As a Man Thinketh — Part Two

the following message by Alistair beg is made available by truth for life for more information visit us online at truth for well I invite you to take your Bibles and turn to 1st Samuel and to chapter 18 any who are visiting this evening we are seeking to conclude what we set out to do in the morning hour and so let me reread the portion that we have been giving our attention to it begins at the 17th verse 4 samuel chapter 18 then Saul said to David here is my elder daughter merab I will give her to you for a wife only be valiant for me and fight the Lord's battles 4 so thought let not my hand be against him but let the hand of the Philistines be against him and David said to Saul Who am I and who are my relatives my father's clan in Israel that I should be son-in-law to the king but at the time when Mareb Saul's daughter should have been given to David she was given to Adriel the mahalo fight for a wife now seoul's daughter Michal loved David and they told Saul and the thing pleased him so thought let me give her to him that she may be a snare for him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him therefore Saul said to David a second time he shall now be my son-in-law and Saul commanded his servants speak to David in private and say behold the King has delight in you and all his servants love you now then become the King's son-in-law and so servants spoke those words in the ears of David and David said does it seem to you a little thing to become the King's son-in-law since I am a poor man and have no reputation and the servants of Saul told him thus and so did David speak then saul said thus shall you say to David the king desires no bride-price except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines that he may be avenged the King's enemies now Seoul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines and when his servants told David these words it please David well to be the King's son-in-law before the time had expired David arose and went along with his men and killed 200 of the Philistines and David brought their foreskins which were given in full number to the king that he might become the King's son-in-law and Saul gave him his daughter Michal for a wife but when Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David and that me kal Saul's daughter loved him Saul was even more afraid of David so Saul was David's enemy continually then the commanders of the Philistines came out to battle and as often as they came out David had more success than all the servants of Saul so that his name was highly esteemed father we pray that as we turned out to these words that you will guard my thoughts and my words and our minds and hearts for your son's sake amen we gave a title to the study this morning as a man thinketh so is he acknowledging the clear discrepancy that exists between the things that David said Saul said and the things that Saul was thinking he said certain things in one way and then every so often we discover that the thoughts of his heart do not match what the words are coming out of his mouth the first attempt to be done with David involved his first daughter and that has not been a success he's now on his second plan and with his second daughter and it would appear that the response of David in the first instance which was a response of reluctance was a very sincere response and that Saul anticipating a similar reaction on the second occasion solicits the help of his servants to exercise a measure of persuasion in making sure that David will take up this invitation I wonder if you noticed how although we're told just in a sentence that McHale loved David incidentally this is the only place in the whole Bible where you have a direct statement of a woman loving anybody else in the entire Bible check so McHale loved David but all of the emphasis here is on him becoming the son-in-law of the king and I thought about that I thought that's an interesting angle I don't know about you gentlemen but as much as I liked Harold Jay Jones becoming his son-in-law was not actually the draw in my case he was a fine man but I the plan was not all I'd love to become his son-in-law there was another plan altogether and I would think that that would be true in your case to at least I certainly hope so and so again at David response deferentially and it's clear that he believes this and it is of course a straightforward expression of his circumstances I am a poor man I have no reputation ie I have no social standing a part of course from the standing that he could refer to that he had gained as a result of his victory over Goliath that reaction on the part of David is then reported by the servants of Saul to Saul David has said very clearly to them he says you know does it seem to you a little thing to become the king's son in law is that it's not the issues not here that there's so much focused on McHale he's got that it would seem very clear in this mind but it's the implications that go along with it such a transformation in his circumstances and also particularly in relationship to Saul and so that reaction verse 24 is then reported to Saul himself thus and so did David speak and soul then comes back and he says well listen here's here's what we're going to do and he then informs the servants so that they can inform David that he has a special deal for him and we could put it perhaps that way incidentally if 1725 remember the word on the street if you beat Goliath you get you get his daughter you get a big cash settlement and you get a kind of tax free program for your family for the rest of their lives if that actually was a categorical promise then the fact that David is unable to produce the bride price is an indication of the fact that Saul himself did not keep his part of the bargain if that was a true statement of promise on his part then it wouldn't have been a problem for David in the circumstance to produce the bride price because he would have already had it lodged in his account if you like it would have been wired in so to speak therefore when the challenge came he would have been able to appeal to it clearly that is not the case once again I think a discrepancy between