For the sake of some who were not
here last night, probably I had to give
a very short introduction before we can go
on this morning.
We mentioned that God promised Israel, Isaac and
Jacob to give to His seed the land.
But as we read from the word of
God we find that even after the children
of Israel were delivered out of Egypt and
led through the wilderness by Moses and they
were able to enter into the promised land
under Joshua.
Yet they never had fully possessed their possession
during the time of the judges.
On the contrary we find they seem to
have failed deeper and deeper.
When we came to the time of Samuel
until the day when God raised up Samuel
we find the condition of the children of
Israel was at its lowest end.
Even though God raised up judges from time
to time to deliver them and yet you
find they were a people.
Not only under oppression but a people who
were very low spiritually.
And this can be summed up not only
by the last sentence in the book of
Judges there was no king therefore everyone did
what was right in his own sight.
But it was also summed up in the
days of Eli the word of God was
rare very rare and a vision was not
frequent.
Eli was old, feeble he was blind, he
couldn't see.
And the lamp of God in the temple
had not yet gone out but it was
almost gone.
Now that was the condition of the people
of Israel.
They seemed to be farther and farther away
from the realization of God's promise to Israel.
Now in such a situation you'll find God
reacted.
God began to do the work of recovery.
Not only to restore all that was lost
but to recover to the original intention of
God with regard to his people.
And in doing the work of recovery he
had to find vessels, men through whom he
could do this precious work.
So we find God raised up three men
Samuel, David and Solomon.
And through these three men, a trio God
was able to bring his people into the
full realization of his original purpose.
Because it was under these three men that
we find Israel finally enter into the full
possession of God's promise.
Brothers and sisters, we are today living in
the time of recovery.
When we read the book of Acts in
the beginning chapters you will find how God
raised up his people raised up his church
to be a vessel of the testimony of
Jesus in fullness.
But throughout the centuries we find the church
has lost much.
It seems as if the church is farther
and farther away from God.
For a fact.
Sometimes God's people begin to wonder and ask
the question can God's people can the church
ever fulfill God's promise?
Ever enter into the full meaning of the
church as God means it to be.
A vessel for the full testimony of Jesus
in this world.
But thank God God is reacting in love,
in mercy.
And in doing this work of recovery God
has to find man.
God cannot do his work of recovery without
finding proper man.
Vessel.
And we believe that by fellowshipping together on
the lives of Samuel David and Solomon we
may know what kind of man is God
looking for.
Not in the sense of a particular man
or a particular woman.
No.
In the sense of a kind of man
or woman that God is looking for.
Of Samuel who is representative of
a spiritual principle.
The principle of revelation.
God is looking for a man or woman
with vision.
With revelation.
In other words in God's work of recovery
the first basic essential is to see.
We must see as God sees.
We must be able to see God's purpose.
We must be able to see what God
is after.
Where there is no vision the people cast
of restraint.
The people perish.
The people dissipate.
The first thing that God's people need today
is revelation.
Vision.
All that we may see.
Revelation begins in all the work of God.
We cannot just start out try to do
something.
We have to see.
And seeing we are able to fulfill what
God is after.
Now that is the first essential in God's
work of recovery.
Now this morning we would like to go
on to the second one.
And that is David.
Maybe we'll read a few passages first.
First Samuel chapter 16.
We'll read from verse 11 to verse 13.
And Samuel said to Jesse are these all
the young men?
And he said there is yet the youngest
remaining.
And behold he is feeding the sheep.
And Samuel said to Jesse send and fetch
him for we will not sit at table
till he come hither.
And he sent and brought him in.
And he was looting and besides of a
lovely countenance and beautiful appearance.
And Jehovah said arise anoint him for this
is he.
And Samuel took the horn of oil and
anointed him in the midst of his brethren.
And the Spirit of Jehovah came upon David
from that day forward.
And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.
The same chapter.
First Samuel chapter 16.
Verse 18.
And one of the young men answered and
said behold I have seen a son of
Jesse the godly Hamite who is still in
play.
And he is a valiant man and a
man of war.
And still in speech.
And of good presence.
And Jehovah is with him.
Chapter 17.
Of First Samuel.
From verse 31 to verse 37.
And the words were heard which David spoke.
And they rehearsed them before Saul.
And he thanked for him.
