Gooding, David: 1 - Governing for God

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for those very kindly words, and thank you all for your invitation to come and visit you again here in Francis Street, Newton Abbot, and for the joy I have in considering the memories that come flooding back as I stand here before you this evening. One of my early impressions of Northern Ireland was at a Christmas conference here, I think in this very place. I dare not tell you how many years ago it was. I was brought here by our late and lamented brother John Boyd, and I sat upon the platform, overwhelmed by the sheer bulk and number of the powerful men of God who were there at that conference, overwhelmed even more so with the power of their spiritual stature. And I can cast my mind back in the years since then to your great kindness and fellowship here in the work of the Lord over some many years. And I look forward to these five weeks that we shall spend together. We are to study themes in the second book of Samuel. We shall not be able to cover the whole book, obviously not. It is a book of some twenty four chapters, and we shall scarce do nearly five chapters per evening. Therefore, we must content ourselves with selecting certain themes from it. It would be a help to me, and perhaps also a help to you, if in these coming weeks you could perhaps devote some time during the week to preparing yourself for these studies by reading at length in the second book of Samuel. If that means putting aside your favorite biography or your special notes, uh, morning and night, and for these next weeks reading pieces from second Samuel, perhaps the sacrifice will in the end be worthwhile. We can only perceive the signi- significance of something if we have, first of all, acquainted ourselves with its detail. Tonight then we begin by reading a token passage from the first chapter of uh second Samuel, beginning in verse one. And it came to pass after the death of Saul, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, David had abode two days in Ziklag. It came even to pass on the third day that, behold, a man came out of the camp from Saul with his clothes rent and earth upon his head. And so it was, when he came to David, that he fell to the earth and did obeisance. And David said unto him, From whence comest thou? And he said unto him, Out of the camp of Israel am I escaped. And David said unto him, How went the matter? I pray thee, tell me. And he answered, The people are fled from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and are dead. And Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also. And David said unto the young man that told him, How knowest thou that Saul and Jonathan his son be dead? The young man that told him said, As I happened by chance upon Mount Gilber, behold, Saul leaned upon his spear, and lo, the chariots and the horsemen followed hard after him. And when he looked behind him, he saw me and called unto me, and I answered, here am I. And he said unto me, who art thou? And I answered him, I am an Amalekite. And he said unto me, stand, I pray thee, beside me and slay me before anguish hath taken hold of me, because my life is yet whole in me. So I stood beside him and slew him, because I was sure that he could not live after that he was fallen. And I took the crown that was upon his head and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them hither unto my Lord. Then David took hold on his clothes and rent them, and likewise all the men that were with him. And they mourned and wept and fasted until even for Saul and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of Israel, because they were fallen by the sword. And David said unto the young man that told him, whence art thou? And he answered, I am the son of an s- of a stranger, an Amalekite. And David said unto him, How wast thou not afraid to put forth thine hand to destroy the Lord's anointed? And David called one of the young men and said, Go near and fall upon him. And he smote him that he died. And David said unto him, Thy blood be upon thy head, for thy mouth has testified against thee, saying, I have slain the Lord's anointed. David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son, and he bade them teach the children of Judah the song of the bow. Behold, it is written in the book of Jashar. Thy glory, O Israel, is slain upon thy high places. How are thee mighty fallen? Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. You mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew nor rain upon you, neither fields of offerings. For there the shield of the mighty was vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, not anointed with oil. From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty. Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided. They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. You daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet delicately, who put ornaments of gold upon your apparel. How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle? Jonathan is slain upon thy high. I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan. Very pleasant hast thou been unto me. Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished? God guide us in his, in our study of his holy word. It is altogether my fault that I have not been with you here in Francis Street, Newton Ards, for some year. And therefore I took the precaution, before I decided what passage of scripture to study with you, of inquiring of your elders in what state the assembly was now, and what like the congregation would be that I would be facing these five weeks. Your elders, I think they will not mind me spilling their secrets, told me that I should find before me an assembly of mature believers, and it's pretty obvious, it seems to me, that thus I see them now. Mature believers on the whole, they said. Some, uh, younger married couples, and putting that one and one together and making two, I said to myself that if I were facing mature believers on the one hand with years of rich experience of life and of the Lord, and also facing some young married couples who are beginning to face the realities of life's real problems, then perhaps I might be permitted to take a book of scripture that is somewhat more difficult than others. Perhaps Second Samuel is not the most difficult book in all scripture, it is one of the difficult books. There are, are there not, in Holy Writ, some doctrines that, in God's good mercy, are exceedingly simple and easy to understand. The great doctrine of salvation, praise God, it is so simple that a wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err therein. What could be more simple than he that hath the Son of God hath life? That God gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. What could be more simple than the story that God is for us, and Jesus Christ, his son, is for us, and that God gave his son for us, and his son died for us at Calvary. And similarly, those doctrines of scripture that help us to perceive the resources that we have in Christ for a holy life. They too, in God's good mercy, are simple. So simple that they could be summed up in the phrase that Christ not only died for us, but lives in us. These are the fundamental doctrines of salvation, and by God's deliberate intention, they are exceedingly simple and easy to grasp. There are other parts of scripture that are not easy, and could not possibly be easy, because they deal with topics that are exceedingly complicated, as complicated as life is itself. And one of those topics, of course, is the topic of the government of God. And what it means for men and women to be called to the high privilege of joining with God in government. Now, trying to govern for God is not and cannot be an easy matter. Ask any parent, and they will tell you that. Entrusted by God with the rearing of children, and the duty of shaping their young lives as they grow up into their teens, and directing them and controlling them and shepherding them to please the Lord. That is not an easy task. That is not a simple thing. And in this modern world, we should deceive ourselves, shouldn't we, if we imagined that the governing of young people for God was going to be a delightfully simple ABC affair. It isn't, because life is a complicated thing. And any attempt to govern for God in such a, a, a realm will presently meet the real complicated situations of life. Ask any parent, ask any elder of any church who is trying to govern for God, ask him about the thousands and one problems that arise in the course of trying to shepherd the people of God and coming to a right decision here and a fair decision there, and knowing what to do next, and how to reconcile differences and put together things that are broken, and broken so far that perhaps they'll never be fully put together on earth again. Ask any elder that has five minutes of experience, and he will tell you that governing for God is not and cannot be a simple matter. It is, of course, with the question of governing for God that the books of First and Second Samuel treat. Of the two, I suppose that First Samuel is the easier book, because we shall not read very deeply into that book before we shall see that David easily appears as a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Why, the children in the senior Bible class and below have heard the story of David and Goliath and have early caught the idea that somewhere in that picture of David going out to meet the giant and slaying him with his own sword, where in that picture there lurks a prototype of Jesus Christ, our Lord. And wiser heads, as they have, uh, watched the story of Second Samuel, have ob- obviously been struck and easily been struck by the great similarity between God's methods in appointing David to be king and the methods that God has employed in appointing Jesus Christ, our Lord, to the throne of the universe. You will remember, will you not, that when God would appoint David, he first had to get rid of the false and disobedient king Saul. And the interest of First Samuel lies particularly in this, how God went about that maneuver. God could, could he not, but first of all destroyed the wicked and disobedient and rebellious Saul, and having destroyed him, put David in his place. That would have been simple. God didn't do it. Oh. God could have let King Saul carry on right to the bitter end until eventually his, he was destroyed by his enemy. And then, and only then, when Saul had been destroyed, anoint David as king over Israel in his place. And God didn't do that either. God did a very curious thing. God did not destroy King Saul. God let him continue for years as king. But God had David anointed king while the false king was still reigning. And so it came about that David was anointed king, and for years after he was anointed, he was being persecuted and driven out into the wilderness and rejected by Israel. And finally, so persistent was Israel's official rejection of her anointed king that Israel lost her Messiah to the Gentiles for some long time. You can't read it, can you? But once your mind goes to the method God has used for appointing Jesus Christ our Lord as king. Certainly God has anointed him. Anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power. Anointed by the Holy Spirit at his baptism, raised to the Father's throne at the right hand of God. But God has not yet intervened