court Saul said and what Saul thought as a man thinketh so is he so instead of producing cash he's asked to produce something else and it is quite an assignment I think you will a degree kill a hundred Philistines that's the word and bring back the evidence that's essentially what is being stated here so this is going to test if you like both David's interest in Macau and also appeal to his desire to be a warrior in dealing with these uncircumcised Philistines this has been his focus when he had gone against Goliath back in Chapter 17 you remember how after Goliath has spoken to him so disparagingly David had responded there you come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied I'm going to make sure that I strike you down and cut off your head and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth that all the Earth may know that there is a God in Israel so he's the man for this assignment he really is and so Saul gives it to him the challenge is cast again from Saul's mouth in terms that would make us think that he was really concerned about victory over the enemy over the Kings enemies I think it's there in 25 isn't it now Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines but what he actually said was I don't desire a bright price except the foreskins of the Philistines because I'm really interested that I would be avenged of my enemies well whose enemy number one enemy number one is David you see it at the end of it all that Saul was David's enemy continually but ostensibly says now this is the plan if you want to go through with this marriage and my great concern of course as always is to deal with these Philistines and you're the man to deal with the Philistines but actually what he's saying is every hope that he has is that the Philistines will deal with him probably said to himself you know well he's made a big fuss around here by being a hero against Goliath but even if Goliath is a big fellow even so he's only one let's see how he does in trying to deal with a hundred of these characters I think he must have said to himself the odds are pretty good that he will die in the attempt because we know him and he'll definitely make a stab at it well what did David think of this verse 26 when the servants told David these words it please David well to be the Kings son-in-law before the time had expired in other words there was a the meter was going to run out at a certain point and if you go back up you have that same statement it's sort of an agnostic isn't it that Mareb got married to two Adriel at the time when sol would have given her to david so there's some time frame here that is that is of significance and David is aware of that he's pleased with the plan as we said this morning Saul was pleased with the plan - he came up with it but they were pleased for very different reasons so David is not about to miss the deadline verse 27 and David arose and he went along with his men and clearly he was planning to take things up a notch or we might say 100 notches and you can only imagine how he goes out with these folks and he says now what we're going to do is this we're going to do this in a very orderly way we're going to just kill them one at a time and deal with them one at a time and you if you'll just take care of things and make sure and and you if you'll just count so that we know exactly where we are because we do not only have a deadline but we've got a number to meet you can imagine them saying that says that 74 David's 74 and Counting very good we've got a way to go we still got 26 to go to meet the king's deadline and as they're getting closer to a hundred he says you know I've got an idea let's double it let's double it they said double it for goodness sake he said have you ever seen McHale have you ever seen how good she is double it I am happy to double it you see what an enthusiast this fellow is and what a picture it must have been it must have been it is now there's many times through this study that I've said to you haven't I said what you say well I'm about to tell you said I've said to you I wish I had a video of this because I can't how their faces would have been well this is an occasion when I'm very very glad that there is no video of this and you should be perfectly glad as well this is no time for an illustrated bible let's put it that way and there you have it and david brought them in full number to the king that he might become the King's son-in-law it's a it isn't quite an incredible picture and and Saul gave him his daughter McHale for a wife what else could he do he had no options now he'd said this is how it goes this is what you must do and somebody said and who gives this woman to be married to this man and so said her mother and I do a Hindu I'm and I we do but there was no celebration on souls part because what he had been hoping for was an elimination and the dreadful part of it from his perspective was that David was still in circulation he said well those words all sound similar that's how I remember things celebration elimination and what was the last one see yes how you remember it - it actually works and the overriding fact that dawns again on Saul is not simply that his daughter loved David but when so saw and knew that the Lord was with David and clearly not with him because he is the rejected King and the people that are around him in his own family love this man that he increasingly hates and if perfect love casts out fear as the Scriptures remind us soul knows nothing of that kind of love and if your Bible is like mine you only need to look down to the beginning of chapter 19 where you will realize that soul at that point then immediately discards any attempts at subtlety and all of the hatred that consumes him that builds fear upon fear in him is about to be out in the open what a sentence it is that at verse 29 actually two sentences Saul was even more afraid of David and that fear which had revealed itself in all of these jealous and evil activities embedded the fact that although they had started out as it were in good spirits with one another Saul would Stevens enemy continually and what you have in verse 30 is really just the kind of summary statement