Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. We want to know what the evidence is that someone is filled with the Spirit in the New Testament. It's not a particular gift.
It's not a particular manifestation. He said it is that they have boldness for the gospel. 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. He's not bound and gagged and tied up. At one point, he tries to make an escape out, throws himself into the ocean. They capture him again. And so now they blindfold him. They tie him up. He's down at the corner of this little vessel and things become more and more harrowing until it becomes apparent that what's going to happen here, they are trying to send code through radio so that Captain Phillips will overhear the messages to stay seated in his same spot because the snipers, they're going to get a chance to get one shot.
Boom, boom. And they're going to take out these two pirates because they have managed to get the lead pirate off of that little boat and onto their ship under the guise of saying they're going to negotiate with him. And so this whole scene just builds up to this unbelievably gripping, suspenseful climax in which the blindfolded Phillips, tied over in the corner, suddenly he just hears bam, bam.
And both pirates are in a split second. They're taken out by the sniper, blood all scattered all over Captain Phillips. He is there and he's just screaming, what's happened? He's been through a nightmare. And when they pull him off of that little boat and they get him onto the Navy cruise ship, they are having to tell him he's in shock. He's in shock.
That's what I want you to see. I want you to see what does a real hero go through? I'll tell you what he goes through.
It's depicted in this movie. He's in shock. They tell him to breathe. They have to tell him to keep his eyes open. They have to come to stay awake, to talk.
They're trying to keep him from going into complete shock. And you're sitting there watching this and in the middle you're just totally gripped and someone will ask you, who is the hero of this movie? Who is the hero, the real-life hero, of this story? As much as you're thankful for the entire Navy and for the Navy Seals and the Special Forces and as much as you're thankful for them, without hesitation, you would say they're not the hero. He's the hero.
The one who is in shock. And the reason I tell you this story is I want you to understand this is what it was like for David. This isn't a playful child story about a man who goes out and slings a rock and kills a giant and then suddenly hoisted on everybody's shoulders. This is about a man who he got so low at one point that he was amongst the Philistines in Gath. That was Goliath's hometown and he was so concerned that they were going to recognize him and he became afraid for his life. The only thing he knew to do was he pretended as if he was insane. He just went about foaming at the mouth and acting like a madman.
He was utterly and completely humiliated. This is the man who got so low that he prayed Psalm 22, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? This is what I'm saying is that David is more like Captain Phillips who he's a hero but he's almost in shock. All of this is painting a picture so that we can know who our Savior is.
What I'm saying is Jesus did not come and count his equality with God a thing to be grasped but he emptied himself. What he did for you and what he did for me was he became truly human. He really, really went through what you go through. See if we were to go through what Captain Phillips went through we'd be like him.
We'd be in virtual shock. You're hardly able to speak for days because of what you've been through and this is the way it was with Jesus. He wasn't strong enough to carry his own cross because they'd beaten him so severely. He had been mocked. He'd been persecuted. He had been forgotten.
He was alone. He was called the friend of sinners because he hung out with the distressed and the bankrupt. He was totally human and on the third day when he rose from the dead and he was coronated to be the king of glory for all eternity. What I'm just saying to you is there was no shortcut to his glory. He bled and he died for you and he is the king of all but he is a real hero because he is someone who is real in the flesh. In the flesh he came and he endured it and he scorned the shame of the cross because he had his eyes set upon the ultimate coronation.
That's what David did. He just endured a decade and a half of suffering. He rebelled against the the flesh's desire to just give up. Saul on the other hand promoted instantly, boom, and falls just as quickly. Jesus is our hero.
It wasn't easy for him. Let me say something secondly about the way in which they embraced the power of the Spirit. I wish I could take a lot more time on this but I'll go very quickly to say that the Holy Spirit rushed upon Saul. The Holy Spirit rushed upon David.
Same language is used. And when Saul got empowered by the Holy Spirit, one of the things that happens when the Holy Spirit comes upon you is that you become exceedingly bold. There's a boldness that comes upon you. In fact Ariatore has said that if you want to know what the evidence is that someone is filled with the Spirit in the New Testament, it's not a particular gift. It's not a particular manifestation. He said it is that they have boldness for the Gospel. That's true all the way through it. The Holy Spirit comes upon somebody.
They're just they're bold. You start forgetting about. Well Saul had no idea what to do with the beautiful empowering presence of the Holy Spirit. I want to just show you what happened the first thing he did in his empowerment. In 1 Samuel chapter 10 verse 1, Samuel took a flask of oil, poured it on Saul's head, kissed him, and said, Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies.
And so this anointing has taken place. It's a beautiful statement that the Lord has anointed Saul and Samuel the favored prophet of the day has poured out this oil, kissed Saul, and you see a picture of affection because even though Samuel had warned the people of what would happen when they got a king, he's looking at Saul and he has the affection of the Lord and he blesses Saul. But then in chapter 11 of 1 Samuel this is what happens.
