In this sermon, the preacher discusses the contrast between man's way of achieving and fulfilling God's will and God's way. He uses the examples of Saul, who was chosen by the people, and David, who was raised up by God. The preacher emphasizes the importance of seeking an inward reality and attunement with God's heart rather than just acquiring knowledge or principles. He encourages the audience to rest their cases in God's hands and trust in His timing, even when it seems like others are achieving more outwardly.

Father, we thank Thee for our sense of helplessness this morning. That, dear Lord, is the cry of a heart that Thou, in the midst of it, will be the strength, the anointing. Thou will minister Thyself to the people, and there will be no calling out of the reservoir of our own knowledge. But, O dear Lord, out of the life stream of Thyself, make this to be very evident and real. We look to Thee, we pray, Lord Jesus, that Thou, who alone art worthy, shall be glorified. And for this we'll be sure to give Thee praise and honor and glory. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. We were saying last evening in getting acquainted that it's wonderful to see the unique place of David in the larger program of God. This is a relating of things to him. There's such a proneness in us to always relate everything back to ourselves. I wonder what purpose God has for me. That's not my burden. What does God want to do primarily in and through you? But what is He doing in the larger scope of things and how we are related to it? We spoke of how Abraham's unique place, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as founding fathers. Then out of Egypt, God brought the people through the deliverer, Moses. Probably we can say of Joshua that he was the possessor. Then we went through the period of the judges, and I want this morning for us to see two men in contrast, Saul and David. This is my concern, however. I believe that the Lord's biggest difficulty with His people is that the moment they begin to see something of the larger program of God, they want to rush out to help Him, and He's not interested in that. That's our big problem. The minute we see something, oh how we get drawn and pulled to get our wheels moving and to help the Lord fulfill and realize it. And I hope that this morning we will be able to see that what God is having to do in so many of the lives of His workers and His people is a complete renovation of some of the old concepts, even our better fundamental concepts, to get us to the place where we begin to see things, how He does it, how it's of Him. After we get through, maybe that will be a little clearer this morning. I trust it will be. Let me just turn our attention to a couple verses, and that will give us the theme as we consider David now and how God brings his life into the fulfillment. I won't ask you to turn, but I'll just pick a phrase out of 2 Samuel, verse 1, and chapter 23, where it says, The man who was raised on high, speaking of David. The man who was raised on high. In Psalm 89, verses 19 and 20, we have these words. He says, I have exalted one chosen out of the people. I have found David. But I want us to turn now to Acts 13 again, and I want to take another phrase, verse 22 of chapter 13. We better take verse 21, I guess. And afterward they desired a king. And God gave unto them Saul the son of Seth, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of 40 years. And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king. To whom also he gave testimony and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all of my will. Now I believe that the easiest way for us to get in a strain is to get our eyes on all that needs to be done and to get a little glimpse of the will and the purpose of God, and then try to go out. I don't know about you, but there comes so often, there's been such an overwhelming in the soul, when I have seen this, and yet so little being done. You begin to cry out, Lord, I'm not getting anything done for you. Well, maybe there'll come some rest and we can get rid of that strain. We can see the way by which the Lord does it, the way by which God has chosen out of life to affect and to realize. You bear with me for a little bit this morning as I scribble again on the board and try to get something of a pattern before us. I'd like for us to see man's way, first of all, by which man attempts to achieve and fulfill and realize for God. Then we want to take, by contrast, God's way as we look at two lives. Saul, who is the choice of the people, and finally David, who was raised up of God and how God accomplished it. Let me go back and approach it this way. I think it's interesting to notice that when man is wanting to get something done for God, he's always prone to say, Lord, if I just had a place, if I just had a position, if I just had a pulpit, if I just had a position, then I could have a ministry, then I could be used, I could be fruitful for you. And, of course, we trust that if we get a position, that's the way we'll get some experience. For experience comes out of, we say, out of having a place or a position, a job to do. And then out of the position, we will finally come to be what God wants us to be. We can be something for him. But I believe this is a total reverse to the real way in which God works. Let me illustrate it by putting this in reverse. If I understand, and I think it'll come a little more clearly as we look at these two lives, here we have Saul and this thing quite clearly demonstrated through him. And then we'll take David, and we'll see that God, first of all, works in our being and what we are in nature. And out of this, there flows the proper experience, and in due time, the position is forthcoming. It flows out of something else. It doesn't come first. This is why we're saying now that it was the Lord who raised up David, but it was the people who raised up King Saul and gave him a place. I think I have noticed now in these 15 or 20 years of moving around among the Lord's people, that so often the struggle that goes on within a fellowship, within an assembly or a church, is the various conflicts. Here's a conflict of authority. The authority of one who has position. Then you have the authority of someone who has some experience. Then you have an authority that grows out of someone who has something wrought in his inner being. Maybe I can illustrate. You bear with me now, but it's