Gooding, David: 2 - The Rise and Reign of David

That special son of whom God said, I will be his father, and he shall be my son. In its limited sense, that applied to Solomon. The New Testament, Hebrews chapter two, takes that same promise and shows how its full intention was the coming of our blessed Lord. Of the seed of David, son of David, according to the flesh, but shown and demonstrated to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead. The Son, therefore, oh, what a lovely thing it shall be when we get to it. The Son it is that builds the eternal dwelling place of God. Therefore, I recorded, and you doubtless had time to work it out, or some of you have, the structure of First Chronicles. Not so many smiles, please, at that remark. Uh, First Chronicles, do you say, um, which records, first of all, the stages of David's rise to power and the exercise of government. Let's trace that actually in our texts, and if you are allowed to, uh, mark your Bible so that you can find the stages easily. The first chapters from Adam are the genealogies largely, and they arrive eventually to a incident in history, chapter ten, First Chronicles chapter ten, the wars with the Philistines, and what happened to Saul. There's no account of Saul's anointing or preparation to be king, merely an account of his final disastrous days. How defeated by the Philistines, he committed suicide. And how the Philistines came and dishonored his body and put his armor in the house of their gods as a glorious trophy, that their gods, so they imagined, had defeated the God of Israel. And then, uh, we read, verse thirteen: so Saul died for his trespass which he committed against the Lord, because of the word of the Lord which he kept not, and also for that he asked counsel of one who had a familiar spirit to inquire by, and he inquired not of the Lord. Therefore he slew him and turned the kingdom unto David, the son of Jesse. So here is God's king, David, at a crucial moment in history, when the rule is transferred from Saul to him, and, uh, we are to hear more about that presently, as Jim McKendrick will complete our study this afternoon, talking about Saul. First stage, therefore, in these chapters, from Adam, they come quickly to the rise of Israel from among the nations, and then the rise of kingship in Israel, and now to the first true king, to David, stage number one. Look, if you will, to chapter fourteen, verses one, two. And Hiram, king of Tyre, sent messengers to David and cedar trees and masons and carpenters to build him an house, that is a royal palace for David. And David perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel, for his kingdom was exalted on high for his people Israel's sake. So, end of ten, David appointed king. Now here, David feeling himself established, and feeling himself established now takes more wives and begat more sons and daughters, as an oriental monarch would do, to build a royal house in the sense of, of sons who will be his royal princes, uh, as you'll see. Uh, it was, uh, part of political maneuver. Uh, second stage, therefore, in David's reign. Now look over to chapter eighteen, and the verse thirteen. and the Lord gave victory to David with us wherever he went, and David reigned over all Israel, and he executed judgment and justice unto all his people. Now, not merely established, but as the context of that will make clear when we study it, David by this time has risen to be not only master of Israel, but virtually emperor over many Gentile nations. And he ex- he reigned over all Israel and executed judgment and justice unto all his people. And now there follows not a list of his sons, as in chapter fourteen, but the list of his officers of state. He's established as virtual imperial monarch, in charge of justice and judgment over all Israel and beyond its borders indeed. Now look at verse, uh, chapter twenty three, Verse one. now David was old and full of days, and he made Solomon his son king over Israel. A lot of history is past, of course, much of which Chronicles doesn't, uh, record. That's left to Kings and Samuel. But David is by now old, and he makes his son Solomon king, not outright king, but as a co-regent with his father. And while Solomon was given responsibility for running the politics of the day, David gets on with what was in his heart for his closing years of life, to give himself to what he loved most, that is preparation for the building of the temple. The final stage in Conoc- First Chronicles comes, uh, you'll see, uh, in the last chapter twenty nine and verse twenty two, at the dedication of all the material that had been prepared, made ready, they did eat and drink before the Lord on that day with great gladness, and they made Solomon the son of David king the second time. Meaning now he was made king fully in his own right. And he, uh, uh, uh, instead of David, his father, and prospered and all Israel obeyed him. Five stages, therefore, in the reign and rise to power and reign of David. The question that will exercise us is what are the contents of those stages? What did they signify? What were the developments? What was the course? What lessons were learned? What were the necessary preparations for, uh, the ruler who should build the house? So on here, I have put on this blackboard, if, uh, you can all see it. Can you all see it? They of the right wing or the left wing, whichever side of the house you are, can you see it? Yeah, you can? See that a little bit? I started here, down at the bottom, simply to give the idea that this is an ascending trajectory. The top is going to be the preparation for the house. Here are the stages that lead to it. Here is man seated on throne of the Lord. Whereas we started down here with Adam. An ascending trajectory through five stages. Um, now let us notice, uh, give some attention to the first of those stages, that is the genealogies. I do not propose to spend a long time on them, but shall we notice some of the features about the genealogies at the beginning of the book. We start with Adam. We very soon come to Noah, verse four, chapter one. Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Brief genealogies of the sons of Ham, the sons of Shem, and uh, uh, uh, and then we come, as you see, already by verse twenty seven, chapter one, to Abram, the same as Abraham. The proportions of the genealogy, of course, are significant. This part of First Chronicles, in tracing history, how did Israel come to the point it was? It starts with Adam, of course, but moves very quickly into the rise of Israel, Abraham, in other words, the Hebrews, out of the Gentiles. Then Abram's genealogy is that of Ishmael and the sons of Keturah. So thirty four, Abram begat Isaac, the sons of Isaac, Esau, and Israel. Esau's, uh, genealogy is given almost the same as in Genesis. That comes down to the end of chapter um one. Now in chapter two. we now come to the sons of Israel. There they are. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Joseph, and Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. So, one chapter to, uh, the Gentiles, half of it to Abraham and his, uh, children, and now concentrating from chapter two onwards on the descendants of Isaac and Jacob, and coming to Israel, father of the nation as such. But look at verse three of chapter two. Instead of starting with Reuben, or Simeon, or Levi, you start with Judah. And Judah fills the rest of two. And that done, these were the sons of David, that's chapter three. And chapter four is, if you please, about the sons of Judah. You could not mistake the proportions, could you? This, if you can make just from the genealogy, this book is going to be interested in Judah and its sons, in particular the son David and his sons. He's going to be the king. It'll eventually be that king's son that shall build the temple. The emphasis on David. Count it not strange, my brethren, when you fall into diverse scriptures like this. You'll say, ha ha. Knowing that our very gospel runs, is the gospel concerning God's son, born of the seed of David according to the flesh. Listen to the Acts of the Apostles. To raise an ensign in the house of David, into whom the Gentiles shall seek. And here they come, says Paul to the Jews in, uh, the synagogue of Pisidia. You'll look at them, here they come. Scripture being fulfilled in front of your very eyes. And Paul in his jail writing to Timothy and saying, Timothy, remember Jesus Christ of the seed of David, according to my gospel, risen from the dead. Our connection as Gentiles with God's way of redemption is through the son of David. We learn many a lesson from Abraham, but it was not in Abraham's house that God raised the ensign to attract a Gentile. It was in the house of David. But that, by the way, then in chapter five you come to the rest of the tribes, or some of them. Uh, you'll see you come to Reuben, and you'll come, verse eighteen, to the, uh, sons of Reuben, twenty three, the children of the half tribe of Manasseh, and then in chapter six, the sons of Levi. Oh, look at that. And the rest of chapter six, Levi. That's a very long chapter, eighty one whatnots, eighty one verses in chapter six, all about Levi. Chapter seven, now the rest of the tribes, as you see them, they're named, and you come into, uh, chapter 8, you'll see, and you have the, uh, Benjamin and his people. Then in chapter nine, so Israel reckoned by their genealogies, and behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel, and Judah was carried away captive to Babylon for their transgressions. Now the first inhabitants that dwelt in their possessions in their cities were Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the Nephilim, presumably referring now to the post-exilic people. First inhabitants that dwelt in their possessions in their cities, that is after they came back from exile, were the, uh, uh, priests and the Levites and the Nephilim. And in Jerusalem, you remember what trouble Ne- uh, Nehemiah had in getting people to volunteer to come and live in Jerusalem when he built the place. They had their farms to see after and their families to, I mean, say. But some were persuaded to come and live in Jerusalem. Uh, you say, and here they are, the list of them. Oh, look at the Levites, and rest in the priests, and all the keepers of the tabernacle, and so forth, and so on, and so on, filling those chapters, that chapter right to the end of chapter nine. You couldn't possibly escape the emphasis and proportions of these chapters, could you? So all are important. Of supreme importance and relevance to our study are first Judah, and in particular the house of David, and the Levites, even more simply than just the priests. Why the significance? What is the significance of it? Well, for time's sake, to cut it short, we'll say. You start with a list of names, you get bored stiffly before you get to chapter three. can't pronounce half