in our world to remove rebellious human government, but lets it go on. And God has not moved in our world to res- to destroy the rebellious in Israel that have rejected their Messiah. And so we have the situation where now for centuries Israel has officially rejected her Messiah and rejected him so persistently that Israel has lost her anointed Messiah to the Gentiles this last nineteen hundred years. And the parallel between the two arrangements, I say, is striking and is easy to be seen. All that then, if we perceive it, builds up our expectation as we come towards the end of First Samuel, and we say, what how, what wonderful thing it will be when we come to Second Samuel. For if in First Samuel David is a picture of our Lord, anointed to be king, but not yet placed upon the throne. Surely, when we come to Second Samuel and David sits upon the throne, we shall have a glorious picture of the reign of Christ and how Christ will reign when he comes again. Well, if that's what you think, you're in for a great disappointment. So second Samuel is devoted to the story of David's actual reign for God in Israel, some thousand years BC. And whether you see in it any types or prototypes, for the moment that is irrelevant. The first lessons that we shall have to face are the lessons that arose when David eventually came to the throne and started the down to earth practical business of trying to reign, first over Judah, then over the united twelve tribes of Judah and Israel. The story is going to be of very practical things, of the difficulties he ran into in that those years long, long since past. The story will be of difficulties so large that David more than once made lamentable mistakes. Far from being a picture of Jesus Christ our Lord. We shall find in David oftentimes sorry mistakes that will break our hearts in the reading of them. For when you first read second Samuel, it is inevitable you will be disappointed, I suspect, with the character of David. Though I better be careful what I say. I was once in a friend's house, many miles from here, and after dinner, taking that liberty that guests have on those occasions, I began to pick my host's brains. I said, tell me, my good man, do you think David was a king after God's own heart? Of course he was, he said. Yes, I said, I do myself, really. Uh, I said, tell me, why was it that the man lived the whole of his life under the thumb of Joab? What do you mean? He obviously hadn't been reading Second Samuel just recently. Well, I said, you know, if you read the story very carefully, you will find that poor old David, most of the time, was under the thumb of Joab and couldn't do anything about it. You remember how Abner came, didn't he, to bring over the ten tribes? And David wanted them brought over, and had entered into negotiations with Abner to bring over the ten tribes, and all was going well according to plan when Joab got to hear about it. And Joab could see it wouldn't do, not for Joab anyway. For if Abner came over, who was commander of the armies of the ten tribes, Joab, who was only commander of the armies of two tribes, was liable to lose his place as chief elder, I mean chief general. And, uh, Joab could see that that would never do. So Joab called Abner back, pretending to talk to him, and, uh, put a dagger to his wrist. And David denounced it all before the people. It is nothing other than vulgar sheer murder, he said. But he couldn't do anything about it. Joab for many years got off scot-free, with David protesting all he likes and saying it ought never to be done, and I don't approve of it. Well, then old David, old boy, what did you, why don't you deal with Joab? Couldn't. And didn't. I said, my friend, how do you kind of figure that out? I said, you'll remember, won't you? Uh, I said, uh, if you read Samuel a bit later on, how after Absalom had rebelled, there came a battle between the forces of the king and the forces of Absalom. And as the armies went out under the captaincy of Joab, David strictly charged the commander and all the captains of the host and all the people, do not execute Absalom. Well, presently some of the troops found Absalom hanging by his hair in an oak tree, and they came and reported to Joab, and Joab said, you fools, why didn't you slay him forthwith? And they said, we were afraid to, because the king said we weren't to. Oh, nonsense, he said, and taking three darts, he went and put them right through the heart of the young man. And David? What could he do? Get them all. Hmm. You will remember, and here I, I, I got to about the, the, the cheese at this stage at the dinner, you know, I, I'm telling you what I told my friend. Uh, I said, you'll remember, won't you, that when David eventually came back, uh, from exile and he was going to cross the river, he sent a message to Amasa, saying, Amasa, I'm now going to appoint you as commander in chief over the forces of Israel in the place of Joab. David thought he saw not to put Joab where Joab walked in these many years. I'm going to make you commander of the army, said David to Amasa. Well, it went on like that for about a fortnight. And then there came another rebellion. And David told Amasa to get, uh, the troops out and after the rebel and put it down. But Amasa dithered around the place. I don't know why, but he did. He dithered around the place. And so the rebellion, which was only a little thing and could easily have been snuffed out, was beginning to grow and become serious. And Joab, seeing it, up the road he went with the king's armies and the horses and all the king's men, and coming across Anasar, appointed to be commander in chief of the armies in his place, he got hold of his sword and he executed him as well, and