And David said to Saul let no man's
heart fail because of him.
Thy servant will go and fight with this
Philistine.
And Saul said to David thou art not
able to go against this Philistine to fight
with him.
For thou art but a youth.
And he a man of war from his
youth.
And David said to Saul thy servant fed
his father's sheep and there came a lion
and also a bear and took a lamb
out of the flock and I went up
to him and smote him and delivered it
out of his mouth and when he arose
against me I seized him by his beard
and smote him and slew him.
Thy servant smote both the lion and the
bear and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as
one of them because he has defiled the
armies of the living God.
And David said Jehovah will deliver me out
of the paw of lion and out of
the paw of the bear.
He will deliver me out of the hand
of this Philistine.
And the same chapter verse 45 through 47.
And David said to the Philistine thou comest
to me with swords and with spears and
with devilry but I come to thee in
the name of Jehovah of hosts the God
of the armies of Israel whom thou has
defiled.
This day will Jehovah deliver thee up into
my hands and I will smite thee and
take my head from thee and I will
give the carcasses of the camp of the
Philistines this day to the fowl of the
heavens and to the wild beef of the
earth and all earth shall know that Israel
has the God and all the congregation shall
know that Jehovah saves not with sword and
spear for the battle is Jehovah's and he
will give you into our hands.
Chapter 19 verse 18.
And David fled and escaped and came to
Samuel to Romah and told him all that
Saul had done to him and he and
Samuel went and dealt in mail.
I just read a few sample packages that's
all.
2 Samuel chapter 4, chapter 5 verse 4
and verse 5 2 Samuel chapter 5 verses
4 and 5 David was 30 years old
when he began to reign he reigned 40
years.
In Hebron he reigned over Judah 7 years
and 6 months and in Jerusalem he reigned
33 years over all Israel and Judah.
That's all we'll read for the time being.
Samuel represents revelation.
What does David represent?
You know every person in the Bible represents
something.
The reason why God used people to represent
principles is because God's principles are not theory.
God's principles are living and operative.
Therefore you'll find all these principles are personified
in some character.
As Samuel is representative of the principle of
divine revelation or spiritual revelation.
So David is representative of the principle of
divine or spiritual authority.
When you read the genealogy of our Lord
Jesus in Matthew chapter 1 you'll find that
there are many names there mentioned who were
actually kings.
And yet only David was mentioned there by
the Holy Spirit.
David the king.
Why?
Because David in the Scripture stands for what
king means.
And of course when you think of a
king you think of authority.
So David is representative of the principle of
divine authority.
God establishes and holds this universe by his
authority.
If there is no authority then this cosmos
will turn into chaos.
The thing of Satan is the thing of
rebellion.
And rebellion is trying to overturn God's authority.
Because Satan is the god of this world.
Therefore the spirit of this world is the
spirit of rebellion.
You'll find rebellion everywhere on this earth.
Rebellion mocks family life.
Rebellion mocks social life.
Rebellion mocks national life and international life.
You'll find rebellion everywhere on this earth.
Why?
Because rebellion is the mark, the character of
Satan.
But brothers and sisters God is restoring his
authority on this earth.
First, he established his authority in the person
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When the son of God came into this
world he was to initiate authority to this
world.
People do not know what authority is.
People do not know what divine authority is.
We are not talking about human authority.
We are not talking about positional authority.
We are talking about divine authority.
The world does not know what divine authority
is.
But when the son of God became man
he initiated to this world what authority really
is.
He learned obedience through suffering.
Therefore he was given authority both in heaven
and on earth.
All power and authority have been given to
him.
Because he emptied himself.
Because he became obedient even unto death.
And the death of the cross.
Therefore he was highly exalted and was given
a name that is above every name and
to that name every knee shall bow.
And every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.
So brothers and sisters we find in Christ
the embodiment, the initiation and the establishing of
the authority of God on earth.
And because he has brought in divine authority
to this earth therefore the church today is
to be the vessel of divine authority.
Where can you find authority, God's authority in
this universe today?
If you cannot find it in the church
where can you find it?
The church is the place where God's authority
is respected.
Is demonstrated.
Is exercised.
The church is the place where God's authority
is known.
Is recognized.
Is being obeyed.
Unless God's authority is known and established in
the church.
You do not have the reality of the
church.
