08092015HowToBeLikeTheMorningSun2Sa23.1-7DonRuhl

How to Be Like the Morning Sun 

Second Samuel 23.1–7

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • August 9, In the year of our Lord, 2015

Scripture Reader and Reading: Gene Tomlinson – Exodus 18.17–23

Prelude: 

  1. What do you think and feel when 
    1. you wake up to a beautiful cloudless morning,
    2. the sun is just starting to come up and
      1. it had rained during night?
      2. Do you love to go out and see the new growth?
  2. Did you know that God compares a God-fearing ruler to that kind of morning? 

Persuasion: 

  1. Second Samuel 23.1 – David: The Man

    1 Now these are the last words of David.
    Thus says David the son of Jesse;
    Thus says the man raised up on high,
    The anointed of the God of Jacob,
    And the sweet psalmist of Israel:

    1. David’s last recorded words, or
      1. the last words he wrote down.
      2. Truly, they are words the Lord spoke through David.
    2. The son of Jesse
      1. We think of David and esteem him highly, but
      2. the Bible also places a premium upon his father.
    3. The man raised up on high
      1. From tending sheep out in the wild
      2. to running a kingdom in the city.
    4. Anointed of the God of Jacob
      1. David did not elevate himself.
      2. God chose him by means of Samuel.
    5. The sweet psalmist of Israel
      1. His dominance as a psalmist
      2. makes some people think that he wrote all the psalms.
        1. He may have been raised up on high, yet,
        2. we read his words and he thinks just as we do,
          1. regardless of who we are and what we do in life.
          2. He had troubles and victories,
            1. both of which He put into the Lord’s hands,
            2. showing us how we ought to think.
  2. Second Samuel 23.2–3a – David: The Inspired

    2 The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me,
    And His word was on my tongue.
    3a The God of Israel said,
    The Rock of Israel spoke to me:

    1. The Spirit of the Lord spoke, but
      1. He did so by means of David.
      2. Why did the Spirit of the Lord speak by David?
        1. The Lord reminded David,

          8 “Now therefore, thus shall you say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “I took you from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people, over Israel”’” (2Sa 7.8).
        2. David was already busy.
          1. I do not know of any lazy person in the Bible
          2. whom the Lord called to do a great work.
            1. The Lord wants workers.
            2. He finds them among the people already working.
    2. The word on David’s tongue was the word of the Spirit of the Lord.
      1. In Hebrew parallelism, David repeated the first line
      2. to let us know that he did not speak on his own authority.
    3. Then David told us, in verse 3,
      1. what the Spirit of the Lord said to all of us by means of David.
      2. God told David precisely what to say.
        1. Some people argue that inspiration only means
        2. that the Lord gave the writers a general idea what to say.
          1. I suppose that frees people up to argue with the text, and
          2. to interpret it or disregard it as they please,
            1. saying that the Lord did not give the writers the exact words.
            2. However, how do you convey ideas without using words?
    4. Biblical writers were as brass instruments.
      1. A musician blows air through the instrument and controls the sound.
      2. The Spirit used various men,
        1. blowing through them, speaking through them, and
        2. controlling the sound, controlling the words they spoke.
      3. This also explains why the Spirit preserved the personality of each writer.
        1. John, Paul, and David all sound differently,
        2. just as a trumpet, trombone, or flute sound differently, but
          1. those instruments do not make their own sound and
          2. these men did not make their own words, but spoke God’s words.
  3. Second Samuel 23.3b–4 – God-Fearing Rulers

    3b “He who rules over men must be just,
    Ruling in the fear of God.
    4 And he shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises,
    A morning without clouds,
    Like the tender grass springing out of the earth,
    By clear shining after rain.”

