now, this is the king's son. He could say, well, he's been installed in office as one of the king's
seed, but that isn't the Lord's choice. Well, so be it, but it was done.
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And men, honoring the thinking of men that they perpetuate the bloodline of one that has been put
into office, and after all, God did put Saul into office. Here's the thinking, this man therefore
has a rightful place to serve. You don't accomplish the will of God by the power of your flesh.
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And you don't accomplish the will of God by doing such a thing, trying to bring glory to yourself
or serving your own purposes. These two men brought that head to David because they thought they were
going to get complimented. They thought that David would say, oh, wonderful, you fellas did a
wonderful thing. You got rid of my enemy. Don't you remember the man that came and told David that he
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was the one who ran the sword through Saul? He said, well, you know, he was dying and he begged
me to do it. And so I, you know, I did him a kindness. I killed him.
David said, how would you dare touch God's anointed? You see, push the extreme principle to the extreme.
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The man himself cannot even ask you to violate the principle. You can't even have the dying king
himself tell you to do it because it's a principle from God. You don't do that. If God put in there,
God has to remove him. You can't even in the least effort in the least way.
Take up the work of God in your own strength and according to your own will. And David had his men
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kill that Amalekite for daring to touch God's anointed. Do you think he's going to do
last with these two men who have come now, bringing the head of Ishmael?
Well, if he's changed his understanding of this principle, he would change, of course,
but here's the thing about David. He is a man after God's own heart. He does have this wonderful
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quality that when he's shown his wrongs, he confesses his sins and he's willing to change.
That's a man after God's own heart. It's not somebody that just walks in perfect righteousness.
Listen, none of us can do that. But God does want us to be heart sensitive,
spirit sensitive so that when we're shown a guilt of our sin, we hate it and turn from it and we
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amend our ways and we surrender to the Lord to walk in righteousness.
David learned this lesson. He wasn't going to violate this. So it says,
David answered Rahab and Bana, his brother, the sons of Remen, the bhyrithite, and said
unto them, as the Lord liveeth with redeem my soul out of all adversity, when one told me,
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saying, behold, Saul is dead thinking to have brought good tidings. I took hold of him and slew
him in zig-lag, who thought that I would have given him a reward for his tidings.
Now, literally he used his own army, I mean, his men in his army to do that. But as far as David
was concerned, he gave the command in it. He was responsible for it. How much more when wicked men
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have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed, shall I not therefore now require
the blood of your hand and take you away from the earth? I've done it once. I'm not going to go back
on the principle, he's saying. David commanded his young men, and they slew them, and cut off their
hands and their feet, and hang them up over the pool and hebran. Some of the reading in the Old
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Testament is really bloody, isn't it? Why the hands and the feet? Because everywhere in the
scriptures, the hands speak of our deeds and the feet speak of our goings,
and where they went and what they did was violent against God. And it was
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a symbol to the people looking at their bodies with no hands and no feet that where these men went
and what these men did was sin, and they deserved to die for it. So they took the head of Ishmael
Shathm buried it in the sepulchre of Abner and Hebran. Really a loving kind thing to do.
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So David said, no, I will not do the will of God by the power of the flesh. I will not. If God's
will is going to get done, it's going to have to get done in God's time by God's means. I'm his
instrument to do righteous things, but I will not in the name of God do unrighteousness. I cannot.
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So in that vacuum, the men of Israel finally acknowledge David as king. There it is again,
5'3". So all the elders of Israel came to the king in Hebran. And King David made a league with
them in Hebran before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.
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Now I think it's important to recognize the difference between God working in righteousness
and love and God working in judgment and wrath. I think you want to know there's a difference.
God can work through righteousness and love, and that's His nature, and He will do that, and He will
never violate His nature. But when His love has been spurned, when His righteousness is violated
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and one will not repent and one will not turn, then ultimately He must deal with us in judgment
and in wrath. That's the way it is. God will never change. God changes not. You know the Scripture?
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Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever. You know the Scripture?
He will not do His work, His will. A contrary to His very nature, He will not.
There's a verse in James 1-10. Basically it says, the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of
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God. The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
You cannot, by your fleshly, self will, perfect or bring to fulfillment the righteousness of God.
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You can't. It'll never change. God will always be shown to be right when He judges. You know Psalm
51-4, here's David, against the, the only have I sinned and done this evil and I cite,
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and might be clear when thou judged. You see,
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God is always going to be clear when He judges. You're never going to be able to say, oh Lord,
you judged, but you were wrong. Poor Job, you know, he thought for sure God is wrong. He had made a
mistake. You know, there he was suffering. He was God's child and God was in this case,
not working wrath, but he was, and Job's understanding, he was disciplining him and he didn't know what
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for. Surely God had made a mistake. You know something God didn't make a mistake. It was not,
it was not discipline. It was not chastisement. And Job was right to examine his heart and see if
he deserved some chastisement. That was right, but there wasn't anything there.
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And that's why I thought God made a mistake. But you know, God has another kind of purpose for the
Godly and that is to make His glory known, sometimes even through their trial. I've told you often,
I've stood at the bedside of somebody who is dying, most horrible and painful death, like maybe from
cancer. Some of you have been there with me. And that dear saint dying most horribly from cancer
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can be one of the sweetest, most effective witnesses of the Lord's love.
And I've also stood at the side of another dying from that kind of disease.
And they call to death like one that I was told of at prayer meeting two weeks ago to pray for a
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certain man, father-in-law, one of our members. And this father-in-law is angry against everything,
angry against God. He's bitter. He's filled with hatred and he's going to his death, cursing God.
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Because God should allow him to have that disease.
So it isn't a matter of circumstance. It's a matter of our heart
willing to look to the Lord for His purpose, being willing to be examined of ourselves and
our sin, if there's any there, to be chastened if God's chasing us, then let chastening work.
It's perfect work. The purpose of God, according Hebrews 12, is our holiness to work that in us.
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God through our trial wants us to be perfect and entirely, lacking nothing.
And God will let that purpose work and love him and trust him all the time.
So when God works in judgment, believe me, he will always be shown to be right.
You know, I started by saying that Israel recognized that David was the king.
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I remember back here at chapter 5, one and two,
and came all the tribes of Israel to David under Hebrew and the spake sang,
behold, we're thy bone and thy flesh. And in time past when Saul was king over us,
thou were he that let us out and brought us to Israel. And the Lord said to thee,
thou shalt feed my people Israel and thou shalt be a captain over Israel.