the best illustration I can use. How often have I been invited into a church? Monday, I'm invited out to Grandpa Brown's for dinner. And quite strategically, after the meal, he says, and I must lay the burden of my heart before you, young man. He says, you'll discover, so I just will tell you. He says, we have a very fine young man who's been invited to be our pastor. And he has gathered a group of young people around him, young married couples, and they are determined to have a building program and to put up a new church. Because then they'll be able to draw a certain kind of people. And then they'll be able to be the proper image in the community. Dear old Grandpa Brown, who's been walking with God for 40, 50 years, with deep-grown, fast-breasted, that's not God's way. And I know that he has learned by some of the deep teaching and the principles of the Lord. He's had some experience with God. You might build outer framework and outer structure and all that goes with it. And you might add a lot of people, but you're not really building the thing that God wants. And so he proceeds to tell me out of the experience and the things he's seen in the Word. Now he has an authority that issues out of some experience. You follow me? He's been through some things. The young man who just came from Bible college has been inducted into a position. And he has an authority that issues out of the position that he has. So I get home to the pastors where I'm staying. And he says, well, I suppose Grandpa Brown told you about our problem. And he says, I knew he would. And so I'll tell you my side. And here we have a conflict of authority. We have a man who has an authority from position. We have another man who through the years has an authority that issues out of experience. Whether Grandpa Brown wants it or not, birds of a feather sort of flock together. And he has some of the old timers, you know, who have been walking with God. And you've got a conflict going on. I want to ask you, just who would you stand with? Well, we'll see. There's the authority that issues out of a position one has. There's the authority that issues out of experience one has achieved through the years of learning the principles of God. There's another authority that issues out of just what I am in being. What God has wrought. I suppose this is so close to experience, but I make a distinction and you'll see why. I think I've met some lives who really don't know how to handle the book very well. But God strangely has taught them. I think of back in Salem, Oregon. We were there for about a year, year and a half. Oh, this is a long time ago. But I'll never forget that dear old grandmother who lived in that area, who was pretty close to 90 and she'd walk with God. There seemed to be something of the glory and the presence, the sense of God with her, until pastors from that whole valley would slip in every time they got in a crisis. Now she didn't give them a lot of the theological principles, but she would pray and when they prayed, they seemed to get up knowing what God wanted. Something flowed, something of a flow of life out of her being. And I, as a young man who didn't know much, was quite amazed that so many men would go to sit at the feet of a woman, to be honest with you. But they did. They did. And they knew, they knew that grandma had something of God. She belonged to the Free Methodist Church. This was David. They didn't use pianos in those days. And the pastor told me one day when he slipped into my office in the youth center, something that really amazed me. He said, you know, we had a vote the other day. The conference gave permission for us to have pianos, but each local church now makes the final vote. So we announced that Wednesday night at prayer meeting we were going to take a vote as to whether we'd have a piano. He said, I went over to tell grandma, but she couldn't get out. She hadn't been out for meetings for quite a while. She was much concerned when I told her what we were going to do. And I'm sure she prayed all during the service that Wednesday night. He said when the vote was taken, she voted by proxy, the senator voted in. When the vote was taken, it was 89 to 1. And we all knew whose vote that 1 was. So he said, I went over to inform her Thursday morning on what had taken place. And the pastor said, I told her I was going to go down and buy a piano right away so we'd have one for Sunday. And she looked at him with something of, you're going to what? He said, why? We voted, I'm going to go down and we're going to have a piano Sunday. I'm going to buy one today. Oh, no you're not, son. Here's something of authority now. Oh, no you're not, son. You're not going to go down and buy a piano. If there's any piano moved into that church, it'll be that one over there. She pointed to her own in the corner. They told me, this was 20 years ago, they told me. When I was there last year, they're still using grandma's piano. Now you know a lot of people, hear me now, a lot of people would have complained and found some other person who was having some difficulty. And the first thing you know, the society of the mutually disagreed would be gathering together to pray. They don't all have the pianos as their primary objective, but they're all disagreeing about something until they're agreed and disagreeing. And praying about it. Yeah, it's something good to have a prayer meeting about. Well, I only mention this to simply say to you this morning, I'll never forget Grandma Kool-Aid. There was something that flowed, that issued out of a being for over 70 years that had walked with God. And a strange authority. She was turning to her pastor and saying, Oh, no, son, you won't. You'll move. You see what I'm getting at. Now, I know it may sound strange to you, but I'd like for us to see this morning before we get through. And we'll go back to the book of Samuel. And we'll follow through the life of Saul and then of David. And strange as it may seem, I'd like for you to consider, and I'm open for correction, but I have a hard time changing it. I'm pretty convinced that God stands with position first. He would have to in the economy of things. And this so crosses us out when we begin to see that God honors government. God honors the authority that issues out of position. Well, let's read in 1 Samuel first, shall we? Let's see how the people in chapter 8 begin to cry out for a king. Samuel had been the voice of God and Israel had been a theocracy. Theocracy means that God is ruling over his people and Samuel is the voice. Chapter 8, 1 Samuel, it says, And it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. Now, the people apparently had some good reasoning. They knew that his sons were weak. They knew that there's something of a weakness in Samuel, I believe. I'm not sure that he was to institute. But you know how a father will place his sons in position. And I think there's something of a groaning within the people. They didn't mind Samuel being the voice of God. But now, what if they get some of his sons put in position? And so they begin to cry out, give us a king that we can be like the other nations. And we read in verse 3, And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after Lucre and took bribes and perverted judgment. Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Saul, Samuel unto Ramah, And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord, and the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee. For they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, Even unto this day wherewith they have forsaken me and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. Well, Saul is chosen to be king. We read on in chapter 9, where he's anointed. Verse 16, chapter 9. Verse 15, we'll pick it up. Now the Lord had told Samuel in his ear a day before, Saul came saying, Tomorrow about this time I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him to be captain over my people Israel, that he may save my people out of the hand of the Philistines. For I have looked upon my people, because their cry is come unto me. And when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said unto him, Behold the man whom I spake to thee of, this same shall reign over my people. Now, go on to chapter 10, verse 1. Then Samuel took a vial of oil. He didn't take a horn, we'll see in a little while. He took a vial of oil and poured it upon his head and kissed him and said, Is it not because the Lord hath anointed thee to be captain over his inheritance? Then he begins to plead with the people, saying, Samuel began to say to them that they have missed the best that God has. They wanted a king, and he's warning them of some of the difficulties that will come because they are taking an alternate way, a way that is not the real choice of the Lord. Finally we come to chapter 12, and I want to pick it up there. Chapter 12, here's Samuel pleading. And Samuel said unto the people, verse 6, And Samuel said unto the people, It is the Lord that advanced Moses and Aaron, and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. Who had advanced all? The people had. Isn't it interesting now? We've been reading in these other verses, it's the Lord that raised up David. It's the Lord that had raised up, that had advanced Moses and Aaron. And here's David reminding them now, or rather Samuel reminding them. He says, Now therefore, verse 7, Stand still, and I may reason with you before the Lord of all the righteous acts of the Lord, which he did to you and to your fathers. And he reiterates them. Verse 12, And when ye saw that Nahash, the king of the children of Ammon, came against you, ye said unto me, Nay, but a king shall reign over us, when the Lord your God was your king. Now therefore, behold the king whom ye have chosen, underline that, and whom ye have desired. And behold, the Lord hath set a king over you. Now isn't it strange that in their begging and in their pleading, God, as it were, seems to go along in this ultimate course, as if to say, All right, if you want this man and you want to give him a position, you want him to be king, I'll go along, I'll allow it. The anointing, I'll anoint him to be king, but he's saying all the way through, It's you who have chosen it and you've desired it. You're going to have to suffer the consequences. Now, let me see if we can bring this down into a little more practical area. It is interesting to notice when you see, as we go along now, that Saul is given a position, but he has never had anything wrought in his life. He has no background. He has no experience. There's nothing of preparation in his inner being. He's not ready for the position. But man's way is to give a man a position, and out of it he'll get some experience. And out here on the pedestal, in front of everybody, he has to learn. It's something to have a position before you're prepared for it. How many times have I looked at some sweet little lassie who comes in and says, Brother Fransky, I'm in love with John and we're going to get married. And I've looked at her, and especially if I've known John, a little bit, and I've said so often, I wonder, young lady, if you know what you're doing. Are you ready to give John the position of Lord in your home? That is, of head in your house. Of your head? Well, you know, love is so blind. She looks up and she says, Oh, I love John. I'm sure it'll work out. I've prayed about it so long, and he's just the one. And it seems that any amount of counseling or trying to prepare her to say that she is giving a position to someone, and that from that position, John's going to have to learn some experience to learn how to be what he should be. But all the years of learning, he hasn't been through it. And don't you know, six months later, the young lady comes in, and I see such a different look on her face. And she says with tears, Brother Fransky, I should have listened. John just doesn't seem to have any ability to run our home. Why, last week he took our whole paycheck and spent it on his jalopy. You know, buying gadgets for it. He doesn't know how to handle money. And the undertone of her groan is, Do I have to obey John? He doesn't have any experience. He doesn't know anything. Do I have to obey John? What do I do? Now, we're on real touchy ground. But we always are when you're touching the things that are vital. There are those who will always say, Well, Mary, just obey the Lord. Just obey the Lord. John will learn. Who does God stand with? Who does God stand with? Oh, the struggle that goes on in this dear heart while she hears the words reiterated again. Young lady, you have given this man a position for which he was totally unprepared. This is man's way. He has a position now. He's had, he's your husband. And now he's going to learn experience. And God will go on. God hasn't counted Saul out. You're going to see. He hasn't counted the