I remember Brother Fonke once mentioned I cannot
forget what he said.
He once said, he said, there are two
things most essential today among God's people.
And these two things are life and authority.
God's people need to know life.
What life really is.
We know lot of rules and regulations.
We know lot of doctrines and traditions.
We know lot of forms and systems.
But we know very little of life.
Of divine life.
Of spiritual life.
Of eternal life.
Of the life of the Son of God
in us.
And because we do not know life.
Now how can you build the church without
life?
But having life we need to know authority.
Because if we do not know authority then
this life is not disciplined.
This life is not trained.
This life is not directed.
And you'll find there is no ability.
I'm afraid God's people today even though the
church is supposed to be where you know
divine authority.
And yet I'm afraid God's people today know
very little of authority.
Even the very mentioning of the word authority
frightens us.
It is not a popular term.
We live in a free world.
We want to be free.
We don't want authority.
But dear brothers and sisters there can be
no ability.
There can be no recovery.
Unless authority is recovered.
Authority is not what we think it is.
We think of authority more in terms of
the power to break to crush to command,
to destroy.
But that is not authority.
You do not need authority to destroy.
Anyone can do that.
You need authority to build up.
Because you'll find poor nations in 2nd Corinthians.
Both in chapter 10 and in chapter 12.
In chapter 13.
He said if I boast somewhat more abundantly
of the authority which God has given to
me, I will not be too ashamed because
the authority that God has given to me
is for a building and not for overthrowing.
We think that authority overflows.
Overthrows.
The poor said authority builds up.
It takes authority to build up.
And this is something we have to learn
before the Lord.
What is authority?
How can we know it?
How are we entering into God's authority?
And how should we exercise it?
And what will be the effect if there
is authority?
Now all these we have to learn.
The life of David is very full and
varied.
We are not able to go through his
life in detail.
But if you read the word of God,
you'll find the life of David can roughly
be divided into 3 periods.
The first period is from his birth to
his public manifestation to the nation of Israel
by killing Goliath.
Now during that period he was mainly a
shepherd.
David as a shepherd.
The second period was after he was he
entered into court life.
Then he was hunted, persecuted by Saul until
the death of Saul.
During that period David was a fugitive.
A fugitive.
Then lastly you'll find David became king.
He was king in Hebron for 7 years
and 6 months.
And he was king in Jerusalem over all
Israel for 33 years.
Altogether 40 years as king.
So roughly you'll find David's life could be
divided into these 3 periods.
David as shepherd.
David as fugitive.
And David as king.
But remember we are not trying to go
into David's life.
We are just taking David's life in its
various stages to see how the principle of
divine authority works.
Now that is our purpose.
We want to learn the lesson of divine
authority.
We do not know much about David's life.
From his birth to his public manifestation.
All we know was he was a shepherd.
He was the goodness of the 8 sons
of Jesse.
And he was tending his father's sheep.
You know a shepherd's life was sheltered from
the eyes of the world.
No one will notice a shepherd.
If you are brought up in the palace.
If you are a prince or princess then
the eyes of the world will be upon
you.
They will like to know everything about you.
Reporters will follow you wherever you go.
But a shepherd nobody will notice a shepherd.
There is nothing to report on the life
of a shepherd.
Therefore you find David's life was sheltered from
the view of the world.
Aside from a glimpse that we get from
a young man in Sarah's court.
Somehow this young man met David as a
shepherd.
And he knew something about David.
So when the evil spirit came upon Saul
and he needed someone who could play a
music to soothe him, to comfort him, he
was trying to find a man to help
him.
Now this young man came up and said,
Now I knew, I knew a son of
Jesse, a shepherd.
But he was beautiful in plain heart.
And he was a mighty man of Baal.
A man of war.
He was very skillful in speech and presence.
In presence.
And the Lord was with him.
Just a glimpse of that shepherd.
We knew nothing about him until when he
came to kill Goliath.
Then he himself told us something about his
past history.
He said when I was painting my father's
sheep sometimes a lion will come.
Sometimes a bear will come.
And they will take a lamb out of
the flock.
But I will follow them.
I will take the lamb out of the
lion's mouth.
And if the lion is to rise up
against me, then I will smite him.
I will take his beard and the Lord
deliver me out of the paws of lion.