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But you didn't notice, did you notice that other little phrase?
Not just thou shalt be captain over Israel. Do you notice the other phrase?
Thou shalt feed my people Israel. Now the reference to feeding his people Israel,
you can take the word feed there and you can substitute the word shepherd.
Thou shalt shepherd my people Israel.
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David was prepared as a shepherd.
The word for bear, as far as that is concerned, that was secondary.
It was not primary. The primary thing that God was preparing David in was shepherding.
He was out there as a teenager. He was out there taking care of sheep.
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Now the bear or the lion might come on occasion.
And I tried to show you from the language that he grew there, the verb tense is there.
That this referred to multiple times. This was not a single incident.
So on occasion a bear would come or a lion would come
and they would threaten the flock.
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And he would go and kill the bear or the lion with the weapons of a shepherd.
He had a staff and he had a sling and he had his bare hands.
Now I tell you the truth recently, just stay out with the
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Yellowstone a couple of weeks ago and we saw some bears.
Every time I see a bear, I appreciate their beauty. They're really a beautiful creature.
But I like bears close enough to be seen and far enough for me to get away from.
That's about whatever that distance is. And as I get older, I notice it has to be farther.
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Because I run slower. I used to be able to look at them pretty close and see a lot of their detail.
Now I have to have binoculars and look through cameras.
And if there's especially this last one we looked at at a grizzly, she was on the other side of
a river and I thought that's great. And she's got to take some time to get over that river.
And then by then I'd be in the car and we're okay. She can stay on her side of the river and
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I'll stay on mine. But David would go and take a bear and literally just apparently he would break
the jaw of the bear. Just apparently just pull their mouth apart and break their jaw or grab
them around the neck and break their necks something. I can't imagine it. I mean,
bears are not easy to wrestle with. Not that I've ever done it or ever seen it, but I just can't
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imagine their powerful creatures and their vicious and lions. But he did it. Why would he do it?
Why would a young man, a good looking strong young man with the whole world in front of him,
go into a death fight with a vicious beast? Will you say for the sake of the sheep? Now listen,
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for the sake of the sheep, those few sheep, his brother said, you know, you're a few sheep out on
them. Those few sheep that he had, would you lay your life on the line for a few sheep?
You see, it's not the sheep only. It's the principle of the thing. You ever hear that?
What if it was one measly mangy sheep? I don't know. Do they get manged? Yes, I think they do.
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When it was one week sheep, should David have risked his life? And you know, my answer to that
would be yes. You better believe that because if you believe that Jesus would come and die for
sins, you would ask the question ultimately, would he die for the sins of one man, one woman,
one boy or girl? And the answer has to come from heaven and earth. Yes, he would.
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Love knows no limit.
But warfare was secondary. Why would he go into war to take care of the sheep because of the sheep,
because his shepherding was first? David should not have looked at his being captain over Israel so
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that he could wage war and be important and wealthy. He should have looked at the privilege of being
king over Israel for the purpose of shepherding the people, of feeding the people.
That was his purpose, really, from God, to shepherd the people. That's how he was prepared,
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but that's not necessarily how he lived. This old thing, again, of having your needs met first,
your own needs met first, and then serving the will of God. Now, that's not the way of the word of God.
God says there is a need for food and clothing and shelter.
He also speaks from his own design of a need for a wife or a husband, a need for a family.
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You can speak of these because they're by God's design. There's a need for men to recognize one
rightfully. There is a matter of principle of honor. There is a praise that is fitting in the
eyes of men, but there's also mishandlings of all of these truths, and men's will getting in the way
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and projecting of men above it. Matthew 6.33, what are we supposed to seek first? The kingdom of
God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto us, it tells us. What does 1 Timothy
6.8 tell us? Having food and ram it, were there with to be content, aren't we?
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So David was supposed to shepherd. What do you do when you shepherd? You lead the people.
Then a shepherd would also lead the sheep. You see, the people were the sheep. What else would he
do for a sheep? He would not only lead them out, he would provide by his leading, he would provide
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food and water for them, take them to a place where they could eat and drink. And then you would
always have to watch out for them. He would have to protect the sheep, lead the sheep, feed the sheep,
protect the sheep, lead the sheep. That means to invest your day, your every hour, your energy,
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for the sheep. Remind for the sheep. It means meet their needs first, years will also get met. You
do the will of God for whatever purpose he has you set to. You're going to be taken care of, but
don't watch out for number one. That's the world's way. You will be cared for. Your father knows what
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you have need up. You be about your father's business. You serve his glory and purpose. And
you mind this, he will not forget you. He'll take care of you. You're his child. He hasn't forgotten
you. You're like Israel and I believe this is so. You're engraved on his hands. Those scars of the
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engravings. And you protect the sheep. First there was a sheep fold. You know, they built up stones
and put the sheep inside and took care of the sheep. But then there was, that was through the night.
But then in a day, sometimes you see a bear would get hungry in the daytime. And you wouldn't be
in a sheep fold. And so there was the occasional attack from the enemy that came when you were
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in an unprotected place. Yes, we have to take every caution to protect in every way we can. But we
still have to be ready to lay our lives in the line for those that God has given us ministry for
the unexpected moment. Don't get the order of the priority of these things out of whack.
It's not self and then the sheep. It's the sheep and then self. Why? Because the thing that is of
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first concern is the Lord. The Lord's given you this job, this purpose of life, then give yourself
to it and let him provide for you. The Lord Jesus is our great shepherd. I've got to give you a couple
scriptures that will just seal this in your heart. Isaiah 40. You know this one. I love this.
Isaiah 49 40 and verse 9 10. O Zion, that bring us good tidings. Get the up into the high
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mountain. O Jerusalem, that bring us good tidings. Lift up thy voice with strength. Lift it up.
Be not afraid. Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God. Now this is a proclamation of the Lord
God. You know that that's an extension of John the Baptist ministry. But this is the day when he
truly comes to earth. He's not just saying like John did. There is the Lamb of God, which takes
the way to sin the world. This is when the Lord Jesus now will indeed come back and set up his
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kingdom. They rejected him before, but they won't this time. Behold, the Lord God will come with
strong hand and his arm shall rule for him. Behold his reward as with him and his work before him.
And here he comes now. He's coming in the power of God to rule as king. And what does this king do?
Verse 11, he shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with his arm and
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carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those that are with young. That's our king
in the power of God, shepherding.
Not exactly what the world would think of with the king coming. I like this
benediction, I guess it is, of Hebrews 13.
