David Rules Over Israel

2 Samuel chapter 5. 2 Samuel chapter 5 is where we are this evening as we continue our study in the life of David, the time in which he is anointed for the third time. David was king over Judah for seven and a half years before he became king over all of Israel. We have looked at him being anointed as king at Hebron.

And the unique thing about that is that David never at one time ever forced his kingship upon anybody else. Never did David throughout the first 15 years after he was anointed the first time in Bethlehem, did he ever once say to Saul, you know, this kingdom is really mine and all the things you are doing are really wrong. It is about time for you to step aside and let the real man take the job.

He never did stuff like that. Instead, he would run from Saul as Saul would try to pursue him and kill him. Saul dies.

At Hebron he is anointed king over Judah. The other tribes, the other 11 tribes do not submit to him. They continue going down the way they are going.

And all the while there was a civil war that took place between Judah and the rest of Israel. But David only fought them defensively. David never initiated any battle against his own people.

He would only defend himself and his men. And so while there was a civil war for 7 ½ years, the Bible tells us in chapter 3 that David began to grow stronger and stronger and stronger. And Saul's house under the direction of Abner and Ish-bosheth became weaker and weaker and weaker.

And David because of his strength, he could go into them and demand that people submit to his kingship. He could go in and win the battle and win the victory and say, you will submit to me as your ruler. You will follow my directions.

He never did that. He waited on God to cause the people of Israel to recognize him as king. David, if nothing, was a man of great patience.

He was able to wait upon the Lord. He waited 15 years before he became king over Judah. He waited another 7 ½ years before he became king over all of Israel.

That would take a man with a lot of patience. Knowing that God had called him, knowing that God had anointed him, knowing that he was God's man for God's people, but it was only in God's timing would that take place. And so we come to chapter 5 of 2 Samuel.

Abner is dead. He dies in chapter 3. Ish-bosheth, the last son of Saul, now is dead. He dies in chapter 4. Israel is left without a leader.

So they come to David as their ruler. That's chapter 5, verse number 1. Let me read to you the first 5 verses, verse 10 and verse 12, because that's all we're going to cover this week. And then next week we'll cover the rest of chapter 5. Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, Behold, we are your bone and your flesh.

Previously when Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and in. The Lord said to you, You will shepherd my people Israel and you will be a ruler over Israel. So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron and King David made a covenant with them before the Lord at Hebron.

And then they anointed David king over Israel. David was 30 years old when he became king and he reigned 40 years. At Hebron he reigned over Judah 7 years and 6 months.

And in Jerusalem he reigned 33 years over all Israel and Judah. Verse 10, And David became greater and greater for the Lord God of hosts was with him. Verse 12, And David realized that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and that he had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people.

I want to begin tonight by looking at what it was that brought the people to David, that came to David as ruler over Israel. It all begins with that first word in verse number one, when it says, Then all the tribes. Then.

When is the then? Seven and a half years later. The question comes, why is it there was such procrastination on the part of Israel? Why would it take them seven and a half years? Why did they have to wait to Ish-bosheth's death? Why did they have to wait for Abner's death? Why did they wait till there was no leader to finally submit to the supreme leader? Why did they wait so long to do what they knew they should do? Why did they wait so long when they knew that God had anointed David as king over Israel? Why did they wait so long when they knew way back during Saul's reign that the people were followers of David, not of Saul? Because God's hand was upon David and God's hand had been removed from Saul. You would think that the people would say, you know what? We see, David, what you're doing.

We understand who you are. We sense that from your leadership and Saul's inability to lead us, you're the guy. Why would they wait seven and a half years after Saul's death to come to David as king? In spite of the fact that they had all the light from God to know that David was their king.

It says in verse number two, previously when Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and in. You were the leader, not Saul. And the Lord said to you, you will shepherd my people, Israel, and you will be a ruler over Israel.

You see, everybody knew that David was the next king. They knew that anybody in the line of Saul was not to be the king. Ish-bosheth knew it, Abner knew it, and all Israel knew it because God had rejected Saul as king.

God had rejected Saul's family to be on the throne of Israel. That's so important to realize. But still, they procrastinated.