left him a writing on the ground in his blood. And David didn't or couldn't do a thing. I said, you know, my friend, I said, tell me why that is. I mean, why does Samuel, I mean, supposing these things did occur, why on earth did the historians, uh, record all those things, how David seems to be utterly under the thumb of Joab? There was one occasion, wasn't there, in which David did manage to insist on having his own way and put Joab in his place. You remember it. David said, now Joab, uh, I want you to go forth and number all the people of Israel. Well, Joab wasn't renowned for his godliness, but even he could see that was wrong and questionable. He said, oh, tut tut, do you think we ought to do it? Yes, I want it done, said David. Why do you want it done, said Joab? Why would you want to know the number of them? Don't care what you say, said David. I'm having it done. And Joab for once had to do what he was told, and he went out and numbered the people, and there fell on Israel a terrible plague from the Lord. One of the times when David had his own way and made Joab do what he was told. Well, I think my friend privately thought I'd gone apostate or something. No truth to tell, I was merely, I was merely quoting the Bible at him. I, I, I, that's all I was doing. I heard a little sequel that, uh, saddened me a bit. He remarked subsequently, some years afterwards, you know, you nearly destroyed the faith of my young son. He said, I did. How was that? Well, saying all those things about David. So, please, anybody here thinking I'm about to destroy your faith, I'm not doing anything of the sort. I believe like you believe, that David was a man after God's own heart. I believe it with all my heart and soul. And as you perceive, I'm not casting doubt on the inspiration of scripture. I affirm it, I believe it wholeheartedly, but believing it to be God's inspired word, we have to take it seriously, don't we? How can it be that a man like David, who made such desperate mistakes, as we shall see in this book, and was under the thumb of Joab most of his life, how could it be said that such a man was a king and a man after God's own heart? And I shall be interested in the course of these studies to get to know you and to hear what your explanation of the thing would be. But, you know, it seems to me that recounting those facts introduces us to one of the, uh, great practical problems of governing for God in this world. Now we dismiss all thoughts for the moment of typology and come down to practical details of actual living daily life. Then one of the practical problems that confronts God himself in the governing of our universe is the problem that we see exemplified in Joab, the problem of delegated authority. Let me try and explain what I mean. God is the supreme moral governor of the universe, isn't he? But you have observed, haven't you, that God, uh, doesn't directly govern it all himself, does he? But delegates authority to other people to govern. God didn't come down to heaven to tie your child's shoelaces this morning, did he? Nor to make his breakfast. God doesn't come down personally and sit in the Sunday school and teach your child the difference between right and wrong, does he? Why not? Why, for the simple reason that God has delegated the authority for governing the children in the home. He's delegated the authority to mother and father. And thereby hangs a very big tale, does it not? If mother and father are good at government and godly people, then the child will get an impression of what the government of God is. But if mother and father are careless people, if mother and father are tyrannical people, if mother and father can't govern themselves, let alone govern anybody else, this method that God has used of delegating authority is going to land in day in difficulties, isn't it? I do remember a friend of mine telling me in Scotland at one stage how he used to work among the children brought in from the broken homes of Glasgow. And they were taken into a home run by the city, and he had the opportunity to go in and start a little Sunday school and Bible class with them. And one day in the course of his duties, he went in and there was a nurse admitting a child, and the child forthwith screamed at the top of its voice. And the nurse had to ask my friend to go out. And when she pacified the child, eventually she brought in the good Christian man, and she said, I'll tell you, you see, the story behind this little child. And she stripped the child, and there it was, burns and wheels all over its body. And presently the Scots child said to the good man, he said, you see, but my father al- always barren. Yes, said the nurse, it was the habit of his father when he got drunk that he could poke a red hot and defeat the child with it. God doesn't come down personally and sit in the Sunday school and teach your child the difference between right and wrong, does he? Why not? Why, for the simple reason that God has delegated the authority for governing the children in the home. He's delegated the authority to mother and father. And thereby hangs a very big tale, does it not? If mother and father are good at government and godly people, then the child will get an impression of what the government of God is. But if mother and father are careless people, if mother and father are tyrannical people, if mother and father can't govern themselves, let alone govern anybody else, this method that God has used of delegating authority is going to land in da- in difficulties, isn't it? I do remember a friend of mine telling me in Scotland at one stage how he used to work among the children brought in from the broken homes of Glasgow. And they were taken into a home run by the