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Do you ever memorize this one? I'm going to read it. I have memorized it, but I'm going to make
sure I don't read it or say it wrongly. Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead,
our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant
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make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his
sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. You're going to do the will of God. You
do it through his power and strength. And do you know what he is for us? That great shepherd of the
shepherd. So hard to get our will set aside. Jesus called himself in John 10, the good shepherd.
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You know verse 11, the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. John 10 again at verse 14,
he knows his sheep and in his known of his sheep. There's that intimacy of knowledge.
And then also at John 10, at verse 15 and 16, he talks about other sheep. I think that's explained
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a bit. You know in John 11, 52, we're talking about scattered ones, not just those right there at
Israel, but the rather Jews scattered around and other places. And then the greater fulfillment also,
as we know from Romans 9, 10, and 11, is the Gentiles. So we have the scattered of Israel as
well as the Gentiles or the other sheep of the Lord. He's going to come into his kingdom and the
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Jews and the scattered Jews, those that Israel and the scattered ones, and also the Gentiles,
ultimately, are going to be one body in that kingdom. I like the way Peter puts it in 1 Peter 5,
when he talks to those who are leaders in the church. The elders which are among you, I exhort
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him also, an elder in the witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that
shall be revealed. Here's his instruction, feed the flock of God, which is among you. Feed, feed,
shepherd, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy
looker, but of a ready mind. Neither being lords over God's heritage. You don't want to be a king
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or a shepherd like a lord, being exalted, but being in samples, examples to the flock, humbly
showing them how to live. Remember John 13? Jesus had to teach his disciples a lesson about
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fumbling and he washed their feet. When the chief shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown
of glory that fadeth knight not away. He is the chief shepherd. He is the great shepherd of the
sheep. He is the good shepherd and he is the chief shepherd. And he tells us this is how we're supposed
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to go around doing things in our life, just like him. So in our place of service, our life, wherever
we are, wherever we live, we're supposed to live it for the Lord, whether it's being alone or with a
mate, whether childless or with a quiverful, at your vocation, where you're in your money,
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in all your friendships and relationships, in all your contacts with the world,
as part of the body of Christ, as one born again that's joined with others in the living body
the church, worshiping, teaching, helping, whatever your part is, whatever gifts the Spirit of God
has given you to enable you to work and be a part of that body, you are to be a shepherd first.
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Be a shepherd for whatever power you have, an example to the flock, one giving up themselves
for the sake of the others that you serve for the Lord's glory. In other words, to use power,
even to death, I'll take it to the extreme, only to do the work of a shepherd never for self.
You know, just to conclude that, I think what that brings us to is this, we have to be able to say
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to the Lord, Lord, I am your servant. I think the example Lord gave about a man who had some
servants in the field and when they came in, well, he said, what do you do when the servants come in
from the field? Do you say them, sit down and feed them? He says, no, you say to your servant,
who's worked all day long in the field, all day long, servants worked in the field. He comes
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into the house, what do you say to them? You say to the servant, hey, give me my food first,
then you may eat. He's still a servant and you've got to be able to say to the Lord as a servant,
Lord, I am your servant. I do everything you have given me to do.
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Learning to set aside my will and my fleshly power to do it. And if you're going to exalt me as a king
or as a Lord or as a leader in the church, or even as a father or mother, or even as a teacher in a
Sunday school class or even as a friend, as a mate, as one who's a witness to somebody else,
whatever you're ever going to use me, Lord, I must not draw upon my power, must not draw upon just
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my wisdom and seek to get things done my way. You're going to end up with a bloody situation.
You're going to tear up relationships. You may not have Ishbarshas head in your hands,
but you're going to do some awful things, contrary to the glory of God.
You're going to destroy lies and you're not going to know the blessing of God.
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So the appeal, be the servant of God first to do his will in his power to his glory,
the great shepherd of the sheep. And that may mean confession of sin and setting away a side of
self will. But if you're going to be used, and I think you should jealously desire to be used,
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ask God, where could you use me more? Lord, could I love my mate more? Lord, could I serve in the
body more? Could I be a better witness, Lord? Is my life clean? Am I fit for you? And I think
you'll come the same route. Must be cleansing and forgiveness, and there must be a giving up of
your will and your way and the recognition that though God has put you in a place and though
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you're there by his power and his his anointing, you have to serve there as a servant for the sake
of those you serve, even unto death. It's not the way that we rejoice in. It's not the way that we
would choose, but it is God's way because then he's glorified, not us. Let's pray. Lord,
I pray that every one here, every man and woman would see that in David, for him to serve as king,
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he had to learn to be a shepherd. If he was going to be king, you're away. And Lord, if we're to be a
mate, if we're to be a friend, if we're to do anything in this world, even in our vocation,
Lord, if we're to do anything, we're not to do it by the power, the flesh, the wisdom of the flesh,
but to do it in the strength and power and guidance of God, you only give us these opportunities,
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these places of service, these places of power, Lord, to be used first, not for power's sake,
but first for love, for your namesake, for righteousness, to serve your glory, not our own,
and to bring this world to their knees, to show them their need for forgiveness from from heaven,
Lord, and to be examples to them of righteousness and of that love, that mercy that we also have received.
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Help us, Lord, not be instruments in pride and self-will this week, but willing to bring you
with us into every part of our life that you might be Lord of our hearts and shepherd of our lives
and make us fitting shepherds for your glory in Jesus name, amen.
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All right, so there we go. Thank you Pastor Rains for a great message from the life of David
from the book of 2 Samuel. Next week we're going to have something, well,
like I said, I don't think this is the last one from the life of David.
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So we'll be going on to the messages that were from the 1990s. So I haven't picked one out yet,
but it'll be from the 90s. I'm going to try and keep them in chronological order.
But we'll see. We'll see as I add more tapes onto it because I still have a lot of tapes that I need
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to copy from cassette onto a digital format. So there might be a few that are mixed up.
There won't be a chronological for it, but I'll try. Okay, so if you would like to, please subscribe
so you can keep up the date when a new episode comes out. I'm going to be trying for Wednesdays,
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but sometimes it might be late. And I'm going to try for every week, which I think I can do that
every week. So I was kind of late last month when I was moving. So now I'm in my new place. So
it should be a regular thing weekly. But if you subscribe, you'll be able to pick up, you know,
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the episode as soon as it comes out. You won't miss it. Plus if you want, you could comment
the various platforms or they have comments. You could comment. I would like that.