of them, never knew them, nor the grandparents. Mind you, if it had been your grandfather's name in here, we should never hear the end of it. Don't say it, but names on a bit of paper, old gentlemen. The generations of humanity that have been washed up on the shores of this planet. Millions of them. Each one of them a name representing a life that grew from babyhood up with all its hopes and fears and ambitions and careers. Now nothing much more than a name on a bit of paper to you. And what will you be in another thousand years to anybody? Another unpronounceable name on a bit of paper, perhaps. What is the significance of humanity and the history of our world, and you one amongst the trillions that have inhabited it. Just seventy years and gone forever. And even each generation as it comes, who will make sense of it and start the hideous clash of war and hatred and greed and exploitation, and make sense of human life and history. Is history going anywhere? Ah, here's a story. Here is the man, and his name is given out, he is of the tribe of Judah. And he's the man, not only going to subdue the enemies, but he's going to make the preparations for the very temple of God. And he will organize the Levites. He will organize the service around that temple. Boogers and harpists and incense makers and showbread cooks and porters and, uh, old Asaph and his brethren and sing the Psalms. Ooh. David thinks it's wise semi-retiring, semi-retiring from politics to do that. What would you do if you retired? You've got one thing more than another you would like to do will be significant for eternity? I mean, after you've had your bread and butter, I mean. David saw it as his life's crowning thing to prepare the material for the temple and to get the Levites and to train the Levites and to write the songs for the Lev- Levites and the hymns of praise and teach them how to sing properly and praise the Lord properly. But when the temple at last was built, the whole thing should be one great orchestra of God's praise and delight. God in the midst of Israel, in the temple, expressing himself through his people and all their varied gifts, and all the gifts of his people coming back in all their activities in praise to God. Judah and the king of Judah and the Levites. And you will not find it difficult to understand the relevance of this to our New Testament gospel, will you? Who shall take the book who is worthy to open the seals of God's judgment on this earth and bring back earth for God? And when there was none found worthy or able to take the book, John wept much, as any intelligent man might, if there's no answer to earth's problems. But a name was found. It was the lion of the tribe of Judah. The lamb as it had been slain. And he was worthy to take the book and to institute the judgments that shall break the opposition and bring back the universe to God. Why is he worthy? Because thou was slain and was redeemed as to God by thy blood. Ah, ah, ah, ah, yes, but not only that. And has made us a kingdom of, this is genius, to take mankind lost and broken and discordant in activity, thought, and ambition. Producing the cacophony that we hear around us still. To take it and redeem men and women, and not just redeem them so that they escape final perdition, but to make something of them, to organize their lives, to take their abilities, redeem them and purge them and mature them. And unite the whole. That's some job, I tell you, unite the whole in the great orchestra of God's eternal praise, not just in word, but in heart, not just in word and heart, but in activity. The activity of all the redeemed shall be one vast, delightful orchestra of praise to Almighty God. That's what Conocus is talking about, as a prototype of the bigger thing. And it isn't fairy tale, my brothers, is it? I, I got an impression that some of you will say, no, it ain't fairy tale because Christ has already begun to do it for me. Will you not? You know it in your hearts that Christ, by his genius, has taken you, woken and condemned and disordered as you are, and not only redeemed you by his substitutionary death, and delivered you from condemnation, but has made and is making and will make something of you as he trains you, and prepares you for your part when the great permanent and eternal temple arrives. Good, isn't it? You say, half an hour, I hope it doesn't arrive too soon, because I feel I'd like a little bit more time. You know, when I was a youth, I thought seventy years was a long time. Don't you give in to that impression. You'd like the Lord to come, wouldn't you? There are some Tuesdays when I feel I hope it doesn't come too soon. I'd rather a lot of lessons yet to learn. Ah, what are, what are the stages? Will this prototype turn out to tell us what are the essential stages in the progress? Now this and the this I close, and Jim is going to come and take over. Good man. Uh, you will notice that in each of these stages, they follow a certain pattern. You start off with what you might call what is marvelously good and right. And here the rise of Israel, uh, Israel from among the nations, and the rise out of the nations of the tribe of Judah, and the rise out of them of the king that is to be, and the Levites that he has now so he can organize them when the time comes. Marvelous progress in human history. It's not to be dismissed as something, uh, Sunday school. The rise of Israel out of the nations is historically a uniquely