whole thing out. He just says, All right, this is your way. We'll just have to let him learn some experience now. I'm trying to do something in his inner being. I'm trying to get out a well, a union. I'm trying to bring him to a place where he can learn something in his innermost being of the ways of the Lord. But here we are. Now, this is a problem that carries over all the time. We were dealing with the church a little bit ago. The conflict of Grandpa Brown, you know, and the pastor. And I have letters from people who come all the time who are saying, Well, Brother Fromke, we have a fine young fellow who's pastor. And he has a position. But he doesn't have much experience. He doesn't know the ways of the Lord. What do we do? Well, the American way is to vote him out. After all, he was voted in. Why not vote him out? Now, we don't have theocracy. Now, don't misunderstand me. We are real thorough. We believe in democracy. Vote him in. And if the fellow won't go, we'll starve him out. Now, you don't believe that's true. I can show you some letters that are going on right now where a pastor said, You didn't put me here. God did, and I don't intend to move. And the people have said, Well, we'll help the Lord a little differently then. And they're starving him right now. All the turmoil that's going on in what I call a religious ecclesiasticism today that has set up their Saul. Someone with a degree. Someone with the image. Head and shoulders. He looks the part. He's the image of what we want to draw and win people. But I want you to see what they got when they got Saul. Chapter 13. Here's a man with position who has no ability to lead the people. Chapter 13 and verse 1. Saul reigned one year. And when he had reigned two years over Israel, Saul chose in 3,000 men of Israel. Where of 2,000 were with Saul in Mishmash and in Mount Bethel, and 1,000 were with Jonathan in Gibeah, Benjamin, and the rest of the people. He sent every man to his tent. And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear. And all Israel heard say that Saul had smitten a garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel also had an abomination with the Philistines. And the people were called together after Saul to Gilgal. And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel. 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude. And they came up and pitched in Mishmash eastward from Beth-Avon." Now notice, "...when the men of Israel saw that they were in a strength. For the people were distressed. Then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits. And some of the Hebrews went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal. And all the people followed him." I don't blame them. I tremble, too, with that kind of a general. You want to know why? He doesn't know how to get a word from the Lord. We'll see a little later this week, probably. He knows that the customary way when you need divine guidance is to go to the altar at Gilgal and to make an offering. And somehow, the Lord will send a letter down, and we'll know what to do. Now, I'm not being facetious. He has no background of the acquaintance, the personal way by which God, in the hour of crisis, can come in and give the direction that is so much needed. And hear me. It is strange, but God always precipitates those hours of crisis for this man in order that through it, he can establish him. The crisis isn't bad, it's good. How else will he be established in his position? Moses had to be, as every man of God, everyone who has ever moved on with God has always had the challenging of authority. But when God, in his own way, had been able to do some preparing in the heart and life of this individual, then they were always equal to the position. Let me see if I can illustrate. You remember how God was preparing the man after his own heart? Here was a boy out with his father's sheep, handing them out in the wilderness. And one day, I cannot help but believe that up to this time, there had been something of a strange and wonderful communion and a union developing with the heart of David as he'd been responding to God. And God precipitates and brings a crisis. Here comes a bear, here comes a lion. Let's take the lion. What does he do in the midst of this first physical crisis? I believe, I don't think I'm reading into it, but I believe he simply looks up as a helpless lad would to say, Oh God, this is your hour. And God gives him the strength to tear the lion asunder. Very simple, very small. But it's the beginning of a man who is moving into union and moving into the sharing of the life of the Lord. Something in his being is in tune with God and out of it he issues in an experience, the Lord. That's wonderful. You do get strength in the moment of crisis. And there's something of a position that issues out of what has happened in him, the experience that has been wrought and what has come. But that's just preparation for a bigger lion. Cheer up. One day this boy went out to visit his brothers. And here were the armies of Israel on one slope and the armies over here challenging. And a big old giant by the name of Goliath stands there. Ha ha, he's laughing. Is there any among you who will dare to come out and fight me? And David overhears. This is not merely a man challenging. This is the enemy challenging the people of God. Oh, David doesn't just immediately step into this position, but what there's been some preparation previously. Do you see that? He'd met this lion before. He just changes his coat. It's the same lion. Hear me. It's the same lion. And that day when something of the inner voice of God speaks and he hears the challenge, God is being challenged. He dare not let the glory and the name of the Lord be challenged by this one. He moves out with his slingshot and five stones. Puts off the armor that has been given him. But he moves out. And you know the lion that falls. I think every time I used to read these, I would shudder. And I would say, Oh Lord, I'm not ready for that kind of a position. But the Lord's sweet voice always seems to say, Son, I never push anybody into the position that they're not prepared for. The preparations of the Lord. The preparations of the Lord. First this lion, the physical. Then Goliath. But that's just preparation for another one. I thought someday, I don't know that we'll get to, where we talk about the warfare on three levels and the overcoming. First the physical realm. Here he