In this sermon, the speaker discusses the concept of responding to manipulation with love and humility. He uses the example of the Roman soldiers and Jewish men during Jesus' time to illustrate his point. The speaker emphasizes the importance of having a humble heart and taking control of the situation by giving more than what is required. He references the story of David and Saul to highlight the power of being a humble servant and being in control. The sermon concludes with Jesus' teachings on going the extra mile and giving more than what is demanded, as a way to overcome evil impositions.

1 Samuel chapter 18 tells us what happened after David defeated Goliath. Most everybody is familiar with the story of David and Goliath, even if they're not clear on all of the details. They know that a young man named David killed a great big giant named Goliath. A lot of people don't understand what happened afterwards. Afterwards, David first of all became a close friend of the crown prince of Israel, the son of King Saul, named Jonathan. And secondly, David became famous. Famous in all of Israel. And his fame, combined with the state of where Saul's heart and life was, combined to make Saul very jealous. And his jealousy was so great against David that he tried to kill him. Twice, David was playing music in the courts of King Saul, trying to soothe the troubled heart of King Saul, when Saul decided, well, I'll use this young man for some target practice, and he threw a spear at him, not to frighten him, not to wound him. Saul intended to deliver a death blow and pin David to the wall with that spear. Well, David escaped, and he escaped twice from the presence of Saul. But now, the scene shifts a little bit, coming into verse 17. But the hearts don't shift. Take a look, verse 17. Then Saul said to David, here's my older daughter Merib. I will give her to you as a wife. Only be valiant for me and fight the Lord's battles. For Saul thought, let my hand not be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him. So David said to Saul, who am I? And what is my life for my father's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king? This seems like a gesture of kindness and goodness on Saul's part. You almost imagine that David was supposed to believe, hey, Saul's changed his heart towards me. A short time before, he's throwing spears. He wants to kill me. He wants to pin me to the wall. Now Saul's had a change of heart. Look, he wants me to marry into the family. He's forgiven. He's let bygones be bygones. And he doesn't fear me taking his place anymore. After all, if you feared a man taking your place, if you're the king, would you come and have him marry into your family? Then he's a part of the royal family. He's closer to the throne than ever. Well, Saul must be a changed man. But is he? Not at all. Saul wasn't thinking kind or good thoughts towards David one bit. In his heart was a different motive. He says, let my hand not be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him. Now, you might be scratching your head at this point saying, wait, I don't get this. How does David marrying the daughter of Saul bring the hand of the Philistines against David? Well, it all has to do with a very cunning, cunning, cunning, that's not even a word, cunning plot devised in the heart and the mind of Saul. You see, Saul knew the customs of his day and he knew that whenever a person married another, that a dowry was given by the groom to the bride's family. It's still the custom in some parts of the world today. And the larger, excuse me, the more prominent and important the bride's family, the larger the value that the dowry had to be. Do you know what the purpose of a dowry was? A dowry really was for two reasons. First of all, it compensated the bride's family for the loss of the bride. I mean, let's say the daughter in the family does all the cooking in the house and she's there working hard, doing all the cooking in the household. And now this man marries her and takes her out of the household. Well, you lost a cook. So the dowry was in some way to compensate the father for the loss of his daughter. But there was another dynamic at work with a dowry. A dowry was also sort of a combination of life insurance and alimony in advance. In this way, the groom was saying to the bride's father, If I die, she's going to have to go back in your house and this money will help support her. If I divorce her, she's going to have to go back in your house and this money will support her. That was the idea behind a dowry. Now, Saul knows that David comes from a simple family. They weren't dirt poor, but they weren't fabulously rich either. He comes from a simple family. There's no way that David could afford the dowry for a princess, for the daughter of a king. It's just not happening. So Saul devises a plot in his mind and he says, I know how this will work. I'll offer the hand of Merib to David in marriage. David will say, Oh, I really want to marry her, but I don't have the dowry. Then David will come to me. And when David comes to me, he'll say, Saul, I really want to marry your daughter, but I don't have the money. Can't we work something out? And then Saul will say, well, it's funny. I think we can work something out. Why don't you go out and kill a hundred Philistines for me? And we'll just accept that as the dowry. Saul constructs this clever plan, hoping that when David goes out to collect the dowry, to kill a hundred Philistines for King Saul, that David will meet his death. I