significant thing. It is protest against the idolatrous interpretation of the universe, the worship of nature gods and the forces of nature. And incidentally, you're not an atheist, he hasn't anything else to worship but the forces of nature, poor Adam. And they controlled him, not he then in the end. The rise of Israel in its protest against the idolatrous interpretation of the universe and the forces of nature, that is no insignificant thing. And within Israel, the rise of the tribe of Judah and the king. And then, there was something went wrong. At the level of the kingship, we shall find that re- pattern repeated in all the first four sections of the book. First, some great move forward, great advance in the stages of God's program, and then something goes wrong. Sometimes out of the wrong, God in his wisdom brings eventually something profitable, but we shall find that pattern repeated. I shall say no more because Jim, in his kindness and courage, is coming to face you, and uh, talk about what was the first thing that went wrong in those early stages. James. Check this. Sorry about that. Okay. Up a little higher. Are you, are you happy? All right. You're happy, I'm happy. I remember when I was a senior in high school, much to the chagrin of my elders, I took up the study of the saxophone. Well, actually, I'd taken it up for some number of years, but during my senior year, I practiced real hard on this particular, um, classical piece that I was supposed to play at a, uh, competition. And, uh, I arrived at the competition, and someone told me just before I played the piece who the judge was, and the judge was the composer of the piece. It added a little pressure. I remember when I was in school, I always enjoyed the true false tests, because really in a true false test, all you really had to do was regurgitate the information given. The hard ones were the essay exams, where you not only had to regurgitate the information, but you have to have shown that you had assimilated the information and were able to communicate it in your own words. And somehow I think this is an essay exam. Because when I was given this particular topic, the first man Adam and the first king Saul, some of the first verses and thoughts that arrived in my mind were things that I had been taught in this very room, in the book of Romans, and in the books of First and Second Samuel. And so I sit in front of my teacher with an essay, essay exam, and see if I can, uh, not only regurgitate the information, uh, brought to my mind, but see if I have assimilated it in some way that I can communicate it to you. Let's first of all, what I would like to do is turn with us to the first book of Corinthians and chapter 15. The first book of Corinthians in chapter fifteen, we have a principle brought to us that is appropriate to our lesson here this afternoon. I'd like to read just a few verses. We understand that the book of First Corinthians chapter fifteen is the subject of the resurrection, not only of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, but the fact that the resurrection of the Lord Jesus is the first fruit of all resurrections, and we can be assured of future resurrection because the Lord Jesus Christ is, in fact, raised from the dead. The principle he states in verse forty five is this: And so it is written, the first man, Adam, is made a living soul. The last Adam is a quickening spirit. Howbeit that is not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural. And afterward, and that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy. The second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy. And as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. We have here a very... a, a principle of the word of God that we need to keep foremost in our mind. First is that which is earthy, that which is natural, that which is suited to this life. Secondly, that comes is that which is suited to the second life, the spiritual life, and that which is from heaven. In the book of First Chronicles, uh, as we looked through those genealogies, as I looked through those gen- same genealogies as they appeared in the book of Genesis, I think that principle exists. Um, I would like to take you first to, uh, Genesis chapter five. I would like to show you this in the book of Genesis as a principle that, uh, consistently is portrayed to us in the book of God. Genesis chapter five and verse three, which is where the first Chronicles chapter one and one begins. It says, and Adam lived one hundred and thirty years and begat a son in his own likeness after his image and his name, and he called his name Seth. In First Chronicles chapter one and verse one, we have Adam and then Seth. No mention is made of Cain and Abel. Abel being killed, and Cain's genealogy, that, that aspect is, is gone, seemingly in the book of Genesis. We begin here in chapter five with a genealogy that begins to consistently go forward throughout the book of Genesis and is followed in the book of First Chronicles. Now, I want you to turn with me to First Chronicles, or Genesis ten. And what I want to point out here is something that is consistent and has been at least instructive for me. We have this generations of the sons of Noah. Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The order in which they are placed is Jace- Japheth first, then the sons of Ham, and lastly the sons of Shem, of whom Abram is born. When we turn to Genesis chapter twenty five, we have here the sons of Abram, and in that we have the sons of Keturah mentioned first, and it says in Genesis twenty five, he s- gave them gifts and he sent them away to the east country. Then we have the genealogy of Ishmael, and lastly we have the genealogy of Isaac. When we come to Isaac's sons in chapter thirty six of Genesis, we have the first generation, the the first genealogy that is mentioned in the chapter thirty six of Genesis. Now these are the generations of Esau, and it is in the book in chapter thirty seven and verse two where we have the generations of Jacob, bringing in, of course, the story of, of, uh, of God, of Joseph. One of the things that I notice in this is that that which was of the flesh, that which was natural, that which was not going to bring forth and bring forward the purpose of God is mentioned first. The genealogy that brings forth the purpose of God, the genealogy that is of the spiritual line, the genealogy that is of the, of God is mentioned last, and that is what furthers the purpose of God. And that is a principle of scripture, that that which is of the flesh, that which is natural, that which is of the earth, is first, and secondly, that which is of the spirit, that which is of God, that is second, and that is connected with the Lord, which is from heaven. It appears even in the order in which the genealogies are placed. Now those same, that same order throughout that is mentioned in Genesis, that same order is the same order that all of these names are given in the book of First Chronicles, the first few chapters. In chapter one it is really all the further we've gotten here, isn't it? It's chapter one. And in, in, in chapter one, it is the same order consistently, and therefore we see even in the order in which the genealogies are placed, that which is of the flesh is first, and that which is of the spirit is second. Now we come, of course, to the kingdom of David. That's what we're going to study, aren't we? That's what we, as we've been hearing here, it is the son of David, it's the kingdom of David, and the bringing of this in. Now, that which is of the flesh, being consistent with the principle of scripture that is listed for us specifically in 1 Corinthians fifteen, the first king, therefore, must be King Saul, because he is first, he is of the flesh, he is natural, and therefore he is first. Now, I want you to turn with me to First Chronicles. Let's get over to First Chronicles in chapter ten. and I want to give you a thought. Now, I'm not going to go to the stake for this thought, but I do want to give you a thought. 1 Corin- Chronicles Chronicles chapter ten and verse thirteen. First Chronicles chapter ten tells us only of the death of Saul. It is the putting aside of the man of the flesh, so that we can bring in now the kingdom of David. Now it says here in summary form, in uh, First Chronicles ten and thirteen, it says, so Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit to inquire of it, and inquired not of the Lord, therefore he slew him. Now, if, if, if, if, if my addition is correct, we've got, we've got got three problems here that God saw in the life of Saul. First of all, he, he... Transgression against the specific command of God. Secondly, he inquired after and sought counsel of a medium, if you will. One who was going to put him in contact and work through, if you will, Satan as opposed to God. And thirdly, he didn't inquire of the Lord. Now, that, of course, is the three problems that we've had in, in Saul's life, is it not? You'll notice that if we go back to First Samuel, in chapter thirteen, we have Saul committed his first act of transgression against the Lord, in that he couldn't wait for Samuel. Remember, Samuel was going to come to him in seven days, and Saul waited for the seven days, and Samuel didn't arrive. And of course, the Lord, um, never does that to you and I. Uh, but, uh, uh, he does that to my life a lot of times. And uh, and and and what are we gonna do? Well, the the the army was was uh disbanding, they were leaving Saul, they were all leaving like rats off of a ship. Uh, they the the enemy was there, and Samuel wasn't there, and what was Saul gonna do? Well, he was gonna do it his way. Because we never do those kinds of things, but but Saul did. And he didn't wait for God. And because he couldn't do that, he didn't do that. He worshipped God in his own strength. And when he did that, he lost the dynasty. There was no one on the, on Saul's house that was going to reign over Israel. Chapter Chapter of verse Samuel. This is second test of Saul is the fact that in chapter fifteen he was told to go out and slay all the Amalekites, remember, and he didn't do that. And for that, a direct transgression of the Lord, Saul lost not only his dynasty, but he was rejected by God from being king over Israel. Now that's chapter fifteen of First Samuel. I don't think it takes any mathematical genius to figure out that chapter sixteen comes after chapter fifteen. and that's significant in that in chapter sixteen, David was anointed king. Now, Samuel had told Saul in chapter thirteen that he was going to not have him reign in the, in over Israel, or his house wasn't going to reign over Israel, because he was going to search someone, after someone, after his own heart. Now, when David is anointed in chapter sixteen of first Samuel, God tells Samuel, don't look at the outward appearance, which is what the, the