Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. I want to talk to you about Jesus, our Shepherd King, with this in mind.
If you see Him for who He really is, you'll trust Him. If you can really see the nature of who our King is. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series Son of David, as presented at Rinaldin Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program today, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries. As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org.
Or call 877-544-4860. Now, more on this later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching. Here is Alan Wright. We're going to be in 1 Samuel, chapter 16, and continue our exploration of the life of David.
The series, though, is called Son of David because it is a look at Jesus through the lens of David's life. Before we get to our reading today, I had a little chuckle this week looking back at some of the times that kids get confused about the words of songs. Sometimes they just don't sound like what they actually are. So instead of God bless America, land that I love, stand beside her and guide her through the night with the light from above. One child thought it was through the night with a light from a bulb.
That kind of makes sense, doesn't it? The night, the light from a bulb. Instead of silent night having the word sleep in heavenly peace, one child thought it was sleep in heavenly peas.
So that's kind of gross. Instead of Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, born is the king of Israel. One child thought it was Noel, Noel, Noel, Barney's the king of Israel.
Purple dinosaur. Instead of... Some child was probably really disappointed to find out that Barney wasn't a king. Instead of God rest ye married gentlemen, get dressed ye married gentlemen. Instead of wild shepherds watched their flocks at night, one thought that it was wild shepherds washed their socks at night. Instead of joy to the world, the Savior reigns, let men their songs employ. One child thought it was joy to the world, the Savior reigns, let men their sins enjoy.
That's a big difference. And this is the one that absolutely wrecked a classic hymn for me. And I hate to wreck it for you forever also, but here goes. Instead of lead on, O king eternal, one child thought it was lead on, O kinky turtle. And so I've never been able to quite get that out of my mind, which is bad because the words of this hymn are wonderful. And if you would sing there, look at this hymn, you'd come to verse 2 of the hymn lyrics which say, lead on, O king eternal, till sin's fierce war shall cease. The real battle over sin. What to do about our sin.
How to overcome our sin. Will there be victory? Till sin's fierce war shall cease. And holiness shall whisper the sweet amen of peace. For not with swords loud clashing, nor roll of stirring drums, with deeds of love and mercy, the heavenly kingdom comes. And not with traditional battles of human warfare, but with the spiritual weaponry of love and mercy, compassion and goodness, our king reigns. I want to talk to you today about the forgotten son who became king of all. And how this king was very different from other earthly kings because he was both a shepherd and a king. 1 Samuel chapter 16 is our story. This is the call and the anointing of David when he is a young man.
Some would say as young as 15, maybe 17 years of age. We don't know for sure, but he was young. This is not when David takes the throne. We'll see in coming weeks many other chapters, many other stories, and many adversities that he goes through before he ever is on the throne. He's announced as king and so he is a king by God's decree even though it has not yet come into manifestation. There are many things, many things in our lives that God says about us that because it's not yet manifest does not mean that it is not true. Verse 1, the Lord said to Samuel, How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel?
Fill your horn with oil and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons. And Samuel said, How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.
Let me pause here to say what's happening. King Saul was the first king of Israel and we'll learn a little bit more about him today. He was a man who everyone thought would be a good king, but he turned out to be a terrible king. And after the Lord had allowed the people to experience what it's like to be under a bad king, he has announced that he is removing Saul from the throne and he's got a new king he's going to anoint. Samuel is the chief prophet in the royal court and the judge of the land. And he knows that Saul is ruthless. Saul has become an insane tyrant. And he knows that if Saul gets word of Samuel going to anoint another king that he would execute Samuel.
That's what's going on here. And the Lord said, this is second half of verse 2, Take a heifer with you and say, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord and invite Jesse to the sacrifice. And I will show you what you shall do, and you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you. So he's sending him to this man in Bethlehem who has a lot of sons. And he's going to tell Samuel which one of the sons to anoint. Verse 4, Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, Do you come peaceably?
Let me pause here again to say the reason they're afraid is because this is a very unusual sight. Samuel was famous. Samuel was very powerful and he was associated with the royal court. And so it either meant one or two things. It either meant that Saul had sent him for a reason and that wouldn't be good. Or it meant that he came in some kind of opposition to Saul and then that would bring trouble upon Bethlehem. So they're very scared.
They didn't want to be singled out. He said, verse 5, peaceably I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice. And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. So he hasn't even really told them the full reason for his coming.
The Lord had told them it's okay to share part of the truth but not the whole truth. It's okay here to share that there's going to be a worship service. There's going to be a consecration. There's going to be a sacrifice but you're not necessarily sharing everything about why you're there. That you're actually going to anoint the new king.
So it's just practicing wisdom here. And then this begins where he's going to identify who the new king is. Verse 6, when they came Samuel looked on Eliab and thought surely the Lord's anointed is before him. But the Lord said to Samuel do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature because I've rejected him. For the Lord sees not as a man sees.