mean, after all, Saul is actually asking for something a lot more expensive than money. He wants David to put his life on the line in what seems to be an impossible mission. You do this and then you can marry my daughter in Saul's name. Yes, yes, this is smart. The Philistine spears, the Philistine swords, they're just as sharp as my spear, as my swords. I don't need to waste my energy. And then I look like the bad guy. Why not have the Philistines do it? And then David's dead, and I come out looking like a winner. From a fleshly standpoint, from a worldly perspective, you've got to admit, pretty good plan, isn't it? Smart in the flesh. But God would not honor Saul's manipulation. What is manipulation? I think it's kind of hard to pin down exactly what it is. A lot of times we sense that other people are manipulating us or trying to manipulate us. It's funny how rare we recognize it in ourselves. It's just the kind of thing that other people do, but we don't. But if we don't, somewhere along the line, somebody's manipulating somebody, somebody's doing it. And so we have to look in the mirror and say, are we people like this? What is it? I'd say that manipulation uses hidden agendas and concealed motives. It's sneaky and secretive. Manipulation tries to maneuver people and events to accomplish a hidden agenda. Manipulation can be smart in the flesh, but it's never going to be blessed by God ultimately. Now, if Saul would have come right out to David and said, David, look, here's my plan. I'm trying to get you killed. And so I want to give you an impossible mission, and I'm hoping that when you go out to kill 100 Philistines, you're going to die, and then you're out of my way, and I look like a good guy. Obviously, David wouldn't be going for that plan. But if Saul conceals it, if he hides it, if behind the scenes he tries to maneuver and manipulate things to accomplish that goal, then that's manipulation. You've got to admit, Saul's pretty good at it. Look at verse 17. We've got to admire him. He says, only be valiant for me and fight the Lord's battles. Well, Saul's working as a clever manipulator here. He takes advantage of David's loyalty and patriotism. David, only be valiant for me. Don't you love your king? Aren't you a patriotic Israelite? Go ahead and be valiant for me, David. David goes, yeah, I love my king. I am a patriotic Israelite. Yes. And then Saul says, fight the Lord's battles, David. Well, David, don't you love the Lord? Don't you have courage and heart for the Lord? David says, well, I have courage and heart for the Lord, yes. I'll fight the Lord's battle, yes. Let's do it. By the way, in using this kind of phrasing, Saul could even justify his manipulation. Can't you see you go and you confront King Saul and say, Saul, what are you doing here? He goes, hey, wait a minute. I do want David to be valiant for me. Is there anything wrong with that? No, there's nothing wrong with asking David to be valiant for the king. And I do want David to fight the Lord's battles. Is there anything wrong with that? Well, no, there's nothing wrong with Saul wanting David to fight the Lord's battles. But this was dishonest. Not because it was an outright lie, but because it didn't tell the whole truth. Sure, Saul wanted David to be valiant for him. Sure, Saul wanted David to fight the Lord's battles. But more than that, he wanted David dead. And that was a greater motivation than anything else was. And so in hiding that and concealing that, Saul is working as a clever manipulator. Now, it seems like Saul is doing a pretty good job at his goal here. Look at verse 18, you almost shake your head when you read it. So David said to Saul, who am I and what is my life for my father's family in Israel that I should be son-in-law to the king? David seems so simple, so naive. You know, it's just like some country boy hick who doesn't understand what's going on at all. We feel like if David had any savvy here, if he had any smarts, he would have folded his arms and said, what's up here, Saul? I don't trust you as far as I could throw you. What's going on? But David doesn't. David is flattered and he's humbled. David was not trying to outmaneuver Saul. He had no idea what was going on in Saul's heart. David simply had a humble heart before the Lord and the Lord God protected him against Saul's manipulation. You see, that question, who am I? It shows David's humble heart. As you understand at this time, David was nationally famous. All Israel loved him. All Saul's staff loved him. The crown prince, Jonathan, loved him. All over Israel, women sang and danced in David's honor. Yet when the hand of the princess Merob is offered to David, David doesn't think, well, it's about time. I'm glad somebody noticed that I'm the most eligible bachelor in Israel. Very good, Saul, let's move on now. David says, no, who am I? Our friends notice this on a human level. We look at this and we go, David, you're outmatched. You're dealing against a guy who's got all the power, who's a good manipulator, and David, you're like a babe in the woods. You're going to be toast, David. Friends, you know what's going to preserve David? David has a humble heart before the Lord and God will protect him. You know, there was a time when Saul had a humble heart. There was a time when Samuel first told Saul that God had chosen him to be king. And you know what Saul's response was? Saul said, why then do you speak to me like this? Well, why me? Who am I? Is what he basically said. But friends, that was a long time ago