children of Israel did originally in first Samuel chapter eight. They wanted, and I, I, I shouldn't really say this the way David would say this, as he said it when he, he, they wanted a big man, right? A- a- and, and to, to lead them out, and, and they found one that was head and shoulders above all the rest of them, right? But you see, when Eliab came, and ah, he was a big, strapping young man, right? And Daniel said, surely this is the Lord's anointed. And the Lord says, no, it isn't. Because he says, I don't look at the outward appearance, I look in the heart. And he was looking for a man not of physical quality, but of spiritual quality. Not of natural talent, but of spiritual submission to God's word. And that epitomizes David's life. Now, Now. can I, can I take you back in your mind to Genesis chapter three? There was a direct command of God to Abram, to Adam, which Adam transgressed. To whom did Adam listen? He listened to Satan's voice, didn't he? And who did he not inquire after? Do I see a similarity? I do. I, I, I, I hope that it's not too obscure for y'all. But there was a problem. David was anointed king in first Samuel sixteen. Saul died in first Samuel thirty one. And from first Samuel sixteen to first Samuel thirty one, there's two kings. One was rejected by God, and the other had a following of, let me, let me read it to you. First Samuel, chapter and in verse two. and everyone that was in distress, and everyone that was in debt, and everyone that was discontented, and gathered themselves unto him, and he became a captain over them. Now, I'm going to make a bold assumption here. Everyone in this room, at some point in their history, came to a, a conclusion that they were in debt. No, I'm not talking about physical debt. I'm not talking to Visa card. I'm talking in debt that we could not pay. A spiritual debt. Now we were distressed and discontented because the Spirit of God was working in our hearts and in our lives and showing us just how badly we had fallen through the cracks of Of Paul's Saul's kingdom. kingdom. And what did we do? We began to follow David. But David was the rejected king. It cost something to follow David as a rejected king. Now. Now, let me do a little, let me have a little theology here with you. Let's go to Romans chapter six, In our minds, at least. Maybe we should do it more than in our minds. Romans chapter five will tell us, in verse twelve that, wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. He will say in verse nineteen, because one by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that grace might, that the offense might abound, for where sin abounded, grace did not much more abound, and that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. What should we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? In verse six, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, and henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. Knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, but you should obey it in the lusts thereof. In Adam, First Corinthians chapter fifteen, all die. In Adam, Romans chapter five. death reigns. In Adam, Romans chapter five, all are con- we are condemned. In Adam, the law made sin abound. But on the other side of that coin, in each one of them, in Adam, we have what we are in Christ. In Adam all die. In Christ, we're made alive. In Adam, death reigns. In Christ, Christ reigns in life. In Adam, we're condemned. In Christ, there is no condemnation. In Adam, the law makes sin abound, but in Christ, Romans chapter seven verse four, I'm dead to the law. See, because when I am in Christ, the old man, that is all that I am in Adam, has been crucified. And I am alive in resurrection power, therefore I am free from sin. I am free from death, and I'm free from the law. Because I am no longer under in sin, because I'm no longer in Adam, I am in Christ. Now that is positional truth, that is who I am, just as surely as those men came to David and he became a captain over them, they submitted to his rule, his life. All that was true of David was true of them. He was their captain. Saul was no longer their captain, but he was alive, wasn't he? That presents a problem, doesn't it? And that problem in Paul's letter is addressed for us in Romans chapter seven, is it not? That I find within my members a law, a principle. That that is that if that if I want to do one thing, it it doesn't happen. If I want to do something, it doesn't happen either. Oh, wretched man, who am I, who's who's going to deliver me from this body of death? The Lord Jesus. How? Because he that walks in the spirit has the life of God within him. And I think that's a truth that we need to grab in our Christian experience. We need to, we need to approach life. This is the devotional part of, of this message. This is devotional talk. Now we're getting into the devotional part. In our, in our spiritual life, we need to approach our lives from the position that I am. I find so many believers, and I'm going to be, I find, well, I'm just an old sinner, you know, and oh poor, woe is me. And I challenge those folks, and I say, well, I tell you what, I want you to take me to your, to your Bible, and you, you, you tell me where anybody that's a believer in Jesus Christ is ever called a sinner. We're always saints, aren't we? Now, believe me, I don't always act saintly. You know, my wife were here, she let you know that. Because, you see, while we