Still, they waited. Still, they would not submit to the rulership of David. And we have to ask ourselves the question, why would they do that when they knew what God said? The same reason we do what we do when we know what God says.

The same reason we don't submit to Christ in every area of our life when we know exactly what He says in His Word. When we know the will of God and we don't do the will of God, we're just like the nation of Israel who refuses to come to David and submit to him as leader. That's what Israel did.

They had all the light to know that David was the king of Israel. They hung on to their Saul's. They hung on and grasped their Abner's.

They clung to their Ishbosheth's, even though they were not very good at leading. It was almost like the individual who is almost a slave to somebody who is bad for them, but they must stay with that person. The men of Jabesh Gilead, the men who came and took Saul's body off of the walls there at Beth because they were so committed to that man, they still refused to submit to David's leadership for seven and a half years because they were so true to Saul, even though Saul was a bad man, not a good man.

He was a bad king, not a good king. But boy, that relationship could not be broken. That tie could not be broken in spite of the clear pronouncement of the truth.

And we ask ourselves, how many times in our lives do we know what God's Word says? Absolute truth. But because of a relationship that I have had with someone in the past, I still don't submit to Christ as king and Lord in one or two or three particular areas in my life. Happens all the time, doesn't it? Oh, the flesh just grasps anything it can just to survive.

And that's what happened with Israel. They would not come to David until this day when Ish-bosheth, the last son of Saul, Abner, they were dead and David's kingdom was growing stronger. You would think that someone would say, hey, wait a minute.

You know what? David's kingdom is so strong. We are so weak. Let's go with the strong guy.

Let's go with the guy who's always winning the battles. Let's go to the guy we can't defeat. You can't beat him, join him, right? But they wouldn't.

They hung on to that which they wanted in spite of what God's will was for their lives. Folks, that happens all the time in the church. It might be happening to you today.

You know what God's Word says. You know what God's will is. You say, you know, I could do that.

And some might say, well, I don't know the will of God. Yes, you do. You do know the will of God.

It's not that difficult. The will of God has been explained clearly in Scripture. Let me show that to you.

Before I do, understand that during this whole seven and a half years, they just kept losing and losing and losing. They lost family members to battle. They lost homes to battle.

They lost friendships and relationships with those that were lost in battle. Sons and daughters lost their fathers. Wives lost their husbands.

In spite of all that loss, they just hung on to that which they thought was best. But in reality, it was the worst for them. They lost so much by procrastinating.

By the way, if you're here tonight and you know what God's Word is for you and God's will is for you, and you keep procrastinating and not doing what he says, you just keep losing and losing and losing and losing. The bad thing about that is that for the most part, we had no idea that we're losing. We think that what we're doing causes us to be better off, but we're losing.

Let me give you an example. God has a will for you, very clearly spelled out in Scripture. That will, number one, is that you be saved.

Right? First Timothy 2, verse number 4, God wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. That's God's will for you. If you're here tonight and you're not born again, you're not a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you keep putting it off and putting it off and putting it off, you definitely are in a losing position.

And there's no need to procrastinate. You need to give your life to Christ. You need to be saved.

That's what God's will is for you. He wants all men to come to the knowledge of the truth. Will you do that? How about this? Romans 12, 1 and 2, God's will for you is not only that you be saved, but that you sacrifice your life on the altar for him.

Paul said, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies to the living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable form of worship. And be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. The will of God for you is to sacrifice everything for him.

Now, if you're willing to hold back on those things, say, I'm not, you just, I'm just not going to do that. You're procrastinating. You're holding on to what it is you think is best, and you're just going to keep losing and losing and losing.

And God says, this is what I want you to do. This is what I want for you. I want you to be saved.

I want you to sacrifice your life for me. I want you to be spirit controlled, Ephesians 5, 18. It begins in verse 17, be wise, not unwise concerning things, concerning the will of the Lord.

And that is, and be not drunk with wine, which is dissipation, but be controlled by the spirit of God. He wants you spirit filled. He wants you spirit controlled.