I've gotten a few comments and some emails. If you want to email me, there's a comment form
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on the website, which is www.legacybiblepodcast.com. And you go to the bottom and there's a
form for comments. You can send a comment that'll go directly to me. And I do read them because I
really don't get that many. So it'd be nice. It's nice when I get one. And also what else? So yeah,
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on the website, there's the transcripts, which my sister had been working on. And I think we're
up to episode 51 on the transcripts. I just put 51 up there. So go and check those out because
it was really well done. And it was nice to sit down and read. And you can print them out
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that way you can note on them and underline things or highlight or however you want to do it.
Makes it real nice. Bible study resource on the transcripts. So go check those out on the website.
And if you want to try it on our YouTube channel, which is the same as you get as the audio channels,
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it's just like a video version of it. It's what they call audiograms all it does is
have some artwork and a little squiggly little line that bounces up and down with the audio.
But other than that, it's still the same. I really haven't been pushing the YouTube channel
that much, but it's a good place to listen to it if you can't find it anywhere else.
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So thank you for listening. Please come back next week and we'll have more. And until then,
like I always say, have a great day. So long. See you next week.
Well friends and podcast listeners, this is the Legacy Bible podcast, a place where
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you will hear legacy audio from the tape archives of the Fellowship Bible Church in
Joliet Il. My name is Marcus Onate. I'm going to be bringing to you another one
from the tape archive. This was from, let me see, it's August 20th, 1989 and it's part of the
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series of Life of David. We had a lot of them from 1989 to life of David and I think this is one
of the last ones that I have from that series, but are the last ones I have from 89. So I think
this is the last one for a while unless I find some more tapes from 89. So far I think this will
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be it. The last one from the Life of David, which we've been doing for quite a long time. Okay,
this one is called the Shepherd King doing God's will in God's way. Alrighty then, so that's a great
to it and take it away past the Rains. In 2 Samuel chapter 5, Life of David, David chosen to be
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Captain over Israel. You see, David was chosen by the Lord to be King of the Lord's people Israel.
Let me read again for you. Chapter 5 verses 1 and 2, then came all the tribes of Israel to David
and to Hebron and spake saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. Also in time past when
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Saul was King over us, thou wan out, thou was he that let us out and brought us in Israel. And the
Lord sent to thee, and here's their admission, recognizing here this quotation, that the Lord had
been the one who had anointed, who had chosen, who had appointed David as King. It says, thou shall feed
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my people Israel, and thou shall be a captain over Israel. So David was chosen by the Lord to be
captain over God's people Israel. Now to make it possible for him to be King, Saul had to be removed,
but how, how was Saul going to be removed? Do you know that the Lord used Saul's disobedience,
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Saul's stubbornness of heart, to bring him to his final fall?
Saul refused to kill all the Amalekites, and it was an Amalekite that struck the last blow
in killing Saul. Then Saul's lack of faith and his fear ravaged heart. Just think of those times
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when that fear gripped him to the place where he was out of his mind.
And David had to come and play his harp to soothe his spirit.
That led to the dividing of allegiances among the people. As far as their commitment of themselves
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wholeheartedly to Saul as King in the face of his weaknesses,
and when there was a division ultimately from David, the one that stood there as the kind of the
strong man that led the armies of Israel out and led them back in,
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point the battles of Israel so that the people's hearts could gain confidence and see God was with
them. And showing his power and defending his glory when David was separated from Saul,
and Saul sought David to kill him, then the people's hearts weakened.
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And even Saul's military power was drained away. Yes, he said Abner is his captain over his army,
but you see the military was weakened by the heart of the people being drained away. There was no
commitment to Saul as unto the Lord, unto death. And so the Philistines mounted their armies there
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in the valley of Esbron, you know, Armageddon and the just real and came against him.
And the Philistines defeated Saul and killed him, and he killed his sons Jonathan.
And Israel was scattered, and there was a vacuum.
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Well, Saul's captain Abner stepped into that vacuum in the flesh, and he made Ish-Bershev King.
Here it is in 2 Samuel 2, at verse 8 and 9, gives it very briefly. So Abner, the son of Nure,
captain of Saul's host, host their friend to his military host, his army, took Ish-Bershev,
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the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanai, and made him king over Gilead, and over the
ashirites, and over Jezreel, and over ifrime, and over Benjamin, and over all Israel.
Notice who made Ish-Bershev King. It's not like this verse over here in chapter 5, where the men
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of Israel are saying this about the Lord, where the quote is, thou shalt feed my people Israel,
and thou shalt be a captain over Israel. That's the Lord, because they admit that.
It says, the Lord said to thee, the Lord made David, captain over Israel, who made Ish-Bershev
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captain over Israel, the 10 tribes up there. Well, it included Benjamin, I might add.
Simeon gets somehow lost in people's reckoning of where the 12 tribes are, and I forget that
is part of a Judah, don't you? But nonetheless, Benjamin was up there with Israel's other tribes.
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Who made Ish-Bershev King? Not God. It was a man. It was a man.
It was Abner. I am king by the power of Abner. Did you prefer that, or would you prefer I am king
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by the power of the Lord God? Ish-Bershev reigned for only two years.
And not that some of those that God would have had be king reigned always great lengths of time,
but I think that's a commentary and not so much just the time element, but how that rain went,
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and what finally brought Ish-Bershev to his final end? Ish-Bershev had to be removed in order for
David to be king over all the tribes of Israel. But how? How is he going to be removed?
Who came this way? Abner defected to David. The one that had made him king switched his allegiance,
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and he went to David and made an alliance with David.
And the reason he did, it's not a very glorious reason, was that Ish-Bershev had charged Abner
with immorality with one of the concubines of his father Saul.
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And Abner was so infuriated by that that he would be charged with that sin,
that he would be so dealt with, so treated, so his very name, his purity, of his honor,
so questioned that he couldn't stand it. You see, he recognized that he had been absolutely and
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utterly misjudged, and it sent him to David, and he went to David.
I mean, I want you to understand, he didn't go to David first because of his great love for God.
First because he wanted God's will. First because he wanted God's choice on the throne. He went to
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David only second after his own will, his own flesh, failed after it turned and bit him like a
serpent. Then he was willing to admit what God had said all the time, that David was to be king
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over Israel. Then there was great jealousy for God's righteousness and glory.
Then there was the proper place for the love of God. Then there was the desire for God's will and
God's choice to make David king. But it's not supposed to be that way, people. We're not supposed to first
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put our will and our determination about life out there. And only after that stripped away from us,
then be brought to the end of ourselves and say, well, then I'll go along with the will of God.