    1. What did God want David to say as his last words?
      1. First, that rulers have to be just and
      2. second it is the fear of God that makes men do so.
        1. Why must a ruler over men be just?
        2. Why must parents, teachers, employers, et al., lead in justice?
          1. Paul told the Colossians
            1. that masters have to remember
            2. that they have a Master in heaven,

              1 Masters, give your bondservants what is just and fair, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven (Col 4.1).
          2. If you lead, people have to answer to you.
            1. That might make you think you are something.
            2. You might abuse people,
              1. if you do not remember
              2. that you must answer to the Divine Master.
          3. We are being watched,

            8 If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent perversion of justice and righteousness in a province, do not marvel at the matter; for high official watches over high official, and higher officials are over them (Ecc 5.8).
          4. Also, when Nehemiah learned
            1. that the Jewish leaders were abusing
            2. their status and wealth,
              1. he spoke to them of their wrong,

                9 Then I said, “What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies?” (Neh 5.9).
              2. After he told them what to do to make it right, watch him,

                13 Then I shook out the fold of my garment and said, “So may God shake out each man from his house, and from his property, who does not perform this promise. Even thus may he be shaken out and emptied.” And all the assembly said, “Amen!” and praised the Lord. Then the people did according to this promise (Neh 5.13).
      3. Do you want those in authority over you
        1. to be just?
        2. to fear God?
    2. If a ruler so operates,
      1. he will be like a beautiful cloudless morning as the sun rises,
      2. he will be like the grass that grows after a rain.
        1. People will see him or her as a blessing,
        2. as someone who gives and does not take.
          1. This past Wednesday,
          2. we had one of those days,
            1. minus the rain.
            2. Smoke from forest fires filled our town the days before.
              1. The sun had been blistering hot.
              2. Then we had a refreshing morning.
  4. Second Samuel 23.5 – David: The God-Fearing Ruler

    5 Although my house is not so with God,
    Yet He has made with me an everlasting covenant,
    Ordered in all things and secure.
    For this is all my salvation and all my desire;
    Will He not make it increase?

    1. David quickly acknowledged
      1. that his house, his family,
      2. was not as it should be,
        1. that it was not just and
        2. ruling in the fear of God.
          1. David knew his sins.
          2. He knew the sins of his family.
            1. He humbled himself before the Lord, and
            2. the Lord lifted David up,

              6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

              “God resists the proud,
              But gives grace to the humble.”

              7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up (Jam 4.6–10).

      3. That is why the Lord raised David up on high!
    2. God made an everlasting covenant with David.
      1. Second Samuel 7 reveals this covenant.
      2. When David wanted to build the Lord a house,
        1. the Lord said no, but
        2. promised to build David a house,
          1. referring to a family, and
          2. from David would descend the Christ.
    3. God ordered all things in David’s life and made it secure.
      1. David knew his sin, yet,
      2. he praised God for ordering his life and securing it.
        1. Why does God order the affairs of this Earth and
        2. secure humanity from destruction?
          1. We know that it shall not always remain that way, but
          2. how good our God is!
      3. Paul explained why God has so ordered and secured life on this planet,

        4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? (Rom 2.4).

        17 “Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14.17).

        26 “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring’” (Acts 17.26–28).

    4. This was all his salvation and all his desire.
      1. This was all that David wanted.
      2. Should it not also be what we want?
        1. When you reach the end of life,
        2. as David was about to reach, and
          1. you know that you will see God shortly,
          2. what do you want at that time?
    5. David anticipated God making it increase, because
      1. David wanted what God wanted.
      2. Therefore, David fully expected it to increase.
  5. Second Samuel 23.6–7 – Sons of Rebellion

    6 But the sons of rebellion shall all be as thorns thrust away,
    Because they cannot be taken with hands.
    7 But the man who touches them
    Must be armed with iron and the shaft of a spear,
    And they shall be utterly burned with fire in their place.

    1. The sons of rebellion would not have all things ordered and secure.
    2. They are like thorns and so you have to throw them away.
      1. David knew that from Scripture, but
      2. he also knew it from his life.
    3. He knew that no one can take the rebellious.
      1. You have to arm yourself with weapons.
      2. Then they are burned.

Exhortation: 

  1. David’s humility before God 
    1. typified the humility of the Messiah,
    2. who would descend from David.
  2. God gave to the world through Jesus of Nazareth 
    1. what He wants for the world.
    2. Be content with those things and the Lord will increase goodness in your life.