The people are all afraid of the Ammonites that have been threatening Israel so much so that the people had wept with fear. And at verse 6 of 1 Samuel 11 you'll see one of the first acts of the anointed Saul. When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came upon him in power. There it is. And here's what happened. He burned with anger.
Okay, nothing wrong with that. Jesus burned with anger at times when the Holy Spirit was upon him and he saw injustice and he saw people making a mockery of grace and so forth. But then what happens from here reveals the lack of understanding of Saul and reveals the lack of his character. In verse 7 he took a pair of oxen, cut them into pieces, and sent the pieces by messengers throughout Israel proclaiming, This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not follow Saul and Samuel. Then the terror of the Lord fell on the people and they turned out as one man.
This is what Saul did with the Holy Spirit. He became so bold that he just went out and he just brutally began to just cut up oxen. This is a gory scene. He cuts up oxen.
He starts sending pieces of the bloody carcass around, essentially saying, This is what's going to happen for people that do not follow me into battle. He was exceedingly bold because of the presence of the Holy Spirit, but then he turned around and he used his boldness to terrorize his own people. He was a terrorist.
He was a tyrant. He used the anointing of the Holy Spirit for his personal leadership gain. You can be sure the Lord is not going to allow that for long. The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is never so that we could put fear into the people. The Holy Spirit is God and God is love. And so it was all the people at verse 15 went to Gilgal, confirmed Saul as king, the presence of the Lord, they sacrificed fellowship offerings before the Lord. And so it was that Saul used this boldness and he had a superficial unity amongst the people, but really it was because he had terrorized his own people and they went along with it. Compared to David, who the presence of the Holy Spirit to David makes him not only a keen warrior and gives him boldness to fight Goliath on behalf of the people, which he does, he takes the power of the Holy Spirit that gives him boldness, confidence, wisdom, and skill in order to defeat Goliath, but he does so on behalf of the people because he represents the people, but it also turns David into a worshiper who writes most of our Psalms, who just loves the Lord with all of his heart. And when David falls into sin with Bathsheba, his heart gets revealed after this egregious sin. You can see what David's understanding of the presence of the Holy Spirit is. He reveals it in Psalm 51 when he says, create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence. And listen to what he asked God, take not your Holy Spirit from me. Because the Holy Spirit, the third person of the triune God, is not a force field for us to use for personal gain. Instead, it is the presence of the Lord to us. The presence of the Lord to us.
He is God, and we are in relationship with God through the Holy Spirit. And what the man of character, what happens with David is that what he wants more than anything else is not to not necessarily have power restored to him, but just I need to have the power of knowing you. Let not my sin cause it to be that you would ever withdraw from me.
That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Got some giants to slay? Need some encouragement in the midst of a trial?
Wondering if God really cares? Meet David. Who can compare to him? He was the ruddy, handsome, youth-tending sheep writing psalms and worshiping God in the humble Bethlehem fields. He was the lone Israelite, brave enough to decapitate Goliath, and the sole warrior, adept enough to cut off the scourge of the Philistines.
He was the stately king who established peace, expanded the borders, and reigned in prosperity for 40 years. Who else could be a gentle shepherd, a glorious hero, and a noble king? Would there ever be another leader like David? Yes, the son of David. His name is Jesus, and he is a better David than David could ever be. He came to be your shepherd, your hero, and your king. In a 12-message audio series, Alan Wright takes you on a thrilling adventure with David in order to point you to the answer for your every need, the son of David.
Discover how Christ enables you to face your biggest obstacles, deal with your fiercest persecution, and live as an heir of grace. It's an audio series from Alan Wright. As our thanks for your donation, we'll be delighted to send you Pastor Alan's audio messages in either a digital download or a CD album format.
Son of David, shepherd, hero, king. 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. There's a big difference in the way in which David and Saul sacrificed to the Lord. And this is huge. Probably ought to be a sermon unto itself, but let me give you this picture. In 2 Samuel 6, this is when David finally is going to be incarnated as king. He's coming into Jerusalem and they are having a procession of bringing the ark of the covenant in.
And they are rejoicing. And as they do, this is 2 Samuel chapter 6, starting at verse 12. It was told, King David, the Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom. That's where the ark had been. And then just a verse down, David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David with rejoicing. And when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal. And David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod, the attire of a priest, and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and the sound of the horn.
I'm going to preach on this later. This is one of the most magnificent pictures of worship anywhere in the Bible. And so David is making a sacrifice to the Lord. They take six steps and they offer the sacrifice to the Lord.
Why? It's an expression of his gratitude to God, an expression of his worship of God, of his relationship with God. And all that God has done is showing his faithfulness to David. When you contrast this with Saul, who in a first instance offers a sacrifice that he wasn't offered to bring, and Samuel rebukes him for that. But then there comes this very interesting event in Saul's life in which Saul is told when they fight the Amalekites that Saul is to destroy all of the Amalekites, including their livestock. But in 1 Samuel 15, verse 9, But Saul and the people spared Agag, that's the king, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fattened calves, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless, they devoted to destruction. So in other words, what Saul did was he obeyed the Lord and he destroyed the livestock that was sickly looking and didn't look like it was worth much.