city, and he had the opportunity to go in and start a little Sunday school and Bible class with them. And one day in the course of his duties, he went in and there was a nurse admitting a child, and the child forthwith screamed at the top of its voice. And the nurse had to ask my friend to go out. And when she pacified the child, eventually she brought in the good Christian man, and she said, I'll tell you, you see, the story behind this little child. And she stripped the child, and there it was, burns and wheels all over its body. And presently the Scots child said to the good man, he said, you see, but my father al- always burns. Yes, said the nurse, it was the habit of his father when he got drunk to heat the poker red hot and just keep the child with him. And the child has such an impression of grown-up men that when a dear Christian man entered the room, it screamed its head off. He thought that all men were like that. You just imagine that child trying to form a concept of God as father. But you see, this principle of delegated authority is important, isn't it? Because when men and women abuse their authority, God doesn't come from heaven immediately and take it back again and say, well, now you can't, uh, you can't use the authority anymore. It is evident that the way God runs our universe is that having delegated his authority very often leaves it. You will perceive the same thing on the greatest of all scales, that even Satan himself, with vast delegated powers given him, when he rebelled against God, God didn't force it upon him. We live in a world complicated beyond description. Because it has pleased Almighty God to delegate power, and when men and angels have abused it, God does not immediately step in. So I don't understand why God has done that. Well, perhaps I don't either. That's the real world, isn't it? So it happened that when David came to power, he didn't sit on the throne of Israel and Judah as an absolute tyrant and rule it all by himself. That could not be done. David had to have officers, commanders, captains, lieutenants, and goodness knows what else, judges and priests, and a whole bevy and array of men to whom he could delegate power to rule for him in their respective spheres. And hence the problem. And if we find that in these circumstances, David himself became sometimes a prisoner in his own circumstances because of the misbehavior of men to whom he had delegated power, then instead of complaining, let's think about ourselves. And I ask you, is it not an actual situation? You the boss of a firm, and you've had to delegate authority to the foreman here and to the trade representatives there, and they go out in your name on behalf of the firm. Let's hope they behave. And you elders, you've had to delegate authority to the Sunday school teachers. It's the spirit. Are they all perfect, these folks you've delegated the authority to? I say, are you perfect to start with? At least we shall find, as we read through the second book of Samuel, it is down to earth and dealing with the realities of everyday life. How can the government of God be put into action in this imperfect world? As I said, some of the mistakes arise because of this problem of having to delegate authority. Others of the problem arise, do they not, because of David's own weakness and sinfulness. And the middle part of the book is taken up with that sorry story of his lapse with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah, and resulting from it the rebellion of his son Absalom against his father. Sad, sorry story. We shall find, of course, that they raise all sorts of practical problems. How ought David to have dealt with that situation? How would you have dealt with it? And would you have forgiven Absalom or not? And when Absalom, having run away after he had murdered his brother and run away to Gath, and Joab pleaded that David should allow Absalom to come back again, would you have let Absalom back? Or wouldn't you? Would you have said, yes, let's be kind and compassionate and let him back? Or would you have said, no, no, the man is a murderer, we keep him out? And which would be the more Christian thinking? Once more, we shall find ourselves faced with very down to earth practical problems, and pray God we shall find some guidance for their solution. But as we read that sorry story of the rebellion of Absalom, David's son, against his father, we shall find it provoke our thoughts higher, shall we not, to another problem in this universe. No secret, is it? That God, in spite of the fact that his government is utterly perfect, God himself has suffered a rebellion, the size of which we could scarcely possibly imagine. It is hinted at in the word of God that there has come a rebellion in heavenly places on the part of some of the exceedingly high intelligences of the universe, and they turned against the God who made them. Why the anointed cherub that covered, that walked in Eden, lifted up himself against the King of Kings and rebelled. And not only angelic powers have rebelled against God, but our world, it is evident all around, isn't it? Our world too has gone fast in rebellion against God. Here, what's gone wrong with God that the likes of miserable little people like you and me have on times rebelled against God. And how should God set about ending that rebellion? Should he have mercy on us? And say, oh look, let's forget it. Let them all come back. Let them all come to my heaven. That doesn't matter who they are. Let's forget all the old bother, and let's just, uh, make up and be friends, and let them all come to my heaven. Or shouldn't we? At any rate, we shall find, as we consider these questions... that as we consider the practical, down-to-earth