for Saul. Saul is hardened in pride. And you know what the Word of God says? It says that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. You know how important that principle is to God? God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. You know how important it is to God? Well, if you ever have to fill out a form and it looks important, you've got to fill it out. If it's really important, there's a copy of it on the back, right? You've got to fill it out in duplicate. If it's really important, it's in triplicate. God put this verse, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. He put it in his Word in triplicate. It's in three different books. Proverbs, James, and 1 Peter. And friends, you're going to see God resisting Saul's plans and blessing David and protecting him. You see, God could see Saul's thoughts. David couldn't see them. And even if David would have suspected it and confronted Saul, Saul would have just denied it. In the flesh, by all outward appearance, David is at a tremendous disadvantage here. But as he kept a humble heart before God, God protected him. Now, notice this. It's not working, Saul's plan. David doesn't come up and say, OK, let's work out a deal for the dowry, Saul. And so Saul gets frustrated. So he tries another plan. The other plan is found in verse 19. But it happened at the time when Merab, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David, that she was given to Adriel, the Maholothite, as a wife. You see, Saul's tired of waiting around. David, you're not coming to me to work out this dowry deal so that I can put you at the mercy of the Philistines. This isn't working out. David, I'll tell you what. I'm going to try to get you mad. I'm going to try to get you jealous. I'm going to take this woman that you're engaged to, and I'm going to take her from you and give her to another guy. How do you like that, David? Saul was hoping that David would be angry, that David would be jealous, that David would say something unwise in the courts of Saul. And then all of a sudden, the rumor's going around. David's committing treason. David's against King Saul. And then Saul says, well, we've heard the evidence. Let's execute him. Saul's a clever man, isn't he? The manipulation in the one way didn't work. Now he's trying another tactic. But friends, don't you see that the humble heart of David is saying to him, if David was angry or vengeful at losing Merab to another man, well, then he just gave it to the Lord and he went on. And since this plan didn't succeed, God's trying to speak to Saul. God's trying to warn Saul. Saul, this isn't working. Saul, it's useless for you to try your manipulation and your cunning plots. Trust Me and love Me instead. So the story develops in verse 20. Now Michael, Saul's daughter, loved David. And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. Saul's saying, oh, I can go back to plan A now. My daughter, Michael, she loves David. She's attracted to him. Now, it doesn't surprise us that Michael was attracted to David. David was a man of courage. He was a man of great character, many qualities. A man of God. There's something wonderful about this man David. It doesn't surprise us that Merab would be attracted to him. By the way, I think maybe as much as anything, maybe Merab was attracted to David because David was famous. I will tell you this. Whatever it was that Merab, excuse me, that Michael, I'm confusing the names here. Whatever it was that Michael was attracted to David about, it wasn't his heart for the Lord. Because later on in the book of 2 Samuel chapter 6, we see Michael despising David's heart for the Lord. So who knows what it was? Maybe it was just his personality. Maybe it was his fame. Maybe it was something else. But she didn't admire his heart for the Lord. Matter of fact, Saul sensed this. And that's why it says in verse 21, So Saul said, I will give her to him that she may be a snare to him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Therefore Saul said to David a second time, You shall be my son-in-law today. You see, Saul says Michael can be a snare to David. Now, I think this is meant in two ways. First of all, in the very obvious sense that she's sort of the bait that David will go and be trapped by when he goes to collect the dowry that Saul is setting up in his mind. The Philistines will be a snare, a trap, and Michael will be the person to set all this in motion. But I think there's another dynamic at work. I think Saul, as the father of Michael, knew something about Michael's character and heart. And he knew that she would be a snare for him as a wife as it turned out to be the case later on when Michael despised David for his celebration before the Lord. So he says, Hey, David, let's do it. You can be my son-in-law. Son, come into the family. Saul's heart hasn't changed at all. Take a look at verse 22. And Saul commanded his servants, Communicate with David secretly and say, Look, the king has delight in you and all his servants love you. Now therefore, become the king's son-in-law. So Saul's servants spoke those words in the hearing of David. And David said, Does it seem to you a light thing to be a king's son-in-law seeing I am poor and a lightly esteemed man? See what's going on here? We see how this reeks of manipulation. It's all about behind the back, secret communication. It's all about hidden agendas and clever traps. Well, go tell, discuss this among yourselves. The king has delight in David. And if you notice here, verse 23, it says, So