It's not how it's supposed to be. Now God is to let us come to that place often,
to bring us to a place where we'll say to ourselves with honesty, you know, my will
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isn't such a delight. I want to surrender to the Lord. God's way is better.
I know clearly what God says. There's so many times I talk with folk and I can't teach them
anything about the righteousness of God. They know they have studied the Word of God and I don't
mean to be their teacher. The truth is I've talked with some who know the Word. Well,
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they perhaps know the Lord longer than I have. 38 years I've known the Lord.
But sometimes I get to talk to people who've known Him 50 years. I remember one man
came to a service that I was preaching at. Al was his name. And he broke before God
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and cried out for forgiveness. And then after the service he told me his story, 52 years before that day
Al had walked away from his lords, keeping care, shepherding. And he'd gone out into the world.
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Though a child of God had gone out into the world to live life for his own pleasure, 52 years later,
here he was, really at the end of life, now crying out to God for forgiveness, 52 years wasted.
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But what a sweet brother he was in the years that remained.
I thank God. That little church had no organist.
Al was a musician and he sat down at that organ and began to play.
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He finally found an opportunity to praise God with his musical abilities.
One that had played with Paul Whiteman, which means nothing to most people.
Florida, do you remember that name? Do you? Oh boy.
Oh yeah.
Marge, do you remember that name? You've heard it. Okay, just to
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Well, he was a, he was a, you know, in the world, he was a famous band leader.
This man was very famous, played with that band. And that's, by the way, another Christian who played in that band
was a great witness for God.
But he came back.
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His will was not better than the will of God. And Israel was finally coming to that place to say that.
Abner was finally coming to that place to admit that.
But you know, Abner had to be removed and you say, well, he defected to David, but there was still
hatred in Joab, David's captain's heart. And Joab worked out a plan and carried it out and
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cheer in chapter three at verse 27. And Joab wanted Abner out of the way his way. And when Abner was
returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly and smote him there
under the fifth rib that he died for the blood of Asah, asah, his brother.
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Joab was determined to get rid of Abner his way.
And the sons of Rimam, the berythite, Rikhab and Bana went and came about the heat of the day
to the house of Ishposhap, who lay on a bed at noon. Now people, you're not really supposed to be
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sleeping at noon, but I don't want to go into that right now. But nonetheless, this fellow was in
this bed at noon. And they came thither into the midst of the house. I just trust he was
up night all night praying, maybe or something. I doubt that. But they came thither into the
midst of the house as though they would have fetched wheat. In other words, they came,
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as I'm sure some of the Israelites would have, to the king's house and no doubt the king had a store
of grain. And it was perhaps expected that the king would be benevolent and oversee the dispensing
of that for the sake of some that were truly in need. I don't believe we're reading too much
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into that to suppose that that was the ruse being used here. And they smote him under the fifth rib.
And Rikhab and Bana, his brother, escaped. For when they came into the house, he lay on his bed
in his bed chamber, and they smote him and slew him and beheaded him,
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and took his head and got them away through the plane all night. That is a bloody scene.
You see, the idea under the fifth rib, you're reading this all fifth through and fifth
rib, but they're doing as they're trying to pierce so that they pierce into the heart.
That's the idea. You're on a spear or a sword through a man's heart. He doesn't live. He bleeds
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to death. Do you think that the bedroom scene?
Bleed to death, and they cut his head off right there and took his head with him.
Bloody, bloody murder. And they brought the head of Isposhapha unto David at Hebrew,
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and said to the king, can you imagine, are holding up the head of this man?
Behold, the head of Isposhapha, the son of Saul, the anemone. Here it is. Recognize it.
Which saunt thy life, and the Lord hath avenged my Lord, the king, this day of Saul, and of his seed.
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Has David learned his lesson yet? Do you remember those two times when he could have taken the life
of Saul once in the cave, once in the trench, you remember? Once in the cave, when he was
with his men there, hidden in the back, recesses of the cave, and he came out and saw was asleep
at the front part of the cave, and he came up to Saul, and his men basically were saying,
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Go ahead, go ahead, kill him. He's your enemy, kill him.
And David just cut a piece of his garment off, and went back into the cave. And then the next day,
he showed to Saul the garment piece. The Lord smote his heart for that,
because by touching even the garment of that man, David was saying in that little way,
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by taking a little piece of the garment, he was saying, I want you out of the way,
and I want you out of the way now. I'm going to use my power and my force to get the will of God,
and even though he just took a little bit of the garment, you say, boy, that's pushing the
principle off the far, but you can push principles to the extreme and they're righteous.
It was no more righteous to cut a piece of the man's garment off than it was to kill him,
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pertain to his person. It's no right to use his power to work the purpose of God.
Your power is only to be used to work the purpose of God under the control of the Spirit of God,
not for your selfish purposes, and according to your wisdom, it's just not supposed to be used that
way. Second time when he and a man with him, crowed literally over the sleeping bodies of Saul's
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army and finding Saul in the trench where he was supposed to be super safe for his army all around
him. These two men in the middle of the night got there and they came right up the Saul,
and of course the fellow with David said, go ahead, kill him, kill him. He's right there.
David said, I can't do that. He took his spear and his bolster off. They went, and the next day
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again, David showed that the Saul showing him that he could have taken his life, but this time he
was wise. He would not even touch the garment. He would not touch the person of the king.
Now, this is the king's son. He could say, well, he's been installed in office as one of the king's
seed, but that isn't the Lord's choice. Well, so be it, but it was done.
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And men, honoring the thinking of men that they perpetuate the bloodline of one that has been put
into office, and after all, God did put Saul into office. Here's the thinking, this man therefore
has a rightful place to serve. You don't accomplish the will of God by the power of your flesh.
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And you don't accomplish the will of God by doing such a thing, trying to bring glory to yourself
or serving your own purposes. These two men brought that head to David because they thought they were
going to get complimented. They thought that David would say, oh, wonderful, you fellas did a
wonderful thing. You got rid of my enemy. Don't you remember the man that came and told David that he
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was the one who ran the sword through Saul? He said, well, you know, he was dying and he begged
me to do it. And so I, you know, I did him a kindness. I killed him.
David said, how would you dare touch God's anointed? You see, push the extreme principle to the extreme.
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The man himself cannot even ask you to violate the principle. You can't even have the dying king
himself tell you to do it because it's a principle from God. You don't do that. If God put in there,
God has to remove him. You can't even in the least effort in the least way.