tears this lion and the bearer's thunder. And I don't know, but I think I can see in the realm of the giant, all the war of the soul. All that rises up to antagonize. But when he faces this third lion, I mean the lion in his third phase, it's old King Saul himself. You know the story. You know how David flees through the wilderness, and you read all of the Psalms, how again and again he cries out, and you sense that there is something of an attunement in the midst of his fear. Yet God is working. God is working to prepare. And I say that each lion is preparation for a lion on another phase. Here's the spiritual. Here's the kingdom phase. The spiritual aspect when old Saul is after him. So we're saying now in chapter 13, that Saul was unprepared. And by contrast, God has been preparing himself a man, the scripture says. He's been preparing him in his inner being, bringing about a union. And out of that experience each time, the reality, and out of it there flows a new position each time. But Saul, Saul got his position first. And so he has to learn right out here on the pedestal in front of everybody. Oh, I look back. I look back at some of those first days when I was thrust out, attempting to do some ministering so often, thrust into position. It's quite a thing on the table out in front of everybody to make all of your mistakes. We make enough anyway. But it's quite a thing to get all your experience right out in front of everybody. God does have hidden ways. Back in the sheep coat. God does have ways of preparing. And Saul, Saul is in a crisis. Here is the proof now in chapter 13. The people are following him, but I think they see his knees knocking and that's why they tremble. He doesn't move. He doesn't have any principle. There's nothing of background. There's been nothing prepared in his life. He trembles when he speaks. Verse 8 we read, And Saul carried seven days according to the set time that Samuel had appointed. But Samuel came not to Gilgal, and the people were scattered from him. And Saul said, Bring hither a burnt offering to me and peace offering. And he offered the burnt offering. Here's a man who doesn't know. But he knows one thing that he has to have a word from God. And the way you get it is to what? Go to the altar and offer. But he doesn't know that he isn't prepared. Samuel comes and it came to pass that as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him that he might salute him. And Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together to make smash, therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal. I have not made supplication unto the Lord. I forced myself, I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering. A desperation moved. Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly. Thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee. For now, or for through this, would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever. He hasn't rejected him. Just because the people gave him a position doesn't mean that God was rejecting. God was saying, All right, this is the man you want. We'll allow him to learn. We'll allow him to be established. But it'll have to be through the crisis in this way. For in this way, or for through this, for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue. The Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart. And the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee. Now I want you to bear in mind one thing. There's only two people who know this so far. Saul and Samuel, right? Dear heart, I do not believe that the Lord ever gives any wife the privilege of saying, Lord, my husband hasn't any experience. This position is, he's not big enough for it. And I'll reject it. He's not worthy. I know the involvement. I know how the rationalizing of the mind, the reasonings rise up to say, but what if, what if, I know. But I simply say that God's peculiar way seems to be to stand with government and position. And I don't believe, I think I'll say it as softly and kindly as I can. I don't believe that any people who are mixed up in an ecclesiastical system in which you have given a position to some pastor that God gives you any right to reject him. As long as you're in it, you're stuck. Cheerio. You have no right to reject. Lost a lot of frames. Well, now let me illustrate why I'm sure this is so. We're talking about this last big lion that was the one that was after David. You remember when King Saul begins to be jealous and envious of this little boy who killed the giant? And word got back among the people and pretty soon there's a whispering campaign that goes on that says, what is this the women were saying? Saul has killed his thousands, but David has his 10,000. Now that'll help you if you're a king. That'll help you if you have a position. And here's somebody who has some experience, you know. That'll bring the best out and you'll get to see yourself. And immediately there's an envy and a jealousy and Saul must get rid of David and he pursues him. He pursues him through the wilderness. One day when David is hiding in a cave, Saul comes in and is, I expect, momentarily blinded, coming in from the light into the darkness. There's David and some of his men around the edge of the cave and he pounces upon Saul. And you know, he could have said, oh, this is the day I'll help the Lord. This is the day I'll fulfill the thing that God's after. This man who's a murderer, right? Who has a position, right? Who's not worthy of it and not deserving of it. Why? That's true. And Samuel himself has told King Saul that he'll be rejected. But oh, here's a principle. David turns and he has to say that he will not touch the anointed of the Lord. Hands off. He's a man who had a position which God still honored, even though, even though, we know. You think it made any difference if David had overheard what Samuel said? Well, that's conjecture. We won't go into it. But he doesn't know this. He knows one thing and it's a principle. He must not touch the Lord's anointed. The man who was in position and God stands with that position, yes. Oh, I've squirmed about this. I've seen some stalls. And I've cried out, oh God, why does touch not mine anointed? Does it happen just once? In case we think, you know, I think God wants to verify it again by saying to us, once again when he is caught, same thing, touch not mine anointed. There are a lot of ways to touch the anointed of the Lord. I've seen some