He wants your life dominated by the spirit of God. And the scripture, Colossians 3, 16 says, we're to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly. Well, that's the same thing as being controlled by the spirit of God.

Why? Because the consequences of being controlled by the spirit of God in Ephesians 5, verses 19 to 21 are the exact same consequences of letting the word of Christ dwell in you richly in Colossians 3, 16 down to verse number 18. The consequences are exactly the same. You sing to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

You submit to one another as unto the Lord. You do those things because God's word dominates your life. Christ says, I want to dominate your life.

I want to, I want my spirit to control every aspect of your life. I want you to depend upon me for everything. That's what God wants for you.

How about this? Ephesians 5, 18 says, this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you, that you give thanks, that you give thanks. God's will is that you say thanks to him in all things, Ephesians 5, 18, and for all things, Ephesians 6, 18. That's God's will.

And God says, you know what? I know that maybe your circumstances aren't that good. I know that your marriage might not be that good. I know that your financial situation might not be that good.

I know that things surrounding you might not be that good, but you've got to give thanks to me. You've got to praise my name. You've got to give glory to me.

You've got to sit down and say, Lord, thank you for my situation because somehow you've got a plan that goes way beyond my thinking. Somehow you've got a plan that's going to draw me closer to you, Lord, and I want to praise your name and thank you because you have said, this is my will for my people. I want you to give thanks to me in everything and for everything.

And some of you are going to sit back and say, I'm not doing that. I am not going to do that. I don't have a relationship with my husband, and I'm not going to thank him for him.

My children are rebellious, and I'm not going to thank him for that. I've lost my job. I've lost my house.

And you want me to give thanks to God? I'm not going to do that. I am angry at God. And you just keep losing and losing and losing because you won't do what God's word says clearly you need to do.

That's what God says. I didn't make it up. It's not my idea.

I didn't write the Bible. I'm just telling you what God says. This is the will of God.

You'd be saved. This is the will of God that you sacrifice your life for me. This is the will of God that you are spirit controlled, dominated by me.

This is the will of God that you say thanks regularly, continually, and praise my glorious name. That's the will of God for your life and for mine. The Bible says very clearly in 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 13 to 15, these words, Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.

For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. God says, here's my will for you. I want you to submit to every human ordinance.

I want you to submit to every governing official in the state of California. I want you to submit to the president of your country. I want you to submit to your boss at work.

I want you to submit to your teacher. I want you to submit to your parents. Every governing institution that I design you must submit to.

That's the will of God. That you might silence your critics. That you might help them understand that you're committed to Christ.

Now, I know someone's out there saying, you know what? I'm not doing that. I am not doing that. You don't know who I work for.

You don't know what kind of abuse I receive at work. You don't know what kind of mistreatment I receive at home. I'm not going to do that.

Let me tell you something about the Peter, the people Peter wrote to. They were suffering at the hands of Nero who were taking Christians and burning them at the stake. And as he was writing this, they could hear the screams of their relatives because their flesh was being burned to light his gardens at night.

Others were being wrapped in animal skins and thrown to the lions and being torn apart. And Peter says, oh, by the way, Nero is your king. You submit to him.

Now, when you understand that, it makes you feel a little bit ridiculous about your previous statement about, you don't know who I live with. I'm not submitting to him. I'm sure your husband's not wrapping you up in pitch and putting you out with a, setting your, your guards on fire.

You know what I'm saying? It's a whole different ballgame, isn't it? See, when you understand what the scripture is saying, Christ is not saying, look, you know what? I want you to do this because I want you to be a martyr for me. Although he wants us to be his witnesses, which is the Greek word, martyr race, which means to die. But he wants us to live according to his will because he wants to bless your life.

He wants you to honor him because he wants to honor you. He wants you to silence the critics by a lifestyle that's completely Christ-centered. But we procrastinate just like Israel did.

And we just keep losing and losing and losing. And sometimes we don't even know we're losing, but our lives are just so messed up in such, such turmoil because we will not, number one, give a life to Christ to be saved. We won't present our lives on the altar for Christ as a living sacrifice.

We won't be dominated by his spirit. We won't give thanks to God for all and in all things. And we won't submit to those in authority over us.