Man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord looks on the heart. Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said neither has the Lord chosen this one. Then Jesse made Shammah pass by and he said neither has the Lord chosen this one. And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse the Lord has not chosen these. Then Samuel said to Jesse are all your sons here?
And he said there remains yet the youngest but behold he is keeping the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse send and get him for we will not sit down till he comes here. And he sent and brought him in.
Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said arise anoint him for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers.
And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. Just reading it in English you'll notice a word a verb that keeps appearing. But if you were to look at this in Hebrew it would stand out even more. Because actually this word appears in the very first verse.
When the Lord says I have provided for myself a king. The word there is actually the word in Hebrew meaning to see. Ra'ah to look or to see. And sometimes this word can mean provide. Because it means by seeing ahead of time you provide for it. You know we use this figure of speech in English sometimes we'll say see to it that such and such happens. This is like saying the Lord is saying I've seen to it that I have a king for myself in Israel.
I've seen this. There's the word. But then what happens is that word gets repeated over and over. This is a good way to study scripture in your own personal devotional or in your Bible studies. Is that when you take a text and it fits together.
So this is a passage of scripture that all fits together right here this particular story. And one of the things you could just first do in this is you just start looking and saying what are the really freighted words? What are the words that seem to have special impact? And sometimes that will happen because the word will be repeated.
You say that somehow that's a key to this story. And this word raah this word for seeing or looking it keeps coming back. So then at verse 6 it says that Samuel looked on Eliab. The same word that is being used to speak of the Lord saying I looked and saw a king for myself. Now Samuel's looking. And then the Lord said to Samuel verse 7 do not look on his appearance because I've rejected him. And then here comes the word again for the Lord sees not as man sees that's raah again. For man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord looks on the heart. Raah raah raah to see to look to see to look that becomes the theme of this. And it almost just begins to make you go that the whole story here is about will anybody be able to see who the king is?
That's Alan Wright. And we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. In a world that often feels overwhelming we all seek moments of encouragement and hope. As a heartfelt thank you for becoming a monthly partner with Alan Wright Ministries we're excited to send you our blessing box featuring 24 beautifully crafted cards filled with encouraging blessings from Pastor Alan. Each card offers daily inspiration and scripture on themes such as hope, strength, your identity in Christ, thanksgiving and much more.
These blessings are designed to uplift your spirit providing encouragement whenever you need a boost. This unique resource can be yours with our thanks as we welcome new monthly partners to the support family of Alan Wright Ministries. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.
When you give today we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.
That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website PastorAlan.org. Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. Will anybody be able to recognize the king, the new king? And if they don't, if they're blind to this, why are they blind to this?
What is going on? And that's really what I think the story is about. So I want to talk to you today about the nature of the kingship of David and how it prefigures, points us to the nature of the kingship of Jesus. And to just kind of tip my hand to say where we're going with this is that what is so beautiful and ironic about this is that David is this son who's out in the field and he's forgotten. He doesn't even, he's an afterthought. Nobody thinks he could be king. But in fact he becomes the king over the whole nation. And not just that, he becomes the most beloved king that Israel ever had and the one that everyone always looks back to and says this is what we always want and he becomes the one who is going to be the father of the ultimate Messiah who would be called the son of David. And so the irony of this is it couldn't be more dramatic, could it? That the one that nobody thought could be king, the one who wasn't even brought into the lineup of possible kings, the forgotten one, is the one who becomes not only the king of all but becomes the most beloved king that they ever had.
And yet nobody saw him. And so it's a story of a shepherd who was doing the menial task of keeping the sheep who actually becomes the exalted king. It's a story of a shepherd king. I want to talk to you about Jesus our shepherd king with this in mind.
If you see him for who he really is, you'll trust him. If you can really see the nature of who our king is. Now this story of David actually is part of a bigger story that if you really want to understand it, you've got to at least understand two other scenes. And I want to turn you backwards therefore in 1 Samuel back to chapter 2. Now in 1 Samuel chapter 2 we have a prayer here that is absolutely beautiful and poetic and prophetic and it is prayed by Hannah. Hannah is a woman of God who has a very intimate relationship with the Lord. And Hannah had pleaded with God for a miracle that she would be able to conceive a child, one of the regular themes of Scripture.
And so it is that she is a woman that is going to have no child and then she's given a child. And so she knows that life that comes through her is a miracle. This is all in part pointing to this constant theme that life itself is a miracle, is not something not only that we not take for granted, but that human productivity and all fruitfulness of our lives that may be symbolized in the woman who is bearing children, but the bigger picture of all of the fruitfulness of our lives comes by the supernatural intervention of God and would not be possible without Him.