Out of the paws of bear.
And who is this uncircumcised Philistine?
God will deliver me out of his hand
and deliver him into my hand.
Brothers and sisters, that's about all we know
about David during that period.
What is it?
David who is destined to be king.
To be the symbol of authority.
He was a shepherd.
Unknown to man.
He was not even known by his father.
When Samuel came to anoint one of the
sons of Jesse Jesse didn't even call David
to that occasion.
It was a big occasion.
But David's father Jesse did not bother even
to call David to him.
He gathered the seven sons but he forgot
the eighth one.
He let David continue to tend the sheep.
David was unknown to his father.
His father knew nothing about David.
His father despised the youngest son.
What could that son do?
Just a shepherd nothing.
And he was misunderstood by his brothers.
You know when his father sent him to
see how his brother was his brothers were
during the battle.
He went and his brother when he began
to inquire about what had happened then his
eldest brother said I know you.
I know your pride and your arrogance.
You just want to come and see the
battle that's all.
You are a man of adventure.
His brother did not know him.
David was unknown practically to everybody.
But thank God he was known of God.
A hidden life.
A secret life.
While he was tending the sheep.
He was communing with God.
He knew God.
He might not know many other things but
he knew God.
He knew God in a personal way.
He knew God's power.
He knew God's deliverance.
He loved God.
He loved the name of the Lord.
He knew the power of that name.
He had a heart for God.
His heart was perfect.
He had an experience with God.
His knowledge of God was not just by
hearsay.
His knowledge of God was personal.
Now brothers and sisters a hidden life with
God.
Unknown to the world.
But known.
That is the foundation of authority.
Why did God anoint David?
Out of the eight sons of Jesse.
Samuel went there.
Went to Bethlehem.
He was to anoint one of the sons
of Jesse to be king.
But when Eliab the eldest son passed by
Eliab was of stature.
Physically strong.
Handsome.
Appealing.
And even Samuel was deceived.
Samuel said in his heart this must be
the anointed of the Lord.
Why?
Because Saul was anointed in that fashion.
You know?
When Saul was anointed king he was head
above all the rest of the people.
Saul was chosen because of his physical appearance.
His natural attraction.
And somehow Samuel was deceived.
He thought that was the way God would
choose the king.
He forgot that.
Saul was chosen by the people not by
God.
He was the people standard not God's standard.
God just compensated himself and allowed the people
to have their way.
He was not God's standard.
But Samuel was misunderstood.
He thought that was God's way of choosing
a king.
So when he saw Eliab coming forth he
said that must be the Lord's anointed.
God said no.
I have rejected him.
God does not look at appearance.
God looks at heart.
This is not a man.
Brothers and sisters why did God choose David
out of the eight sons of David?
It is true.
God's choice is sovereignty.
God can choose anyone he likes.
He is God.
He has the perfect liberty to do whatever
he pleases him.
And no one can question him.
That's the sovereignty of God.
That's the privilege of God.
But dear brothers and sisters you know God's
choice has his reason.
God does not choose anyone arbitrarily.
God chose David because God knew David had
a life.
Life is the reason for God's choice.
That hidden life with God that knowledge of
God is the basis for divine authority.
What is authority?
There is no authority but God.
And those whom God has spelled as authority
over us.
In other words God is the authority of
the universe.
There is no authority but God.
God is the authority.
He can give authority to this one and
to that one.
But remember that doesn't mean that this one
and that one is authority.
Strictly speaking.
This one and that one may receive authority
from God.
May be set up by God as authorities
over others.
But they are not authority.
It is God who is the authority.
In other words it is God in them
that is the authority they have.
And if this is the case then authority
is a matter of life.
If you have the life of God in
you then you have the authority of God
in you.
The more divine life you receive, the more
divine authority you possess.
Why?
Because it is God.
It is not you.
You know sometimes we can be so foolish.
When we are given a little authority we
think that we become authority.
And we start out to act like authority.
That's foolishness.
Because it is God in us who is
the authority.
It is based upon life.
To use an illustration.
Why is it the parents are authorities in
the family?
Because they have more life.
They are born earlier.
And having been born earlier, they ought to
know better.
They have more experience of life.
It is life.
It is on that basis they become authority.
You know it is very sad when life
and position separate.
That's very sad.