are not in the flesh, Romans chapter eight, we are in the spirit, Romans chapter 8. There is that principle within me that drives us out. But there's going to come a day, and that's first Chronicles chapter ten. There is going to come a day when those people, Saul is going to be slain. He's going to be done away. And you know what happens directly after that? We have David's mighty men. And I want, I want to, I've got it someplace here in some notes. Yeah, here, First Chronicles, chapter twelve. Verse one. Now these are they that came to David, to Ziklag, while he yet kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish. And they be- they were among the mighty men, helpers of the war. Let's go back to First Chronicles chapter eleven, verse fifteen. I must have worked this backwards, that's the way I've got it in my notes. First Chronicles chapter, uh, eleven and verse fifteen. Now three of the thirty captains went down to the rock to David, into the cave of Adullam, and the host of the Philistines encamped in the valley of Rephidim. Verse thirteen, He, that is Dodo the Ahohite, he was with David at Pasdamin, and there the Philistines were gathered together to battle. There was a parcel of ground full of barley, and the people fell from before, fled from before the Philistines. Now, I tried to find out where Pasdamum was, and it appears that in, in what, what research that I could do, the Pasdamum was the same place as the Valley of Elah, at least it was right in that, in that neighborhood. These people specifically came to David while he was in rejection, while he was put away from Saul, while he was running, while he was a fugitive. Now, when we get to First Chronicles, the first thing that happens is that these mighty men are crowned. They are with David in his reign. They are with David in his kingdom. As we could all point out, there was a few people that we would have liked to have seen there that weren't there, like Jonathan. Like Joab. It was people that should have been, but were not there. There were these men who came to David, who stood with David, who fought with David, who were with him in his rejection. And now in his kingdom, when God brings in his man and the kingdom from a spiritual perspective is being ta- is taking place. These men are seen as divine men, and they are given great places within the reign of David. During their time, while they were with David. What they did was they appointed themselves in such a way as they stood out amongst their peers. And the one that I want to point out this afternoon is his Dodo the Jehoahite, to point out others. The Philistines were going to gather to battle, and according to first Samuel twenty the all the the the the Israelites all fled. That's pointed out in first Samuel twenty three. And he stood in a ground, he stood in a partial ground full of barley. Which barley? The cheapest? The stuff they fed the animals with. No big deal. But here was a man with all, all Israel's flesh. He stood, and he stood his ground in the midst of a field of barley. And for that, he became one of the chiefs of the thirty men. You and I, who have become discontented. You and I, who have had that time in our life when we found out we were in debt, and we transferred allegiance, if you will. We were no longer under Saul. We came under the reign and the rule and the captaincy of David. And in that captaincy, we are all required to do battle for the Lord and for his truth. And there's a lot of truths of God's word that appear to be nothing more than a field of barley. Secondary issues. Not real important truths. Things that we can do away with as long as we hold to the big doctrine, whatever that is. But in the coming days, those who will stand for the truth of God's word are going to be the ones that are going to demonstrate, will be demonstrated to be the greatest, the chiefest in God's kingdom. And it appears to you and I, it, it is incumbent upon you and I. To do battle for God. We need to be challenged to go forward for God. Yes, today it is a day of rejection. Yes, today is a day when there's a lot of other things that happen that just doesn't get accomplished. You know what? There's going to come a day when the true judge of all the earth, the Davids, the real captain, he is going to assess what we did at the judgment seat of Christ, and we will all have praise of God, and we will, in fact, be seen as those men who stood with David during his time of rejection. The first king, the first man, Adam, rejected because of disobedience. The first king, Saul, rejected because of disobedience. There were those that chose to follow David and were obedient and trustworthy soldiers of David, who turned into his king, who, who become part of his kingdom and have the crowns at the, at, at the end of life. And you and I, even though we may be rejected and we may be following something that the world does not go after today, but in the coming day, those who suffer with him, Romans chapter eight, will also reign with him. And the suffering, says Romans eight, of this present world is not even worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. So the challenge for you and I is to be a part of David's king, Saul's king, Saul's kingship is headed for destruction, is headed for damnation. It's going to be put away once and for all, and only those who have associated with, have been associated with David will go into the kingdom and reign with him. Yeah.