But if it looked like it was a choice lamb or ox or something, he kept that. And the Lord explicitly told him not to do that. So it is that Samuel comes to Saul in 1 Samuel 15, verse 13, And Saul said to him, Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord. And Samuel said, What then is this bleeding of sheep in my ears and the lowing of oxen that I hear? It's a prophetic moment where Samuel says, You say you obey the Lord, but I hear right now that there are sheep that are bleeding and there are oxen that are lowing. You have not obeyed the Lord. And Saul said, Well, they've brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen. And here's the point.
Why? To sacrifice to the Lord your God and the rest we've devoted to destruction. So you first read this and you think, Well, what Saul's done is he's wanting to keep these these sheep and all for his own wealth. But then you realize, No, what he's saying is I kept the best because I'm going to sacrifice them to the Lord.
It is all rooted in something that's subtle, and yet it's everything. Look at the way David thought about a sacrifice to the Lord. It was an expression of his joyful adoration and gratitude to the Lord and his confidence in the Lord and the celebration of God's faithfulness. But when Saul thought of a sacrifice, he thought of some way that he could try to move God, manipulate God to get God's favor. That's the way he viewed sacrifice.
You read it in other places in the story. He'll consult a witch in order to try to find out what's going on. Saul was so conscious of self, self, self, that even when he was making a sacrifice to God, it was about Saul, not about God. And Samuel said to Saul, I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night.
Though you're little in your own eyes, you are not the head of the... Are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel, and the Lord sent you on a mission and said, Go devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed. Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord? Saul defends himself again, but Samuel says to him, finally this, Has 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 listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry, because you have rejected the word of the Lord.
He has also rejected you from being king. And in so doing, Samuel just announced the gospel. He's saying, You have missed the entire heart of God.
You disobeyed the Lord in order to get something that then you could sacrifice in order to try to manipulate the Lord. See, Saul missed the whole thing. He never knew how to really just receive the grace of God. He never knew how to receive that he had been anointed as king and God would have his hand on him, and he could trust God.
He never saw it that way. Contrast with David, who learned over a long hard season, there's no shortcut to glory. And when he's coronated, therefore, he worships the Lord.
His sacrifice is a sacrifice of praise. What's amazing about the story of David and Saul and this incredible contrast is at the very end, when David gets word that this man, Saul, who has been seeking to to kill him, when he gets the word that Saul's been defeated and has fallen, when he gets the word that Saul has been killed, this is what David did. David took hold of his clothes and tore them, and so did all the men who were with him. And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son and for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. And David said to the young man who told him, where do you come from? And he began to interview this man because he was distraught.
Do you see what was happening? David was greeted by Saul and his son David was grieving over the death of his enemy. Saul is the ultimate foil, the contrast to David. Who is the ultimate foil or contrast to the son of David? I am.
You are. We were born in sin and James says, apart from God we're the enemies of God. Before you knew him, you have to understand the biblical point of view is you were God's enemy. It was not just some Romans or some people of Israel who put Jesus on a cross, it was the sin of the world. And when he hung on the cross after his long battle, he didn't just quote David in Psalm 22, but he also acted like David because he said, Father, forgive them.
They don't know what they're doing. Such is the love of God in Jesus Christ. That's a real hero. That's the gospel. Alan Wright and today's teaching, A Tale of Two Kings. Got some giants to slay? Need some encouragement in the midst of a trial?
Wondering if God really cares? Meet David. Who can compare to him? He was the ruddy, handsome, youth-tending sheep, writing psalms and worshiping God in the humble Bethlehem fields. He was the lone Israelite, brave enough to decapitate Goliath and the sole warrior, adept enough to cut off the scourge of the Philistines.
He was the stately king who established peace, expanded the borders and reigned in prosperity for 40 years. Who else could be a gentle shepherd, a glorious hero and a noble king? Would there ever be another leader like David? Yes, the son of David. His name is Jesus and he is a better David than David could ever be. He came to be your shepherd, your hero and your king. In a 12-message audio series, Alan Wright takes you on a thrilling adventure with David in order to point you to the answer for your every need, the son of David.
Discover how Christ enables you to face your biggest obstacles, deal with your fiercest persecution and live as an heir of grace. It's an audio series from Alan Wright. As our thanks for your donation, we'll be delighted to send you Pastor Alan's audio messages in either a digital download or a CD album format.
Son of David, shepherd, hero, king. 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. In this particular teaching, again looking at King Saul and King David and comparing the two, but overall in this series, Alan, we're looking at David, but then looking forward to the son of David and we're talking about the coming of Christ. Well, I'm just so thankful that Jesus was a son of David, not a son of Saul. Not one to use power for his own gain, but instead to take his place of power over all the cosmos to become our advocate, the one who died for us, the one who lives for us. And so for every listener today, it needs a hero that needs a real king. King Jesus is a son of David. He's the David that's better than David could have ever been. He's real and he's alive and you can call on him today. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.