Take up the work of God in your own strength and according to your own will. And David had his men
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kill that Amalekite for daring to touch God's anointed. Do you think he's going to do
last with these two men who have come now, bringing the head of Ishmael?
Well, if he's changed his understanding of this principle, he would change, of course,
but here's the thing about David. He is a man after God's own heart. He does have this wonderful
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quality that when he's shown his wrongs, he confesses his sins and he's willing to change.
That's a man after God's own heart. It's not somebody that just walks in perfect righteousness.
Listen, none of us can do that. But God does want us to be heart sensitive,
spirit sensitive so that when we're shown a guilt of our sin, we hate it and turn from it and we
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amend our ways and we surrender to the Lord to walk in righteousness.
David learned this lesson. He wasn't going to violate this. So it says,
David answered Rahab and Bana, his brother, the sons of Remen, the bhyrithite, and said
unto them, as the Lord liveeth with redeem my soul out of all adversity, when one told me,
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saying, behold, Saul is dead thinking to have brought good tidings. I took hold of him and slew
him in zig-lag, who thought that I would have given him a reward for his tidings.
Now, literally he used his own army, I mean, his men in his army to do that. But as far as David
was concerned, he gave the command in it. He was responsible for it. How much more when wicked men
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have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed, shall I not therefore now require
the blood of your hand and take you away from the earth? I've done it once. I'm not going to go back
on the principle, he's saying. David commanded his young men, and they slew them, and cut off their
hands and their feet, and hang them up over the pool and hebran. Some of the reading in the Old
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Testament is really bloody, isn't it? Why the hands and the feet? Because everywhere in the
scriptures, the hands speak of our deeds and the feet speak of our goings,
and where they went and what they did was violent against God. And it was
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a symbol to the people looking at their bodies with no hands and no feet that where these men went
and what these men did was sin, and they deserved to die for it. So they took the head of Ishmael
Shathm buried it in the sepulchre of Abner and Hebran. Really a loving kind thing to do.
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So David said, no, I will not do the will of God by the power of the flesh. I will not. If God's
will is going to get done, it's going to have to get done in God's time by God's means. I'm his
instrument to do righteous things, but I will not in the name of God do unrighteousness. I cannot.
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So in that vacuum, the men of Israel finally acknowledge David as king. There it is again,
5'3". So all the elders of Israel came to the king in Hebran. And King David made a league with
them in Hebran before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.
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Now I think it's important to recognize the difference between God working in righteousness
and love and God working in judgment and wrath. I think you want to know there's a difference.
God can work through righteousness and love, and that's His nature, and He will do that, and He will
never violate His nature. But when His love has been spurned, when His righteousness is violated
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and one will not repent and one will not turn, then ultimately He must deal with us in judgment
and in wrath. That's the way it is. God will never change. God changes not. You know the Scripture?
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Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever. You know the Scripture?
He will not do His work, His will. A contrary to His very nature, He will not.
There's a verse in James 1-10. Basically it says, the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of
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God. The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
You cannot, by your fleshly, self will, perfect or bring to fulfillment the righteousness of God.
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You can't. It'll never change. God will always be shown to be right when He judges. You know Psalm
51-4, here's David, against the, the only have I sinned and done this evil and I cite,
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and might be clear when thou judged. You see,
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God is always going to be clear when He judges. You're never going to be able to say, oh Lord,
you judged, but you were wrong. Poor Job, you know, he thought for sure God is wrong. He had made a
mistake. You know, there he was suffering. He was God's child and God was in this case,
not working wrath, but he was, and Job's understanding, he was disciplining him and he didn't know what
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for. Surely God had made a mistake. You know something God didn't make a mistake. It was not,
it was not discipline. It was not chastisement. And Job was right to examine his heart and see if
he deserved some chastisement. That was right, but there wasn't anything there.
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And that's why I thought God made a mistake. But you know, God has another kind of purpose for the
Godly and that is to make His glory known, sometimes even through their trial. I've told you often,
I've stood at the bedside of somebody who is dying, most horrible and painful death, like maybe from
cancer. Some of you have been there with me. And that dear saint dying most horribly from cancer
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can be one of the sweetest, most effective witnesses of the Lord's love.
And I've also stood at the side of another dying from that kind of disease.
And they call to death like one that I was told of at prayer meeting two weeks ago to pray for a
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certain man, father-in-law, one of our members. And this father-in-law is angry against everything,
angry against God. He's bitter. He's filled with hatred and he's going to his death, cursing God.
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Because God should allow him to have that disease.
So it isn't a matter of circumstance. It's a matter of our heart
willing to look to the Lord for His purpose, being willing to be examined of ourselves and
our sin, if there's any there, to be chastened if God's chasing us, then let chastening work.
It's perfect work. The purpose of God, according Hebrews 12, is our holiness to work that in us.
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God through our trial wants us to be perfect and entirely, lacking nothing.
And God will let that purpose work and love him and trust him all the time.
So when God works in judgment, believe me, he will always be shown to be right.
You know, I started by saying that Israel recognized that David was the king.
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I remember back here at chapter 5, one and two,
and came all the tribes of Israel to David under Hebrew and the spake sang,
behold, we're thy bone and thy flesh. And in time past when Saul was king over us,
thou were he that let us out and brought us to Israel. And the Lord said to thee,
thou shalt feed my people Israel and thou shalt be a captain over Israel.
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But you didn't notice, did you notice that other little phrase?
Not just thou shalt be captain over Israel. Do you notice the other phrase?
Thou shalt feed my people Israel. Now the reference to feeding his people Israel,
you can take the word feed there and you can substitute the word shepherd.
Thou shalt shepherd my people Israel.
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David was prepared as a shepherd.
The word for bear, as far as that is concerned, that was secondary.
It was not primary. The primary thing that God was preparing David in was shepherding.
He was out there as a teenager. He was out there taking care of sheep.
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Now the bear or the lion might come on occasion.
And I tried to show you from the language that he grew there, the verb tense is there.
That this referred to multiple times. This was not a single incident.
So on occasion a bear would come or a lion would come
and they would threaten the flock.
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And he would go and kill the bear or the lion with the weapons of a shepherd.
He had a staff and he had a sling and he had his bare hands.
Now I tell you the truth recently, just stay out with the
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Yellowstone a couple of weeks ago and we saw some bears.
Every time I see a bear, I appreciate their beauty. They're really a beautiful creature.
But I like bears close enough to be seen and far enough for me to get away from.