All the productivity of humanity began with God blessing humanity and saying be fruitful and multiply. Hannah knows God in this way. She knows that God is a God who looks down and hears the cry of the poor. She knows that God is one who looks down upon her desolate condition, who looks down upon the agony of her soul and that He has mercy upon her and He loves her. And so she knows God intimately. In chapter 2, Hannah having conceived a son named Samuel, the very one who would become the lead prophet and judge of Israel, the very one who anoints David in our story today, she is so grateful but she prays this prayer that is not just a prayer of gratitude for the son that she's been able to have.
This is a prophetic utterance. This is a powerful prayer of a woman of God who sees a king that would be like God and the nature of that kingship and she just prays it. She just prays it out. She just prays it. Don't you wonder sometime if maybe if we were to go back and we could see into the Spirit that everything God's done, He's done through somebody's prayer. He has ordained to move supernaturally through the prayers of people that believe Him and trust Him and boldly ask Him for great things.
Glory to God. Hannah, pick up reading in chapter 2 as she's speaking of the Lord here, but then she moves towards the prayer for this king that will become the vision of this king. Verse 8, He raises up the poor from the dust. He lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor.
Isn't that our story? We've been lifted up out of the ashes and placed with princes. You have become a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and you are now Christians positioned with Christ in the heavenlies. She is seeing into mysteries that are to come. The pillars of the earth are the Lord's and on them He has set the world. He will guard the feet of His faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness for not by might shall a man prevail. She is seeing into the deep insights of the gospel. It is not by might, not by power, but by Thy Spirit the prophet uttered.
This is the kind of rule that is going to come to the entire cosmos she sees. For this is the nature of God. Verse 10, The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces. Against them He will thunder in heaven.
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. The strength to His King and exalt the power of His anointed. Now she is speaking of the expression of the rulership of God through His anointed one the King. That God will have for Himself a King who will reign as God Himself reigns.
Not one in the words of Tim Keller to accumulate power but to distribute power. Through the mark of a godly king, of a good king, of a good ruler, is that good ruler does not use his or her power in order for selfish gain, but in order to benefit all of the people. This is the kind of king that Hannah sees. She sees in faith the coming king that could reign like that. What magnificent beauty, poetry, and irony that the woman who had no son and pled with God and boldly asked Him received a son whose name was Samuel, which means the Lord hears and Samuel would anoint the king who would be the king that Israel would love, but would be the one who was the father of the true Messiah who would come, the Lord Jesus, the son of David. She had seen a king.
She had prayed for this kind of king. This is what Israel needs. This is what we need.
This is what the whole world needs. A king who does not lord his power over but who uses his power to bless. So it is the story continues that Hannah prays this prayer and then Samuel continues to lead in Israel, but Samuel gets old and he appoints his sons and his sons turn out to be wicked. We read about this in 1 Samuel chapter 8 and here is where Israel begins to demand a king like other nations have. Verse 1 of 1 Samuel 8, when Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. In verse 3, yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain and they took bribes and perverted justice. After all this happened in verse 4, the elders of Israel gathered together and they came to Samuel at Ramah and they said to him, Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways.
Now appoint for us a king to judge us like the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord, and the Lord said to Samuel, Obey the voice of the people in all they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done from the day that I brought them out of Egypt, even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. What is the Lord saying here? Well the Lord is saying to Samuel, Don't feel like you are in bad company.
You are right here with me. This is the same way that the people have done with me. They didn't want my rule. They didn't want my leadership.
They are forsaking me. And so in saying that they don't want to follow me, the invisible king, that they want to have a tangible, touchable king of the flesh, what they are saying is that they are really rejecting my rule. Alan Wright, placing a bookmark here in our teaching, The Forgotten Son Who Became King of All. It's part of our series, Son of David, and Alan is back with us in the studio as he shares his parting good news thought with us for the day in just a moment. In a world that often feels overwhelming, we all seek moments of encouragement and hope. As a heartfelt thank you for becoming a monthly partner with Alan Wright Ministries, we're excited to send you our blessing box, featuring 24 beautifully crafted cards filled with encouraging blessings from Pastor Alan. Each card offers daily inspiration and scripture on themes such as hope, strength, your identity in Christ, thanksgiving, and much more.
These blessings are designed to uplift your spirit, providing encouragement whenever you need a boost. This unique resource can be yours with our thanks as we welcome new monthly partners to the support family of Alan Wright Ministries. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.
That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Alan, we're back in the studio here to share your good news thought for the day and a lot of Old Testament teaching here, but there's a lot of good news for today and for our lives. The people of God were clamoring for a king like the other nations had. And eventually God let them have what they wanted. So he gave them Saul, he looked like a king, but he was mentally unstable, unreliable, and was an ungodly king. But the good news is that God doesn't ever leave us without his grace. He had a plan, and his name was David. And not only would David be the most beloved king, but he would be the one to whom God would give the promise of the throne forever. And that's why Jesus, who comes from his lineage, is the son of David. So no matter your circumstances, today God has a plan. Today's good news message is a listener-supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.