In other words, if you occupy a position
without the proper life then it's very sad.
It's very sad.
But so far as God is concerned you'll
find authority is a matter of life.
If you want to know authority you have
to know life.
God cannot give authority as a thing to
a certain person who do not know him.
That will be disastrous.
That's your authority.
That will constitute a soul.
Not a David.
Therefore you'll find in the preparation for authority
or in the foundation building the foundation of
authority David.
In God's sovereign arrangement he became a shepherd.
Brothers and sisters did David murmur?
Complain?
Because he was neglected by his father?
Despised by his brothers?
Unknown by the world?
If he did not know God surely he
would.
He would not only complain but he would
murmur against God.
Why is it that you gave me such
a bad fate?
Where was I wrong?
But if you know the wisdom of God
you'll find that place which God put David
in was the best place he could be
in.
Because it was in that hidden life he
learned to know God in a real way.
His life with God formed the basis of
divine authority.
Do you want to know divine authority?
Do you want to be God's delegated authority?
Remember, it is a matter of divine life.
How much of God do you really know
by experience?
How much deliverance do you know?
How much the power of the name of
the Lord?
How much do you love him and love
his name?
That is the foundation of divine.
But after David was anointed I believe he
was anointed on the basis of life.
After he was anointed he was filled with
the Spirit.
The Spirit of the Lord was with him,
came upon him.
But he had a very bad time.
After he killed Goliath, the army of Israel
came back.
And the women came out to meet Saul.
And they began to sing in ignorance.
Innocent.
They sang, Saul killed his thousands, but David
his ten thousands.
You know these women were innocent.
They didn't know what they were singing.
They didn't know what happened because of their
song.
They sang that in perfect honesty.
But when Saul heard that, he couldn't stand
it anymore.
He said, well, they gave ten thousands to
David and only thousands to me.
So Saul began to be jealous.
And you know he tried to make life
very hard for David.
He tried to kill David by the hands
of the Philistines.
And when he couldn't do that, he tried
to kill David himself.
He hunted David for years.
David became a fugitive.
He was hunted not because of his fault,
of his sin.
He was hunted because of the anointing of
the Lord upon him.
For at least, I think, ten years.
I do not know exactly how many years,
but approximately ten years.
He had to hide himself in caves, live
in the wilderness and wander around all the
time with no home, with no settled place.
He was hunted by Phil all the time.
Brothers and sisters, probably the question would be
asked, why?
Did he not know God in a real
way?
Did not God anointed him to be king?
And why should he be so hunted, persecuted,
having such difficult days?
Why?
Why did God allow all these things to
happen?
He should not look alone.
He should not have the cross all the
time.
That seems to be contradictory to God's doing.
Brothers and sisters, if you want to know
David, yes, you know the history of David
during that period in 1 Samuel from chapter
19 to chapter 30.
Through these chapters you read the history of
David as a fugitive.
He had a most difficult time.
He was out of despair of life.
He was hunted like a partridge, like a
free, like a dead dog.
That was how he felt in himself.
But if you know, want to know the
inward sentiment of David during those periods, you
have to read the Psalms.
Many of the Psalms he wrote were written
during that time, or written for that time.
In other words, out of all these difficult
situations, God was teaching him valuable lessons.
What is the lesson?
There are many lessons to learn.
But there is one lesson that David learned
during those difficult 10 years.
It was the lesson of obedience.
Authority is based upon life.
You come into authority by way of obedience.
We may think that if we want authority
we have to grasp it.
We have to struggle for it.
Now that is the way that people in
this world get authority.
How come people get their position, their authority?
You have to fight for it.
You have to grasp it.
You have to maneuver and out maneuver everybody
else.
If you don't strive it, where can you
get authority?
If you are always withdrawing, if you are
always humble, if you are always giving in,
you get nowhere.
You become nobody.
Even the disciples of our Lord Jesus.
When our Lord was on earth, you remember,
one of the problems with them is they
are always struggling and fighting who will be
the chief among the twelve.
Only twelve, but the chief among the twelve.
Not much.
But still they are seeking for authority.
And you remember the Lord Jesus said, the
Son of Man comes to minister and not
to be ministered to.
And he gave his life as a ransom
for the world.
In the world, those who rule, they overlord
everybody.
But this is not true with the kingdom
of God.