fine young fellows through the years, when God began to make this real to their heart, they began to see the need to go to some of those of the servants of the Lord who they had touched. Think of one young man, never forget how in his own eyes and from the standpoint of experience that he'd had with God, he was right and yet he was wrong when the Lord sent him to that pastor. And he had to openly acknowledge how he'd been standing against him and resisting and touching him by his gossip and by his talking, how the pastor broke. And it was God's way of speaking to that man. Maybe the Lord would say to us this morning that we should be very careful about the yolks we get into. Young people, young people, young man, young lady, Oh, I pray that God will hold you steady. I know that you can't learn everything before you're married. But young lady, you can look for a man in whom God has begun to work something of the reality of himself, whose heart is turned this way. And there are some principles being in wrought in his life. He may learn some things after he gets a position, we all do that. But I'm trying to say that the basic way by which God works is so different from man. Man is all the time, man is all the time saying, Oh, if I had a position, if I just had that place, then I could do something for God. It doesn't work that way. It's wrong to people in positions today all over this country who have no outflow of life or ministry through them. And yet I see men who have, as it were, no position given by man. But out of the reality of what God has wrought, everybody they touch, every place they touch, there's something of the flow. Because, you see, it is not our doing that God's primarily after. But it is God bringing us to a place where out of inward being there's all the discipline and the coming under authority and the being shut up and the learning that basically there are just two trees. You see, everything that issues over here is of the tree of knowledge, of good and evil. Oh, I see what you want, Lord. Why didn't I see that before? I'll go out to help you. And so out of our own resources, out of our own energy, out of our own strength, we become champions to get the thing done for God. And if there's some who've been through it, and I'm sure there are, and you've suddenly wondered why all of the doing and all of the activity and all that you've been trying to build for God, suddenly the whole thing comes collapsing in on you. God is simply trying to bring some people to the place where we move out of this source of independence, of getting a hold of what we think He wants, and then using the word in our own ways and the principles and all that's involved to do it for God. God says, No, I don't want you to do. I just want to cut the whole taproot here. And I think one of the most difficult things He takes the eager beavers and the active people and the drivers and all that we are in our temperament to get things done for God, and He sets them aside in the discipline of silence and patience and waiting. Lord! But He's trying to develop another tree in it, the tree of life, a union with the Lord Himself. And this is the difference. It's simply His way of saying, Look, when you quit doing, then I'll start doing it. I just want you to be what I want you to be. And this is why I want to say this morning that I think I've been more guilty of getting people, trying to get them focused and become purpose conscious. And the more we see of what we want to do for God, the more we get our steam up. And the strange and wonderful way of the Lord is to get us preoccupied just with Himself. Not necessarily programmed or purpose conscious or getting it all done, but a preoccupation with Himself. And then out of it, God begins to be the new source of doing. The doing has permanency. The doing issues out of a reality. Well, here's David. God finally brings him to the throne. We'll go on a little further into that, maybe in the days ahead. And the anointing of what was really involved as God brings him to this place where he's the unifier of the people. Would you turn with me now? We'll get a little glimpse, just another portion. In 1 Samuel, chapter 15, King Saul is still king. In God's sight, he's just waiting for him to fizzle out a little more. The eyes of everybody. You know the story so well when one day Samuel says, Go down and slay Amalek. Remember what they've done. You know what they represent, Amalek, the grandson of Esau. All that the flesh represents, go down and slay. Saul is not a prepared man. He doesn't know. He goes down and he slays the vile and the refuse, slays all the bad things. Is that logical to the natural life? Get rid of it. But the good things he spares. And we'll do it unless we've been taught of God. One of the things that God must do is to bring us into the inner sanctuary where we are taught to discern the difference between the holy and profane. We'll never learn at any other place. Saul didn't know it. Of course, it was easy to get rid of the bad things. We'll all do that in our lives. But they spared the best of the sheep and the oxen. You know the story. And according to type, he spared himself. That is, he spared King Agag because he spared himself. And so finally we read in verse 22 when Samuel comes, chapter 15, And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of ram. Can't you see a man so busy sacrificing? Can't you see a man who's so busy giving up things, giving up this? Literally sacrificing. I think I see them in the religious world all around me. Out of breath, sweating for God, and the tone of it is, Oh, what I'm sacrificing for you, Lord. The Lord says, That is what I want. That is what I want. You haven't hearkened. You don't hear. You don't hear well. Behold, to obey is better. Now Samuel had a sensitive ear, which Saul didn't have. And now he came back with a testimony. Oh, had a great victory. Ever heard people say that? Had a great meeting. Had a great revival. Had a great, you name it. But Samuel with that sensitive ear says, I hear something. There's an undertone. Oh, Lord, give us a sensitive ear that hears the undertone in the midst of all the testimony. The bleeding of the sheep. The lowing of the oxen. We don't see them, but they're over in the yonder valley. There they are. They give us a way in our testimony. So he finally says, verse 23, For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. But he's still the only