Saul's servants spoke those words in the hearing of David. It's almost like these servants of Saul are having a little discussion in the royal court. Well, have you heard how much Saul really loves David? And they're saying it so that David will overhear. And David, Whoa, what's this? Look, he was throwing spears at me. No, no, David, he loves you. It's all about these clever traps. Do you see how David responds? Look at verse 23 at the end of the verse where it says, Does it seem to you to be a light thing to be a king's son-in-law seeing I am a poor and lightly esteemed man? Friends, this almost seems like false humility. You know false humility, don't you? I'm so humble. Why, I'm way more humble than you are. Let me tell you how humble I am, brother. It almost seems like that, but it's not. We scratch our heads and we say, how could David say that he's a poor and lightly esteemed man when he was famous in all of Israel? You know why? Because David didn't believe all his press clippings. He didn't buy into all the praise, all the honor, all the glory that was being thrown his way. David knew that there was a difference between fame and being truly esteemed. I don't know, sometimes that distinction is getting blurred in our culture today. There's a woman featured in national interviews this last week, and she's a very famous woman in our country. But famous for what? For things that are shameful. For things that are a disgrace. And she's famous for those things, but yet there's no esteem there, or at least there shouldn't be. David says, look, who am I? I had a good day against a big guy. I haven't really done anything for the Lord yet. I'm just trying to serve Him the best I can. I'm lightly esteemed. Saul knows how to deal with this, though. Take a look at the master manipulator in Acts 24. And the servants of Saul told him, saying, In this manner David spoke. Then Saul said, Thus ye shall say to David, The king does not desire any dowry, but one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to take vengeance on the king's enemy. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. Now, Saul builds on his clever plan. David won't marry Michael because he doesn't have a big enough dowry. Well, he's too humble to ask me for terms, so I'll suggest them to you. David, let me suggest the terms. Even the way he phrases it is clever. Look at what he says there in verse 25. He says, The king does not desire any dowry. This makes Saul sound very generous and like he doesn't want anything from David. But he says, Well, all I want is one hundred foreskins of the Philistines. Now, you may not understand what's being talked about here. If you don't know, look it up in the dictionary. But obviously, Saul was asking for a lot. And Saul was asking for something that could only be taken by killing these Philistines. He asked David to put his life in great jeopardy because Saul wanted him dead. And even the specific request, one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, even the request was manipulative. It was designed, first of all, to goad David on. Yeah, look at those Philistines, those uncircumcised Philistines. David, you're part of the covenant of circumcision. Go out and get those uncircumcised Philistines. Saul could have said, Chop off hands. Give me a scalp. Give me an ear. Give me anything. No. But he said, give me those things that identify these people as ungodly people. So it was designed to goad David on, but it was also designed to be difficult because the Philistines would have to be dead. But thirdly, it was designed to make the Philistines completely outraged at David because from their perspective, not only were their men killed, but they were desecrated. Could you imagine how this would be an outrage to the Philistines? Look at what this Jewish man did to our men. We're not going to take this. We're going to go out and fight against this man. And we're not going to rest until this man is dead and this crime has been avenged. Saul said, I know how to paint a bull's eye on the chest of David. And he won't even know it's there. So what's David's response? Again, I have to say, verse 26, we shake our heads. So when his servants told David these things, it pleased David well to become this king's son-in-law. David's like, gee whiz, I get to do this? And it's like, David, no, don't you understand? You're playing right in Saul's hands. David, don't do it. What are you, dumb? Are you just naive? What? David was naive. We should all be naive. It's so easy to get awfully cynical. You doubt everybody's motives. You question everybody's heart against you. Sometimes people are just trying to love you, and you think they're manipulating you. But David? David just says, wow, I get to do this? Well, okay. Again, I want to say that I think David had a very humble heart here. You know what I would have said to Saul if he made this request of me? I'd say, what are you talking about? You want a dowry? A dowry? You promised to give your daughter to the man who killed Goliath. I killed him. You want to see my dowry? Go look for a ten-foot-long grave laying in the Valley of Elah. That's my dowry. I don't need anything else. I have rights here. That's not what David said. David said, okay, let's do it. Verse 27. Therefore David arose and went, and he and his men, and he killed two hundred men of the Philistines. And David brought their foreskins and gave them in full count to the king that he might become the king's son-in-law. Then Saul gave him Michael, his