He who is the greatest is he who
is the smallest.
He who is the highest is he who
serves.
Brothers and sisters, you know, this is so
contrary to the thinking of the world.
The way to enter into divine authority is
by way of obedience.
And this is fully demonstrated in the life
of our Lord Jesus.
There is a chapter in that new book,
Spiritual Authority, by Brother Mee.
It's called the Obedience of the Son.
Personally, of all the chapters there, this is
the chapter for me.
I love that chapter more than any other
chapters.
All the chapters are precious.
But that chapter, the Obedience of the Son.
How does the Son come into authority?
Not by grasping it.
By emptying himself.
Humbling himself.
Become obedient.
Even the Son learns obedience through suffering.
Through the things which he this is the
way to divine authority.
Brothers and sisters, I remember Brother Mee once
said to us, he said, the first thing
after you get into the church is not
to ask, whom can I rule?
But whom can I obey?
Not to ask, over whom do I have
authority?
But to ask, who will be authority God
set above?
How do you learn obedience?
In David's case, you have the extreme.
But the principle is demonstrated very clearly there.
Saul was anointed by God, yes.
But he was the choice of the people.
In one sense, God had already rejected him.
He was a rejected authority.
And yet he still occupied the throne.
David was also anointed.
But he was chosen by God.
And he was destined to the throne.
And yet in a very strange arrangement.
And it was that arrangement.
This man who was divinely chosen to occupy
the throne was providentially arranged to be under
Saul.
He was not only a general in the
court of Saul.
He was also self-serving Lord.
What can you do?
Here you find David who was destined to
represent God's authority is faced with an authority
that was misused, abused, even rejected by God.
What can you do?
Maybe you will say, well, if that is
the case, sure so.
Because that authority is a misrepresentation.
That authority has been rejected by God.
That authority has been misused, abused.
So why should we let it stand?
Let's get rid of it and then ascend
to the throne.
Because this is God's will.
He who does not know God certainly will
take this course.
This seems to be rational, reasonable.
But dear brothers and sisters, you read the
history of David during that period.
He was hunted.
He was in desperation.
If only he could raise his hand and
get rid of Saul, his problem was solved.
And God's purpose concerning him would be fulfilled.
And providentially, Saul was in his hand once.
Once in chapter 24, another time in chapter
26.
And his followers said, come up.
Kill him.
God has put him in your hand.
And when David just cut a piece of
the skirt of Saul, his heart, he said,
I cannot put my hand upon the Lord's
anointed.
God himself has to get rid of him.
I cannot.
I have to submit myself.
I cannot rise up again.
I am under authority.
How do you learn?
If the authority that God has set above
you always represents God, there is no difficulty
to obey.
It's easy to obey because you see God.
But suppose the authority that God has set
above you is wrong.
It misrepresents God.
Then you have a problem in hand.
Should I obey or should I not?
How do you learn authority?
You learn authority by knowing yourself being under
authority.
You learn authority by obeying.
When Christ was on earth, the authorities during
that period were all wrong.
Whether you look at the political scene, it
is the Roman authority, a wrong authority.
You know those zealots among the Jewish people
never recognized the authority of Rome.
Why?
They thought, well, God was our authority.
They would not recognize Roman authority.
It was a wrong authority.
You look at the religious scene, you will
find those Sanhedrin, those councils that ruled Judaism.
Part of them were Sadducees.
Those who do not believe in supernatural.
They were the authorities at that time.
The high priest, Anna, they were Sadducees.
But look at our Lord Jesus.
He was put in such a critical situation.
Here was the Roman authority, there was the
Jewish authority, and he had to submit himself
to both.
He did not rebel against the authority.
He submitted himself.
He was willing to die if that's the
way they wanted it to be.
A principle is very important here.
Obedience.
There is a difference between obedience and submission.
Submission is an attitude.
Obedience is an act.
To God we gave absolute submission and absolute
obedience.
That is to say, before God, we must
maintain a spirit of submission and an action
of obedience.
To man, absolute submission, relative obedience.
We have to maintain absolute submission to the
authorities that God has set above us.
But we cannot always obey.
Why?
Because when there is conflict with God's will.
So here you find Peter and John before
the council.
They said to obey you or to obey
God.
What should we do?
You decide yourself.