The Bible says in Psalm 103, verse number 21, that we are to serve him doing his will. Service to God is the will of God for your life, to serve only him, to serve him and to serve him only. That's how you can submit to every human institution because you're serving God.

You're not serving them. You're serving God. You submit to them because you submit to them as unto the Lord, because you're submitting to the Lord for the Lord's sake.

You're honoring God for his sake. That's what you're doing. And then he says, the will of God for his people.

First Peter 4, 19, therefore let those also who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful creator in doing what is right. God says, my will for you is that you suffer for my name's sake. Now, you have no excuse to say, well, I don't know what the will of God is for my life, because that is the will of God.

Will of God is that you be saved, that you be set apart, sanctified as a sacrifice, that you submit, that you say thanks, that you suffer, that you serve. Oh, by the way, 1 Thessalonians 4, 3 and 4 says that you be sexually pure. This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality.

Are you sexually pure tonight? Are you living a life of purity before God? That's important. That's the will of God for your life. People say, well, you know, I know that, but who do I marry? Who do I marry? That's what I want God to show me.

Where do I live? What job do I take? I want God to show me that. And God says, you know what? If you just do what my desire is for you, I'll take care of all the other stuff. But see, we're focused on the wrong things.

We're not focused on submitting to one another. We're not focused on serving God and serving one another. We're not focused on saying thanks to God for all things and all things.

We're not focused on being sexually pure and sanctified and set apart for the master's use. We're not focused on our lives being a living sacrifice. We're not focused on suffering for the sake of Christ.

We're worried about who we're going to marry, where we're going to live, what job we're going to have. That's just so trivial compared to what God wants for you. Because if you do the clearly stated will of God in Scripture, you'll always know who you marry.

You'll always know what job to take. You'll always know when to move and when not to move. Those are all byproducts of doing what God has already said.

See that? We make life so difficult when life really truly is simple and easy just by following what God's Word says. And that's the lesson we learned about these people who came to the Lord. First Chronicles 12 says that there were 350,000 people from those 11 tribes that came to David that day.

It took them a while. They procrastinated. And the lesson for us is that we can't procrastinate.

We can't afford to wait. We can't afford to sit back. We can't afford to say, well, you know what? Tomorrow I'll do that.

Next week, maybe. Next month, maybe. Why would you put off doing what God says you need to do when it's so clearly stated in Scripture? Is it hard? Yeah, it is.

Not always easy because you're fighting against the flesh. You're fighting against everything you want to do. But I've always learned that as you walk in obedience to the Lord, the joy of the Lord just seems to surround you because God honors obedience.

That's the lesson we learned in the coming of the people, the coming to David as a ruler. The second thing I want you to see is the characteristic of David as a ruler. This is so good.

It says in verse number two, it says, you were the one who led Israel out and in, and the Lord said to you, you shall shepherd my people, Israel, and you shall be ruler over Israel. Wow, this is so good. David, you are the shepherd of Israel.

You are the ruler of Israel. And the characteristic of David as ruler falls in those two categories. He was to feed the people of God.

As he fed the people of God, the truth of God, as their ruler, they would submit to his leadership. He was their shepherd. Every king was the shepherd of the people.

And every king was to demonstrate to them how they were to be fed a daily diet of God's word. And that was David's responsibility as their king. And they in turn would then submit to him as ruler, as sovereign king over their lives.

I began to think about that, and I just want to challenge you in your life individually and in your family. In your life individually, you come to Christ because David is a type of Christ in the Old Testament. You come to Christ as ruler over your life.

Don't wait to come to him. Don't procrastinate to come to Christ. Don't procrastinate to submit every area of your life to Christ.

Submit everything to him. Don't wait. And when you do, when you get there, realize he is the shepherd of your soul.

He's the shepherd of your soul. And because the shepherd of your soul is the one who feeds you, leads you, and guides you, you submit to him as your ruler. You submit to him as your ruler because that's who he is.

And we know that the Bible says in the book of Ezekiel that God was going to send his servant, his shepherd to Israel because the previous shepherds were unable to fulfill the responsibility of a shepherd. And so we know from the New Testament that Jesus is the good shepherd. He's the chief shepherd.

