Israel Needs a King

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Israel Needs a Humble King (1 Samuel 24)

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Israel Needs a Humble King (1 Samuel 24)

“As the one who feared the Lord, David did not choose the way of self-realization by getting rid of his enemy by himself. In other words, David didn’t allow himself to disobey God’s commands by interpreting this occasion as a God-given opportunity to commit murder. Rather than to take things into his own hand, David was patient and willing to entrust the matter to God’s good judgement…And so once again, David swallows his pride for the sake of peace…Let us consider how David, in this chapter, points to Christ Jesus, the greater Son of David…Because of Christ’s obedience, even allowing himself to stand before unjust tribunals and kangaroo courts, and bearing the sentence of death on a cross, and because his Spirit now dwells in each of those who likewise lay down their lives to follow him…You and I can now also glorify God by humbling ourselves, even before the proud.”

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Israel Needs a King Who Is On God's Side (1 Samuel 23 and Psalm 54)

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Israel Needs a King Who Is On God's Side (1 Samuel 23 and Psalm 54)

“God is not on your side, but you can be on God’s side. We know if we are on God’s side if we are dedicated to fulfill his purposes, his agenda, and for his glory…God was not on David’s side, per se, but David was on God’s side. He was not expecting God to achieve his goals, but had committed himself to God’s goals, this is why he prays (Psalm 57:2) ‘I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.’ And he states with confidence (Psalm 138:8) ‘The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me…’…We think that Saul is insane for thinking that God is blessing his endeavors and helping him to catch David; that God is blessing those who help him get what he wants. But how many professing Christians believe and act the same way?  Confidently pursuing our own agenda, our own desires, our own purposes, and then expecting that God will come alongside and help us out? The church is full of Sauls’. Church, you only have God on your side if you have taken God’s side. You can only expect the protection and faithfulness of God—as David did—if you have given up living for yourself and now live for God…”

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Israel Needs a King Who Honors God (1 Samuel 22 and Psalm 57)

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Israel Needs a King Who Honors God (1 Samuel 22 and Psalm 57)

“You see, church, that faith towards God is not merely believing that he exists, or even believing that he can help us in every situation, but faithfully acting on that belief. Living as though what we say we believe is true! ‘I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me,’ (Ps 57:2) even if that purpose does not bring about immediate relief from my discomfort. We exist for the glory of God, so let our prayer continuously go forth: Be exalted in me, O God, above the heavens!  Let your glory be revealed in your church over all the earth! God did exalt himself greatly in David, who was not alone in the cave, and his physical solitude was soon relieved…The warning to us church, is that, as with Saul, the judgment of God does not always wait until we breathe our final breath, but if we are disobedient to his word, and do not live for his glory, he may give us over to the terrible results of our rebellion. According to Romans 1, this is the ‘wrath of God… revealed.’ When people fail to honor God rightfully, and fail to give him the thanksgiving he deserves, they are often given over to the foolishness of their hearts…”

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Israel Needs a Worshipping King (1 Samuel 21 and Psalm 34)

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Israel Needs a Worshipping King (1 Samuel 21 and Psalm 34)

“…(L)et us respond to David’s testimony, and recall our own: Have we had the opportunity to ‘taste and see that the Lord is good!’ If so, let us remember and bless the Lord at all times, praise him continually and boast in the Lord to one another.”

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Israel Needs God's Covenantal Law (1 Samuel 21)

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Israel Needs God's Covenantal Law (1 Samuel 21)

“The commandments of the Law were perfectly designed by God to teach his people the definition of love. But it was their constant predisposition to keep the external elements of the law without understanding its purpose. Though keeping the law was a serious thing, with a death sentence for rebellion, love and compassion always trumped the external trappings of the law.”

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Israel Needs God's Covenantal Love (1 Samuel 20)

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Israel Needs God's Covenantal Love (1 Samuel 20)

“There must have been at least a moment—after Saul’s gaslighting—where Jonathan felt as though he had betrayed his father and dishonored his mother. And he would certainly have had some desire to claim the comfort, control and glory of royalty for himself. Any one of these emotions could have motivated him to break his commitment to David and obey his father’s edict. Looking to the end of the story, we know that Jonathan’s loyalty to God’s people not only cost him in his relationship with his own father and king, but that he suffered lifelong separation from David as well. He did not get an immediate reward of happy fellowship to replace the family relationships, position and glory that such covenant love had cost him…”

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Israel Needs an Obedient King (1 Samuel 18-19)

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Israel Needs an Obedient King (1 Samuel 18-19)
Josh Handford

Tune in as Pastor Josh preaches from the extended narrative in 1 Samuel 18-19, which is bookended the removal of royal robes:

“In this context, the robes represent everything that we desire as humans: control, comfort, and glory. These are things that are uniquely possessed by the king of Israel…Those who seek their own control, comfort and glory are unable to genuinely love the people of God. Those who seek their own control, comfort and glory will find themselves in opposition to the people of God. Those who seek their own control, comfort and glory will find themselves in opposition to God. Those who seek their own control, comfort and glory will lose it all anyway…”

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Israel Needs a Humble Warrior King (1 Samuel 17)

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Israel Needs a Humble Warrior King (1 Samuel 17)

“This is not a story about God’s people winning the battle. This is about the one who will go out before us and fight our battles. This is about the Lord of hosts, the God of armies who, through his anointed king, defeated the enemy of His people, prefiguring Christ Jesus, who doesn’t just help us to win the battles of life, but first he goes out before us, alone, to win the war. Only then does he call us to follow him in his victory. Like the Israelites, we are blessed to be a part of the clean-up action. Driving out the last remnant of our enemies — sin, death, and Satan — all who have already been wholly defeated by Christ…”

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God Gives Israel a Humble King (1 Samuel 16)

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God Gives Israel a Humble King (1 Samuel 16)

“One of the main themes of this chapter is the human inability to see what God sees.…It seems that the biblical record deliberately creates the impression that Yahweh prefers to use weak, the lowly, the disenfranchised members of society, to do his most significant work…”

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Israel Needs a Faithful King (1 Samuel 15) (Pt 2)

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Israel Needs a Faithful King (1 Samuel 15) (Pt 2)

“Saul foolishly sought God’s favor with sacrifices gained through disobedience; an act that belittles God and treats him as not-holy. Such presumption reframes Saul’s partial obedience as total rebellion. We are not immune to such folly. Sin always wants to hide itself from discovery, and so we, like Saul, are prone to relabelling our failures to obey as partial obedience and then calling them a success. This happens when we fail to share the gospel and call it wisdom, because we might lose influence. We disobey God by cheating on our taxes, and then say that it is so that we can give more and be more generous…There are many such examples where we are prone to sanitizing our sin and calling it a win. We disobey and call it love. We disobey and call it wisdom. Like Saul, we trust our own motives, trust our own wisdom. We disobey and then take a victory lap announcing our success in obedience….”

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