That's about whatever that distance is. And as I get older, I notice it has to be farther.
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Because I run slower. I used to be able to look at them pretty close and see a lot of their detail.
Now I have to have binoculars and look through cameras.
And if there's especially this last one we looked at at a grizzly, she was on the other side of
a river and I thought that's great. And she's got to take some time to get over that river.
And then by then I'd be in the car and we're okay. She can stay on her side of the river and
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I'll stay on mine. But David would go and take a bear and literally just apparently he would break
the jaw of the bear. Just apparently just pull their mouth apart and break their jaw or grab
them around the neck and break their necks something. I can't imagine it. I mean,
bears are not easy to wrestle with. Not that I've ever done it or ever seen it, but I just can't
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imagine their powerful creatures and their vicious and lions. But he did it. Why would he do it?
Why would a young man, a good looking strong young man with the whole world in front of him,
go into a death fight with a vicious beast? Will you say for the sake of the sheep? Now listen,
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for the sake of the sheep, those few sheep, his brother said, you know, you're a few sheep out on
them. Those few sheep that he had, would you lay your life on the line for a few sheep?
You see, it's not the sheep only. It's the principle of the thing. You ever hear that?
What if it was one measly mangy sheep? I don't know. Do they get manged? Yes, I think they do.
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When it was one week sheep, should David have risked his life? And you know, my answer to that
would be yes. You better believe that because if you believe that Jesus would come and die for
sins, you would ask the question ultimately, would he die for the sins of one man, one woman,
one boy or girl? And the answer has to come from heaven and earth. Yes, he would.
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Love knows no limit.
But warfare was secondary. Why would he go into war to take care of the sheep because of the sheep,
because his shepherding was first? David should not have looked at his being captain over Israel so
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that he could wage war and be important and wealthy. He should have looked at the privilege of being
king over Israel for the purpose of shepherding the people, of feeding the people.
That was his purpose, really, from God, to shepherd the people. That's how he was prepared,
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but that's not necessarily how he lived. This old thing, again, of having your needs met first,
your own needs met first, and then serving the will of God. Now, that's not the way of the word of God.
God says there is a need for food and clothing and shelter.
He also speaks from his own design of a need for a wife or a husband, a need for a family.
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You can speak of these because they're by God's design. There's a need for men to recognize one
rightfully. There is a matter of principle of honor. There is a praise that is fitting in the
eyes of men, but there's also mishandlings of all of these truths, and men's will getting in the way
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and projecting of men above it. Matthew 6.33, what are we supposed to seek first? The kingdom of
God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto us, it tells us. What does 1 Timothy
6.8 tell us? Having food and ram it, were there with to be content, aren't we?
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So David was supposed to shepherd. What do you do when you shepherd? You lead the people.
Then a shepherd would also lead the sheep. You see, the people were the sheep. What else would he
do for a sheep? He would not only lead them out, he would provide by his leading, he would provide
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food and water for them, take them to a place where they could eat and drink. And then you would
always have to watch out for them. He would have to protect the sheep, lead the sheep, feed the sheep,
protect the sheep, lead the sheep. That means to invest your day, your every hour, your energy,
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for the sheep. Remind for the sheep. It means meet their needs first, years will also get met. You
do the will of God for whatever purpose he has you set to. You're going to be taken care of, but
don't watch out for number one. That's the world's way. You will be cared for. Your father knows what
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you have need up. You be about your father's business. You serve his glory and purpose. And
you mind this, he will not forget you. He'll take care of you. You're his child. He hasn't forgotten
you. You're like Israel and I believe this is so. You're engraved on his hands. Those scars of the
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engravings. And you protect the sheep. First there was a sheep fold. You know, they built up stones
and put the sheep inside and took care of the sheep. But then there was, that was through the night.
But then in a day, sometimes you see a bear would get hungry in the daytime. And you wouldn't be
in a sheep fold. And so there was the occasional attack from the enemy that came when you were
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in an unprotected place. Yes, we have to take every caution to protect in every way we can. But we
still have to be ready to lay our lives in the line for those that God has given us ministry for
the unexpected moment. Don't get the order of the priority of these things out of whack.
It's not self and then the sheep. It's the sheep and then self. Why? Because the thing that is of
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first concern is the Lord. The Lord's given you this job, this purpose of life, then give yourself
to it and let him provide for you. The Lord Jesus is our great shepherd. I've got to give you a couple
scriptures that will just seal this in your heart. Isaiah 40. You know this one. I love this.
Isaiah 49 40 and verse 9 10. O Zion, that bring us good tidings. Get the up into the high
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mountain. O Jerusalem, that bring us good tidings. Lift up thy voice with strength. Lift it up.
Be not afraid. Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God. Now this is a proclamation of the Lord
God. You know that that's an extension of John the Baptist ministry. But this is the day when he
truly comes to earth. He's not just saying like John did. There is the Lamb of God, which takes
the way to sin the world. This is when the Lord Jesus now will indeed come back and set up his
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kingdom. They rejected him before, but they won't this time. Behold, the Lord God will come with
strong hand and his arm shall rule for him. Behold his reward as with him and his work before him.
And here he comes now. He's coming in the power of God to rule as king. And what does this king do?
Verse 11, he shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with his arm and
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carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those that are with young. That's our king
in the power of God, shepherding.
Not exactly what the world would think of with the king coming. I like this
benediction, I guess it is, of Hebrews 13.
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Do you ever memorize this one? I'm going to read it. I have memorized it, but I'm going to make
sure I don't read it or say it wrongly. Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead,
our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant
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make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his
sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. You're going to do the will of God. You
do it through his power and strength. And do you know what he is for us? That great shepherd of the
shepherd. So hard to get our will set aside. Jesus called himself in John 10, the good shepherd.
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You know verse 11, the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. John 10 again at verse 14,
he knows his sheep and in his known of his sheep. There's that intimacy of knowledge.