that comes often in the narrative so it lets us know that with this circumstance resolved in this way life was going to continue and how did it continue well the commanders of the Philistines came out to battle and as often as they came out David had more success than any of the servants of Saul as saw must have hoped that it would go the other way but it did not the more victory he had the more popularity he had and so that his name was highly esteemed an unequal success and an amazing sense of glory now I said to myself well how are we going to finish this up and move into communion well this is the best I can do let's let's note the very clear contrast between David's self-assessment and the esteem in which he was held first 23 I am a poor man and I have no reputation I have no social standing at all verse 30 so his name was highly esteemed there was a lot of places we can go with that is a reminder to his isn't of the general principle that you find for example in Isaiah the prophet in 66 - where we read these words this is the one to whom I will look says the Lord he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word all the bravado has been on the part of Saul all of the expressions of humility have been found on the lips of David now what do we know well we know that David was the Lord's anointed that he was the King who was being set apart now in order that he might reign the affection of the general populace was directly related to the fight that they knew that the Lord was with him that they were beginning to understand that it was not just his personality or his style or his looks or his triumphs but that there was something that was unique to this individual and that was that the presence of Yahweh had come upon him and that the spirit had rushed upon him the same spirit that had rushed out of the room as it were in relationship to Saul himself so he is the Lord's anointed and he is the one who is leading the people in battle and he is the one who apparently in verse 30 every time he goes it's another victory it's another thing hitting the news they went against the Philistines today David led them in battle and came home victorious once again but this is not where the story of David ends remember because as you read on in the story of David as we do read on in the story of David we discover that in due course he's going to fail as a king he can he cannot ultimately fill the bill he is inevitably going to be shown for what years he's going to crumble he's going to crumble before a woman bathing on a rooftop he's going to crumble before the implications of that the lies that he has despised in Sawle will be lies that he now takes upon his own lips and what does this mean well it means that the people then realize this cannot be the king and the kings that follow no matter how well they do for how long and inevitably somehow or another less than we might hope them to be and why is that why is it that by their time you get into the opening of the Gospels after 400 years of silence after the emergence of John the Baptist the last of the prophets that the one who is is standing as it were bridging between the old and the new and he says listen who should look at this fellow here consider him and then eventually the words of the Old Testament ring out on the lips of the people behold your king comes to you humble and riding on a donkey he is the one who made himself of no reputation who visited us in the form of a man who gave himself up even to death on a cross and as a result his esteem his esteem runs throughout our entire world today and one day at the name of Jesus before this king every knee will bow and every tongue will confess but you know I said this morning that I took the phrase as a man thinketh from proverbs 23 and I said don't worry about the context has to do with hospitality it has to do with somebody issuing an invitation to a meal and saying you know you can have anything you want and enjoy it but the Bible tells us Solomon tells us but he was not as his words did not go with his thoughts he was actually stingy the ESV translates it out of the King James Version he is like one who is in word li calculating that's very good I like that he is like one who is in word Lee calculate he saying know help yourself it doesn't matter at all but inside he's saying this is costing me a fortune well of course that is antithetical to the one who invites us to this meal he is not inwardly calculating he is entirely sincere he is the one who invites us come if you're thirsty and drink come if you're hungry if you've got no money come by and eat what kind of King is this that sits down beside us and extends such a welcome Jesus what a friend for sinners all these Old Testament Kings leave a saint but there must be a king who out kings the Kings and there is and we're in his presence this evening well just a brief prayer lord help us to unscramble all these things in our own hearts and minds here we are it's Sunday night we've got Monday tomorrow in many ways this seems so remote from the things that are already pressing for our attention back to the responsibilities of the lab or the AOR or the bank the workplace the school room whatever it may be remind us how important it is that our yes is yes and our no is no save us Lord from the hypocrisy which so easily overwhelms us when we say one thing and mean something entirely and thank you thank you Lord Jesus Christ that all of your invitations are sincere that your generosity knows no bounds and that you have spread this table for those who know themselves to be sinners in need of a savior and so we come to you we bring our evening offerings Lord at this point and we do so the gladness of heart in Jesus name Amen this message was brought to you from truth for life where the learning is for living to learn more about truth for Life with Alistair beg visit us online at truthfortheworld.org

Channel: Alistair Begg

Views: 17,545

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Keywords: Truth For Life, Alistair Begg, King David, Biblical Figures, Jealousy, Pride

Id: v2RLaOEbpWI

Length: 25min 39sec (1539 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 15 2020