realities of governing for God and the question of sin and punishment, and the relation of punishment to forgiveness, and when is it right to forgive and when isn't it right to forgive? We shall find that the problem, uh, then begins to direct our eyes to the universal, the cosmic problem that confronts God because of the rebellion of sin, and the vast problem that God solved, but only managed to solve, at the extreme cost of death. We shall find then, as we go on, that David's life, as recorded now from the time he, uh, gets to the throne and the time he passes, is divided in our book of second Samuel largely into three periods. You may care to take a note of them, eh, in your margin. The first of those periods runs from chapter one of second Samuel to the end of chapter 8. And you may notice, if you care, that at the end of chapter eight, verses fifteen to eighteen, the historian marks the conclusion of that part by listing a whole list of David's chief government officers and civil servants. The first eight chapters of the book tell us of David's early days as government, when he was learning to take over the power from Saul, and took over the power, first of all, over the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, and reigned in Hebron. And how eventually, after some years, he was able to take over power over the ten tribes of Israel as well, and became king now of Jerusalem and of the whole of the united tribes. The early period of his reign, when he was still comparatively a young man, still had to watch at every step, when things were still difficult, as he was king in Hebron over two tribes, but not yet king over the ten tribes, when a wrong move could have had him blotted out, and how he went about things until eventually the ten tribes of Israel too were prepared to come and accept him as king and make him their sovereign. The problems involved in the takeover of power in the early days of his being king. Then we shall find that there is a very long and large middle section of the book. It only ends at, uh, chapter twenty. Chapter twenty of the book of second Samuel, and if you care to notice once more, verses twenty three to twenty six, the historian marks the conclusion of this piece of the history by listing once more a list of David's officers and civil servants. Like any respectable king, he had a respectable, we hope, civil service. And at the end of this middle period, the historian marks the conclusion by listing his servants. This is the middle period of his reign. David now become middle age. Victor. He's arrived. He's head not only of the two tribes, but of the, uh, ten tribes as well. Monarch of the whole lot. His kingdom extended until it was bigger than anything Israel had ever dreamed of. His treasure is rich, his harim very thickly populated. David become middle-aged, so middle-aged that he begins to feel the weight of middle-aged spread. And when Moab and others rebel, and Ammon, we read how David sent Joab and the army to fight. But David, being now middle-aged and not very fit, stayed at home. This is the period when the difficulties began, the real, and David's sorry mistakes were made. You know, as I read that passage, it seems to preach me an exceedingly practical lesson, lesson, even if we went no further. You know, we hold meetings for young folks, don't we? We do well to hold meetings for young folks. We say the future is with them, we must get them when they're young. Of course we must. You can't work too hard for the young folks. You must come to their level, you must help them all you can. These are the men and women of the future, and what big battles they have to face, but they don't have to face half as big battles as the middle-aged do. Who are the folks that cause all the disturbance in assemblies by now? The seventeen-year-old? Who is it that, when they quarrel, split assemblies wide open? The eighteen-year-old young lady? Not normally, is it? It's the middle age. Do the damage. I think, I'm right, it's about time we had some meetings with the middle-aged. What? And somebody sat us on a chair and talked to us right straight about the perils of middle life. When people who once were full of idealism and would have given anything for the Lord and sacrificed for the Lord and worked for the Lord, somehow got caught up in the humdrum of daily living, and then things ceased to be so difficult as they were in youth, and they'd arrived a bit, and they were easier circumstances, and then, and then, and then, and then, and they got podgy spiritually as well as physically. And they weren't really doing anything much for the Lord, no. They were staying at home while others did it. Bait. Waiting there, attracting the sensation to the very bit. The difficulties of middle life. There is, of course, uh, another part to first second uh, 2nd Samuel, and that fills the rest of the book from the end of chapter twenty, the beginning of chapter twenty one, then to the end of chapter twenty four. These are David's declining days. When the book comes to its end, you will hear David getting out his harp and singing his poetry, singing his praise to God as he reflects on the goodness of God all the years of his long life. Singing out his heart's experience of the difficulties he has known in life, the problems of actually trying to govern for God, as he sums them up at the end of his long life of experience. They are creating within him a sense that in the end, whatever you do as governing for God, you cannot here on earth be perfect. And it is increased in his heart a longing for the day when the sun of righteousness shall arise. A morning without clouds, and the perfect king shall come and undo earth's anger and rule