And then also at John 10, at verse 15 and 16, he talks about other sheep. I think that's explained
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a bit. You know in John 11, 52, we're talking about scattered ones, not just those right there at
Israel, but the rather Jews scattered around and other places. And then the greater fulfillment also,
as we know from Romans 9, 10, and 11, is the Gentiles. So we have the scattered of Israel as
well as the Gentiles or the other sheep of the Lord. He's going to come into his kingdom and the
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Jews and the scattered Jews, those that Israel and the scattered ones, and also the Gentiles,
ultimately, are going to be one body in that kingdom. I like the way Peter puts it in 1 Peter 5,
when he talks to those who are leaders in the church. The elders which are among you, I exhort
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him also, an elder in the witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that
shall be revealed. Here's his instruction, feed the flock of God, which is among you. Feed, feed,
shepherd, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy
looker, but of a ready mind. Neither being lords over God's heritage. You don't want to be a king
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or a shepherd like a lord, being exalted, but being in samples, examples to the flock, humbly
showing them how to live. Remember John 13? Jesus had to teach his disciples a lesson about
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fumbling and he washed their feet. When the chief shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown
of glory that fadeth knight not away. He is the chief shepherd. He is the great shepherd of the
sheep. He is the good shepherd and he is the chief shepherd. And he tells us this is how we're supposed
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to go around doing things in our life, just like him. So in our place of service, our life, wherever
we are, wherever we live, we're supposed to live it for the Lord, whether it's being alone or with a
mate, whether childless or with a quiverful, at your vocation, where you're in your money,
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in all your friendships and relationships, in all your contacts with the world,
as part of the body of Christ, as one born again that's joined with others in the living body
the church, worshiping, teaching, helping, whatever your part is, whatever gifts the Spirit of God
has given you to enable you to work and be a part of that body, you are to be a shepherd first.
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Be a shepherd for whatever power you have, an example to the flock, one giving up themselves
for the sake of the others that you serve for the Lord's glory. In other words, to use power,
even to death, I'll take it to the extreme, only to do the work of a shepherd never for self.
You know, just to conclude that, I think what that brings us to is this, we have to be able to say
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to the Lord, Lord, I am your servant. I think the example Lord gave about a man who had some
servants in the field and when they came in, well, he said, what do you do when the servants come in
from the field? Do you say them, sit down and feed them? He says, no, you say to your servant,
who's worked all day long in the field, all day long, servants worked in the field. He comes
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into the house, what do you say to them? You say to the servant, hey, give me my food first,
then you may eat. He's still a servant and you've got to be able to say to the Lord as a servant,
Lord, I am your servant. I do everything you have given me to do.
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Learning to set aside my will and my fleshly power to do it. And if you're going to exalt me as a king
or as a Lord or as a leader in the church, or even as a father or mother, or even as a teacher in a
Sunday school class or even as a friend, as a mate, as one who's a witness to somebody else,
whatever you're ever going to use me, Lord, I must not draw upon my power, must not draw upon just
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my wisdom and seek to get things done my way. You're going to end up with a bloody situation.
You're going to tear up relationships. You may not have Ishbarshas head in your hands,
but you're going to do some awful things, contrary to the glory of God.
You're going to destroy lies and you're not going to know the blessing of God.
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So the appeal, be the servant of God first to do his will in his power to his glory,
the great shepherd of the sheep. And that may mean confession of sin and setting away a side of
self will. But if you're going to be used, and I think you should jealously desire to be used,
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ask God, where could you use me more? Lord, could I love my mate more? Lord, could I serve in the
body more? Could I be a better witness, Lord? Is my life clean? Am I fit for you? And I think
you'll come the same route. Must be cleansing and forgiveness, and there must be a giving up of
your will and your way and the recognition that though God has put you in a place and though
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you're there by his power and his his anointing, you have to serve there as a servant for the sake
of those you serve, even unto death. It's not the way that we rejoice in. It's not the way that we
would choose, but it is God's way because then he's glorified, not us. Let's pray. Lord,
I pray that every one here, every man and woman would see that in David, for him to serve as king,
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he had to learn to be a shepherd. If he was going to be king, you're away. And Lord, if we're to be a
mate, if we're to be a friend, if we're to do anything in this world, even in our vocation,
Lord, if we're to do anything, we're not to do it by the power, the flesh, the wisdom of the flesh,
but to do it in the strength and power and guidance of God, you only give us these opportunities,
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these places of service, these places of power, Lord, to be used first, not for power's sake,
but first for love, for your namesake, for righteousness, to serve your glory, not our own,
and to bring this world to their knees, to show them their need for forgiveness from from heaven,
Lord, and to be examples to them of righteousness and of that love, that mercy that we also have received.
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Help us, Lord, not be instruments in pride and self-will this week, but willing to bring you
with us into every part of our life that you might be Lord of our hearts and shepherd of our lives
and make us fitting shepherds for your glory in Jesus name, amen.
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All right, so there we go. Thank you Pastor Rains for a great message from the life of David
from the book of 2 Samuel. Next week we're going to have something, well,
like I said, I don't think this is the last one from the life of David.
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So we'll be going on to the messages that were from the 1990s. So I haven't picked one out yet,
but it'll be from the 90s. I'm going to try and keep them in chronological order.
But we'll see. We'll see as I add more tapes onto it because I still have a lot of tapes that I need
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to copy from cassette onto a digital format. So there might be a few that are mixed up.
There won't be a chronological for it, but I'll try. Okay, so if you would like to, please subscribe
so you can keep up the date when a new episode comes out. I'm going to be trying for Wednesdays,
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but sometimes it might be late. And I'm going to try for every week, which I think I can do that
every week. So I was kind of late last month when I was moving. So now I'm in my new place. So
it should be a regular thing weekly. But if you subscribe, you'll be able to pick up, you know,
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the episode as soon as it comes out. You won't miss it. Plus if you want, you could comment
the various platforms or they have comments. You could comment. I would like that.
I've gotten a few comments and some emails. If you want to email me, there's a comment form
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on the website, which is www.legacybiblepodcast.com. And you go to the bottom and there's a
form for comments. You can send a comment that'll go directly to me. And I do read them because I
really don't get that many. So it'd be nice. It's nice when I get one. And also what else? So yeah,
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on the website, there's the transcripts, which my sister had been working on. And I think we're
up to episode 51 on the transcripts. I just put 51 up there. So go and check those out because
it was really well done. And it was nice to sit down and read. And you can print them out
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that way you can note on them and underline things or highlight or however you want to do it.
Makes it real nice. Bible study resource on the transcripts. So go check those out on the website.
And if you want to try it on our YouTube channel, which is the same as you get as the audio channels,
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it's just like a video version of it. It's what they call audiograms all it does is
have some artwork and a little squiggly little line that bounces up and down with the audio.
But other than that, it's still the same. I really haven't been pushing the YouTube channel
that much, but it's a good place to listen to it if you can't find it anywhere else.
(52:22):
So thank you for listening. Please come back next week and we'll have more. And until then,
like I always say, have a great day. So long. See you next week.
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