one who knows it. Even though David would like to help him through the rejection. Chapter 16. The Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill thine horn with oil, and go. I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided me a king among his sons. Verse 13. And Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. Oh, here's the man of God's preparation, and the man of God's own choosing. Well, let's sum it up by taking a couple of psalms now. Turn to Psalm 75. I tell you, it's a wonderful thing to rest your case in the hands of God. Especially when you see everybody else really getting things done out here. And in their positions. And God has you locked up in the wilderness. You've been there 40, well, not quite 40 years, but it seems that long. In the schoolroom of the Lord, I know that God has woven into us a built-in desire to fulfill and to be something in the right way for God. Now, you can deny it, but I know it's in you. It's there because God wove it in. The only thing that keeps man with something that's reaching out for the fulfillment of purpose. But oh, when the fall came, and the perversion of this good built-in, this that God had placed there. When it came, became perverted, and now man living from the source of another tree and feeding his whole life in independency, getting knowledge, Bible knowledge, to do things for God. But still independent. Relying on himself to help God. God has to bring us down through death before there can be resurrection. Cheer up, it's a long way down. A lot further yet. But he's working, and all of our waiting and our desire for fulfillment, to really fill the niche, to, in our generation, do the thing that God has uniquely called us to. But it will never come, it will never come by our own steam or trying to do it. This is the difference between that which God has to reveal of his own way. I can't, I pray that he'll get it across to us. Well, let's see what he's saying. Psalm 75, verse 4, I said unto the fool, deal not foolishly, and to the wicked, lift not up the horn, lift not up your horn on high, speak not with a stiff neck, for promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. Well, where does it come from then? Isn't it significant that he left the north out? Well, you know this. Promotion does come from where? From the north, because God is in the sights of the north. I think it's significant. I don't think there's any mystery here. He's just saying it doesn't come from man, from any of these directions, but it does come, because he sits in the sights of the north. But God is the judge. He putteth down one and setteth up another. And that was the verse we read in Acts 13. He removes Saul. He's a man who has moved into position ahead of time in his own way, but he raises up David. And I don't see, I don't believe, that there's the finagling or the pulling of strings or the maneuvering. No politics. I tell you, God has to get him there. And he'll get you into the place if there's any promoting. Praise the Lord. Now I've wondered so often why this horn business is mentioned. It says, Lift not up the horn. In verse 10 it says of that chapter, All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted. I don't know. It may be just a wild dream, but I remember back when I used to spend some summers on my grandfather's ranch up in Dakota with lots of cattle. Several times I would hear my grandfather turn to my uncle and say, You see that old cow there with the horn? I want you to dehorn her tomorrow. And I'd look with bewilderment and then I'd watch. There she was at the feed rack making her way in. And I heard grandpa say so often that the cow with the longest horn usually became the boss in the herd. The sharpest horn. She ruled the herd. Horns gave her some authority I guess. Have you ever met a cow with horns? And there was a peculiar authority that went along with it. I can just see some of them. There it is. The horn. The horns that give an authority. I don't know, but I think I see in Scripture the fact that when he took the horn of oil down to anoint, it's something of the picture of an authority that God is investing, that God is giving. And he's saying of the individual who has merely usurped a position, trying to be something, has his own horn authority. He's seeming to say, I'll cut them off. All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off. But there is an authority. There is an authority that issues. And I think this is very wonderful because out of the life in which there is something raw in God and the inward being. And this brings the experience that God is raw. And this brings the position that God has given. With it, this position, there's always the proper exalting, there's the raising up, the exaltation that the Lord has for his greater David. And for David. And he gives his own authority. I think that if God has his way, all these three kinds of authority blend into one. And you have to have all of them. If you just have a position of authority, you're on pretty dangerous ground. If you just have some experience, and I'm not sure that you can just have that without some inner being, but the three. This is what God is doing in raising up man, those who will be prepared to lead his people. But you have an awful conflict in a church when Grandpa Brown has no position, that is no legally recognized outward position. You see, if we get into God's order of things, Grandpa Brown would have his proper position. You understand what I mean? He'd be one of God's elders raised up in the proper order of the Lord. But all the turmoil and the strife and the friction. I think I look over all of the religious mess today and it's just things out of order. And it'll never get any better. I don't think it can get any better. And that's why I have to say it kindly, the Lord seems to put a new bridle on things. Son, I don't want you to go in and give them another shot in the arm when I've got Ichabod written over it and I'm just waiting for it to die. We'll get into this thing of the sharpness of priority in a day or so. Oh, it's something that God himself has to reveal and make very real to us. So, he says, the horns of the righteous. Well, let's read one more psalm that may have a little meaning. Psalm 112 and then we'll close. This gives us the picture of a life that has, I believe, come into proper establishing in God's way. Let's read it. Psalm 112. Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandment. His seed shall be mighty upon earth. The generation of the upright shall be blessed. Wealth and riches shall be in his house and his righteousness endureth forever. On to the upright. Now, if I understand the Old Testament word of upright, it gives me the significance or the meaning of one who inwardly is right up to God's heart. Right up in harmony with God. It's an inward thing. The upright. On to the upright, there rises what? Well, Lord, I don't have to be worried about getting experience or all the time trying to find out what to do, but to the upright, the one who lives in union, the one who has the source to the tree of life and lives by this as a constant flow. In every crisis, there is light. The moment of darkness, there's light. This is why God begins with inward light. In him was light. And the life was the light of man. But we want light. Not light that issues out of life. This is my concern these days that we're gathering. Oh, Lord, don't let us just get a notebook full or some new knowledge or something more to preach or just some principles. But Lord, you shut us up to an atonement with your heart. Bring us to the basic issues, whatever it may be that has clogged or hindered or stopped our coming into an open honesty, a complete honesty with you. And out of this, out of this, there will flow the light. In any hour, the darkness comes. If we miss this, we're just getting some packages of knowledge. We can go out and preach them and share them with others. But, oh, God's way, God's way is to bring us to this inward reality, this in which we come to an inward sharing, the upright, to the upright. Verse 4, There rises light in the darkness. He is gracious and full of compassion and righteous. A good man show a favor and lend it. He will guide his affairs with discretion. Why? Well, this man, out of inward being, out of inward light, is getting light and he has the experience of light. God has been working. Something issues out of it flows. And so he says, he will guide his affairs with discretion. Here's the wisdom that this young man needs who's got Mary. So that Mary can look at him with confidence and say, John, I trust the Lord. Did you ever notice the shortest route to your pastor? The shortest route to your husband? The shortest route to anyone that's the Moses in your life? It's not this way, but this way. It's this way. Lord, you tell my husband. Lord, you tell my husband. Lord, you speak to our pastor. Lord, you help our elders. Lord, you... Because when I try, so often, I confuse the issue. And this is the man now whom God establishes. Verse 6, Surely he shall not be moved forever. The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. He shall not be afraid of evil, tithing, his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. His heart is established. He shall not be afraid until he see his desire upon his enemy. He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor, his righteousness endures forever. His horn shall be exalted with honor. Well, where does honor come in? Honor belong down here? Too early. Too early. It's too early. God's way is to remove the life that insists this way. But the fruit or the Bible, that which issues out of the position in it, it's proper. Honor comes out of the position, in the position that God ordains. Not sought after, it's a by-product. Can be grasped, can only be given by God. His authority, his horn, shall be exalted with honor. Oh, there's a power struggle going on in the world today. There's a power struggle, and it's going on in all the fellowships. But God's way of establishing a life in ministry, establishing a life in a walk of uprightness, I tell you, gives such rest. When you just look up and say, Lord, forgive me for all my straining, trying to be something, trying to get a position, praying all the time to get in a position. I've never been ready for it anyway. But all out of the reality of what a life has been through, the Lord says, Oh, now you'll count it all joy when I take you through, that I can make you a fountain of life, and out of you can flow rivers of living water to meet the needs of others. Cheer up, it's going to get worse. I mean better. But you see, that's what it seems like to the natural. Because God's way of preparing is one line and then another, and then another. And he won't let you touch them with your own strength. Lord, who among us this morning, who among us this morning can stand guiltless? We have all, we have all sought in different ways to do things for thee, to help you in your program. We've been so eager to be somebody that with a proper image we could influence people. But you don't work that way. It's not by our own natural image. It's not our influence. It's not who we are. Oh, dear Lord, down among the sheep coats this morning, you're preparing. You have some Davids hidden away. Thank you, Lord. I thank you this morning. The world doesn't know. Israel at large doesn't see or recognize. They'd still pick somebody else. But here's a little boy. You've got them hidden away. We believe, dear Lord, there's going to be, there's going to be, there is, we thank you. Those who in the hour of great need, in the hour of great need, when the challenge of Goliath comes, you'll have your Davids. Don't, don't let us, don't let us be guilty. Oh, God, of trying to help you in our own ways and after our own reasoning. Don't let us get so involved in those situations, dear Lord, where we're submitting to things or we're involved in situations, dear Lord, where we've given position to others and we have to follow trembling. We don't know the answer, but we see something. And don't let us go out in our own way to try to upset or undo things, but keep us occupied with you in your timing, in your own way, dear Lord. In your own way, you will bring about the one you have for the throne. You'll bring about, you're going to bring the greater David. You're going to bring his company, a body that's knit to a head. The people, dear Lord, who are knit together, who have come with a glad heart as they came to David. They gave him the position. They gave it to him. It was something, dear Lord, that you'd ordained in the proper timing. He alone is worthy. We thank you, Lord Jesus. Our eyes are fixed upon thee. Feel any word to our individual hearts. We'll give you the praise and the honor and the glory as we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.