daughter, as a wife. Can you imagine this? You want a hundred? I'll give you two hundred. And by the way, it says there, David brought their foreskins and gave them in full count to the king. There's many times when we wish we had a visual Bible or could see biblical events exactly as they happen, but this is obviously one instance where we're very pleased that the Bible is not illustrated. I've often said to you that when I get to heaven, I'm going to look up the video on this or that event. This is going to be the least checked out video in the video library of heaven. I'm telling you that right now. You see? Two hundred. Now friends, there is something here very relevant to our lives. There's something in the heart of Jesus what David did. What David did with Saul's attempt at an unfair imposition at manipulation. Do you know what David did? He took control of the situation by being a humble servant and by giving more than what was required. We often think that being a humble servant and being in control contradict each other. We wrongly think that if you're a humble servant, then you're just at the mercy of events. No! You're a humble servant. You think somebody's trying to manipulate you? You think somebody's trying to impose unfairly on you? Take control of the situation and give even more out of love than they're demanding out of the flesh. It's easy to say, but it's very hard to do. That's what Jesus told us to do. In Matthew 5, verse 40, Jesus said, If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. You know what that means. He's saying, does anyone want to sue you and take the shirt off your back? Give him your coat too. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him too. You know, in this, Jesus showed how to take command of evil impositions by making a deliberate choice to give more than were required. You know, in the day that Jesus lived, the region of Judea, of Israel, it was an occupied state. The Roman army was there as an occupying army and the Romans weren't very nice to the Israelites. And there was a law that if a Roman soldier was carrying his pack and he was tired of carrying it, he could go grab any Jewish man and say, you, carry my pack for me. And the Jewish man had to do it for one mile. That's what the law required. And so you know how this would work. The Roman soldier would say, here, you, you scum Jew, take my pack. You've got to carry it as the law demands. And you know how the Jewish man would take it. He'd take it and just like any of us, he'd say, okay, I have to do this. The law requires it. And then he would count out the steps. He would know exactly how many of the steps would take one mile. And when he got to that one mile part, he would stop, look in the face of the Roman soldier and say, I'm not going one inch more. He'd take off the pack. You know, and he'd do that thing where he acts like he's going to hand it to him and then he drops it on the ground. I did what you required. That's it. You know what Jesus said? He'd go two miles. Now that would blow the mind of that soldier. Absolutely positively. The soldier would be thinking, what? And suddenly, the man who went two miles is in control. Saying, look, I'm free to give to you. If I want to give you an extra mile, I can do that. I'm in control here. See, this is how we change someone's attempt to manipulate us into a free act of love. Now, I know there's a very significant difference here. In the case with the one mile and the two mile, everybody knows what's going on. The Roman soldier knows what's going on. The Jewish man knows what's going on. Everybody's watching here what's going on. And in some ways, that's almost easier. What's harder is when you don't know what's going on. You're being manipulated, but the manipulation is hidden or won't be admitted to or is behind the scenes somehow. Then you really don't know. It's like, well, I don't know. You know what the key is? Keep a humble heart. David didn't know what was going on, but he just had a humble heart to serve. If you have that humble heart to serve, you'll find yourself often responding in exactly that way, taking control of the situation by giving more than the law demands and giving out of love instead. That's what David did. I know what many of you are thinking. You're thinking, whoa, wait a minute, David. You don't understand. See, you don't understand my life. This thing that this other person is asking me to do is wrong. And it would hurt them if I did it. It would make things worse, not better. It's an evil thing they're asking me to do. You know, they're a drug addict and they ask me for $100 and they say it's for the rent, but I know it's for drugs. And what do you want me to do? Give them $200 so they can taste strung out twice as long? Well, no, my friends. You need to understand that there is a limit to the kind of giving Jesus is requiring here. There is a limit to the kind of giving that David exemplified. And you know what the limit is? The limit is love. When you know before God, when it's true before the Lord, I won't give to you because that's not the loving thing to do. It's not loving for me to give you that money because you're just going to hurt yourself with it. It's not loving for me to give in to your demand because it's not right before God and it's just going to make things worse. And friends, I know these are difficult lines to draw. I know they're difficult for me to draw in my own life. I know it's hard in your life. But the principle is there. We draw a line with what we're