perfectly for God. David in his last years, white haired if he's got any left, very much the same. Oh, too old now to go out to battles. Goodness me, any giant with an invite could be over. So they persuaded him to stay at home. But there, you know, the wise old man to advise the elders and the, the captains and the commanders who are still in middle life and carrying the burden of the day. David, loved and respected by all, you say, well, he'll be safe now anyway. Really? You think old age is a safe period? You're not so liable to fall as a teenager, goodness me, you're sixty five and a half. Well then, let's learn from David. The most terrible sin he ever committed wasn't with Bathsheba. The most terrible sin that man ever committed, that nearly ruined the whole purpose of God in the man's life as king of Israel, he committed in his old age. I said a moment ago, I thought we ought to have some meetings for, for the middle. You know, verging there myself, I think we ought to have some special meetings for the, the old age. You organize them, I shall be there. It's a mistake to think, you know, that if we patiently get past thirty, now we've seen all the spiritual battles we're ever going to have. Some of the biggest battles lie at nighting. Battles don't get easier. They get harder. David stands before us, the great sweet psalmist of Israel, singing his poetry, but as a reminder, it is possible grievously to us in our way. As I said, we shall find Second Samuel a difficult book. It will not send us home each night shouting hallelujah, far from it, so don't expect it. It will send us home with all sorts of problems and questionings and wonderings in our head, what the Bible calls the exercise. And if we discover that life isn't quite as simple actually when it comes to be lived in the home, in the church, in business, that it isn't quite as simple as some dear good preachers make up, but it's a complicated thing that will test our powers of discernment and our moral and spiritual judgment. The book reminds us that it isn't always possible to choose between what is right on the one hand and what is wrong on the other, between a perfect man and an imperfect, that we've got to settle for the better of the two. Then perhaps Second Samuel will have done its job, asking us to take the great salvation we have and the resources that are in Christ and apply them to the practicalities of daily living in the shop, in the factory, in the school, in the home, in the family, in the church. But there will be more than just practical advantages. As we think of these things, our minds will go instinctively, as I said a moment ago, they will go to that perfect man, Jesus Christ our Lord. We shall find our hearts rising to him instinctively and saying, oh Lord, in the end it's impossible. You'll have to come. You'll have to come, Lord. Your church cries for you. Only when you come will she ever be perfectly right. Our families cry for you. Only you can possibly give us the final solution to our problems. Our poor old world will never be at peace, Lord, until you come. The very best man that ever walked earth, be him David himself, was but an imperfect servant of God. There's only been one perfect Lord, one perfect king, one perfect leader, and that is Jesus Christ himself. You say, why doesn't he come more quickly? If he's got the answer to the problems, why doesn't he come? Could it be for this reason? Because one day he wants you to share his perfect government with him? However, would you govern for Christ in the day to come if you didn't know what the pro- problems were? And you've never had any practice at governing for God. It is something, my brother, it is something, my sister, to have discovered in this life what the problems of government for God are. For there's a rumor of all. Ah, there's more than a rumor. There is an advertisement in God's holy word that we who love the Savior are called one day to rise to his very throne and rule with him, and judge the world, and judge angels, how about having a go at starting now and learning by God's grace to come to godly and spiritual judgments in the fear of God, in the governing of his people, here in this life, that it might prepare us for the next. Bear with that introduction, therefore. As God may help us in the coming weeks, we shall spend some time on that first part, the problems of his early death, a little more time on the middle bit, the problems of his middle life. We should try and organize it so that on the last week at least, we shall have time to think of the problems of his older days. Shall we? Now, Lord, we thank thee for thy word, and we thank thee in particular that thou hast not sought to whitewash David and make him out to be absolutely perfect. We thank thee for the encouragement it is to our hearts to find that thou didst appoint him king, knowing all about his imperfections, and was long suffering with him, and that in spite of his imperfections, yet as he walked with thee, he became a man after thine own heart. Lord, that encourages us too. That amidst all life's difficulties and problems, amidst all life's mistakes and errors, Lord, we thank you. That we too can come to be men and women after thine own heart, as we put our hands in thine and allow even life's mistakes to bring us nearer thee and open our eyes to see things more clearly. So bless thy word, and through it make us better men and women, we beseech thee, and more effective for thee, and more compassionate and wiser, even now. So go on to prepare us for those coming days when the Lord shall come and we shall reign with him. To this end, bless our word, we be- thy word we beseech you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.