It is a spirit of submission.
But they cannot obey.
They have to obey God.
So brothers and sisters, in learning the lesson
of obedience, very often God puts you in
a situation where the authorities, that's where you
learn obedience.
And that's how David learned obedience.
And when he learned obedience to the full
measure God removes all.
This is so contrary to the thinking of
this world.
This is divine.
Through obedience we enter into authority.
Then finally, David became king.
Finally he was on the throne.
Representing there is one verse in Acts chapter
13.
I think it's verse 22.
It says God said I have found a
man after my own heart who will do
my will.
What is the meaning of authority?
What is divine authority for?
Authority is given that we may do God's
will.
Authority is not given that you may do
your will.
Oh if I have authority then I may
do what I want.
No.
Divine authority is given that you may do
God's will.
Because in carrying out God's will you need
authority.
David as king he did several things.
He accomplished several things.
He used his authority to accomplish several things.
Number one.
As soon as he got on the throne
the first thing he did was to take
Jerusalem.
Isn't that strange?
Why?
Because in Deuteronomy chapter 12 you remember God
said before the people of Israel entered into
Canaan God told Moses that after they entered
into the promised land God will choose a
place where he will put his name there.
And there the people of God will go
to worship, to sacrifice.
In other words there will be one place
where the name of God was and where
the people of God will be gathered together
as one.
After they entered into the promised land they
were not to sacrifice God in all the
high places.
What?
Because if they did that they would be
offended people.
They were to come and worship and sacrifice
to God in the place of God's choice
where God's name was.
But for many many years several hundred years
as a matter of fact this place was
still unknown.
During the time of the settlers this place
was unknown.
Was still unknown.
They moved from here to there the people
were scattered.
And somehow David as a man after God's
own heart he knew exactly where that place
would be.
So he took Jerusalem and into Jerusalem he
brought the ark of Jehovah.
And because of that you will find the
people of God began to be united as
one.
Centred.
Now that's the first thing he did.
What is divine authority?
Divine authority is to bring God's people together
as one centred upon Christ.
That's divine authority.
It does not take authority to separate.
To divide.
It takes authority to unite.
To unite God's people into one centred upon
Christ.
That is the exercise of divine authority.
Secondly under David's reign he subdued all the
enemies and he took possession of the full
possession of God's promise to Abraham from
the river of Egypt to the great river
Euphrates.
That whole area was under David's rule during
this time.
He subdued all the enemies and brought God's
people into full possession.
Now that's authority.
That's divine authority.
Who can help God's people to enter into
the fullness of Christ?
It takes authority to do that.
It does not take authority to make people
spiritually poor.
But it takes divine authority to bring God's
people into the fullness of Christ which is
represented by the promise.
David did that.
And thirdly David prepared to build God a
house, a temple, a tribe.
Even though he was not allowed to build
it because he was a man of war.
He said too much work.
And yet he was given the pattern of
the temple, a revelation.
And out of his love for God he
prepared much material.
From the squirrels that he took and from
his own possession he prepared the materials for
the building of the house.
That's why we say authority built.
Authority will see the pattern.
Authority will gather to prepare for a dwelling
place.
That is the exercise of divine authority.
So brothers and sisters, how needed it is
today to have people who know divine authority.
Who learn authority through obedience.
And who can exercise authority to bring God's
people united under Christ.
Enter into the fullness of Christ and to
prepare for God a resting place.
And all these are to divine in the
life.
Now brothers and sisters, we just cut the
fringe of it.
There is much more.
Much, much more.
And I do believe that in these last
days not only the principle of revelation will
be recovered.
God's people gradually will see that it is
not by revelation.
It is not of God.
You have to reject everything that is not
by revelation.
Because only that which comes from revelation is
living.
It's real.
And God's people have to learn what authority
is.
Oh, that we may be under authority.
Then we will be given authority.
And authority can do much.
Our Heavenly Father, we thank thee for thy
servant David, a man at thine own heart.
When thou dost put on the throne to
do thy will.
Oh Lord, we pray that by thy grace
we may learn something of thy authority.
That we may know how to be under
authority.
That we may learn obedience.
That we may be vessels of thy authority.
To bring thy people into unity, into fullness,
and into life.
Thy purpose.
We ask in the name of our Lord
Jesus.