being asked to give. We draw a line with what's being requested for it. But the line isn't our pain. The line isn't our convenience. The line isn't what feels good to us. The line isn't what's in our advantage. The line is love. We give as much as love requires. Verse 28, Thus Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David and that Michael, Saul's daughter, loved him. Saul knows. He knows that the Lord's with David. So what does he do? The Lord's with David. I've got to stop trying to kill him and manipulate him. I've got to stop. No, that's it. No more of this. Lord, I'm sorry. That's it. Is that how Saul reacted? He knew that the Lord was with David. So he said, OK, Lord, I get the picture. This guy's the next king. So I'll just start making the transition as smooth as possible. Let's start. I'll start training him up. We'll do it, Lord. He knew that the Lord was with David. But how did he react? Look at verse 29. And Saul was still more afraid of David. So Saul became David's enemy continually. How tragic. Saul became David's enemy continually. He knew that the Lord was with David. Yet because Saul was making himself the enemy of the Lord, he was also the enemy of David. It didn't have to be like this. But Saul's heart was set on a destructive course. And the closer David got to the Lord, the further Saul was away from him. So at the end of verse 29, you say, yeah, David, you escaped it. But you know what? Can I just tell you that David hasn't escaped anything? Look at verse 30. Then the princes of the Philistines went out to war. You bet they went out to war. Do you think they're going to sit idly by? You know what their slogan was? You know, 200 foreskins, avenge it. We're not going to allow us to be defeated or humiliated or desecrated this way. Where's that man David? We're going to kill him. And Saul accomplished exactly what he wanted to accomplish, at least in the smallest of things. He wanted to put a big bullseye on David's chest. And you know what? There it is. The Philistines are after him. David, you look like a goner. And Saul said, I succeeded. But he hasn't succeeded. Not at all. Because the Lord will protect David. Look at the end of verse 30. Then the princes of the Philistines went out to war. And so it was, whenever they went out, that David behaved more wisely than all the servants of Saul, so that his name became highly esteemed. Saul wants David dead. Saul wants to ruin David. And he'll stop at nothing. Any kind of manipulation. Any kind of violence. Any kind of force. He'll do whatever he can. But God's hand is on David. So the Lord just keeps blessing him. You know, when I read the end of verse 30 and saw that the name of David became highly esteemed, my mind flashed to a different passage of Scripture. Now, why don't we conclude by taking a look at that passage. Turn in your Bibles to Philippians chapter 2, verse 9. Philippians chapter 2, verse 9. I was just thinking this thought. David's name became highly esteemed. Well, how did that work? How did it work? How did David's name... What was the spiritual principle behind what was going on? Philippians chapter 2, verse 9 says this of Jesus. Therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name. You see how my mind connected those two verses? Well, David's name is exalted, and here it says Jesus' name was exalted. And then I understood there's a link between the two. Why did God allow David's name to be exalted even though there's a big target on his chest and there's danger everywhere and he looked like a goner? Because David kept that humble heart before the Lord. Well, if you want to look at it on the other side, why was it that the name of Jesus became so highly esteemed? Look at Philippians chapter 2, beginning at verse 5. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men and being found in appearance as a man. And then he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Do you see that? Jesus' humble heart. God made it a pathway to His exaltation. David's humble heart, God's making it a pathway to His exaltation. No wonder one of Jesus' titles is the Son of David. No wonder that David is called a man after God's own heart. Because when we see this in David and admire him, we go, oh, that's the heart of Jesus. Friends, this mind, this heart was in David. This mind, this heart is in Jesus. And God wants this mind, this heart, to be in each one of us. That's a big work, isn't it? I know it is in me. I look at it in my life and it's a huge work. So we should pray and ask God to do that part that only He can do. Let's pray. Father, first of all, we look at our text this morning and we say, Lord, there's too much of Saul in us. Too much of Saul, too much of the manipulation, too much of the scheming and the cunning, too much of the flesh. Lord God, purify us, purify me. Take out the Saul. Lord, we take a look at David here and we say there's not enough of David in us. There needs to be more of that. Lord, it's not so much that it's the heart of David, but it's the heart of Jesus. And we want this mind to be in us, which was also in Jesus Christ. Make us simple before You, Lord. Make us humble before You. Make us able to respond rightly to manipulation when we see it and when we don't. Just give us that humble heart that's going to cover us in both times. Lord, we know Your Word says it. It emphasizes it. That God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. We want Your grace this morning, Lord. Give us humble hearts, people. We pray this in Jesus' name.