And we know that that shepherd was presented in Bethlehem because Micah 5, 2 said that he would be the shepherd of his people. And once presented to the people, he would provide for his people. As the good shepherd of Israel, he said, I am the door.

I'm the door. And he who comes to me goes in and out through me and finds pasture. As the door, he would be the one that would lay down and protect the opening, the only opening where the sheep would come out because for them to get out, they'd have to crawl over him.

He was their protector. That's what shepherds did in Israel. And Christ says, I'm that door.

You come in and out through me and I'm going to lead you to green pastures and I'm going to feed you and I'm going to protect you. And as your provider and as your protector, I'm going to satisfy all your needs. For David said, the Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He lead me beside still waters.

He restores my soul. That's what the good shepherd does for his people. And so when we look at Israel coming to David as their king, God says to David, David, you're the shepherd.

You're the one who feeds the flock. To feed the flock, you've got to know the word to feed the flock. You've got to lead them.

You've got to guide them. And as, and as the good shepherd, the book of Revelation tells us in Revelation chapter seven, these words about that shepherd, it says this verse 17, chapter seven, verse Revelation, chapter Revelation, chapter seven of Revelation verse 17, sorry. For the lamb in the center of the throne shall be their shepherd and shall guide them to springs of the water of life.

And God shall wipe every tear from their eyes as shepherd. He leads us even into eternity to wipe away the tears from our eyes to guide us and to protect us throughout all eternity. That's our shepherd.

And so individually we come to him because that's who he is. But at the same time, there's a family responsibility as well, because as, as fathers, we're, we're shepherds of our family, right? We're the leaders to, to, to instruct them and guide them in the way that they should go. And we become the family shepherds.

And as we shepherd properly, as we lead properly, it makes our rulership a lot easier to submit to, doesn't it? Sure it does. You know, because of God's shepherding in our lives, because he cares for us and watches over us and feeds us and provides for us and protects us, it makes it easy for us to say, Lord, whatever you want to do, I'll do because you're my shepherd. I'll follow you, Lord.

It makes it easy for your wife to say, you know, honey, I'll follow you because you're, you're our shepherd and you're committed to providing for our family. You're committed to protecting our family. You're committed to feeding our family.

And because you are, I'm going to follow your leadership because I know that you have our best interest at heart. So many husbands find their wives fight against their leadership because they forget about the shepherding responsibility to be provider, protector, priest and prophet of their homes and to provide the example that allows them, their family to emulate because it honors the Lord. There's a lot of practical truth here from the life of David.

So we see the Israel coming to David as, as ruler. Then we see the characteristic of David as ruler. And then number three, the covenant with David as ruler.

Verse three, so all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron and king David made a covenant with them before the Lord at Hebron. Then they anointed David king over Israel. Wow.

Finally happens. Finally happens. 15 years running from Saul, seven and a half years, king over Judah.

Now he's king over all of Israel, the whole kit and caboodle. He's the king. And we're going to see how he expands the borders of Israel all the way to the great river Euphrates, which is the borders that God designed from the very beginning.

We'll talk about that. Okay. So it includes Lebanon and Syria, Iraq, all those places that they don't think is Israel's today.

It's all Israel's to the great river Euphrates, to the, to the red sea. And David would expand those borders and they would come. They'd make a covenant with David, a promise.

And David would make a promise to them. And the promise that David would make with them was a promise surrounding the fact that he would be the king that would follow Deuteronomy 17, that he would write the law of God. He would read the law of God.

So he wouldn't forget the law of God. That was his promise to them. Because way back in the book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 27, it talks about Mount Ebal, Mount Gerizim.

Remember how half of Israel would go on top of Mount Gerizim and the other half would go on top of Mount Ebal and they would yell across to the, the valley there in Israel to one another about the cursings and the blessings and cursed are you if you do this. And the other side would say, amen. And they would say cursed are you if you do this.

And the other side would say, amen. And they would say cursed are you if you do this. And they would say, amen.

They yelled across the valley. And they would say, blessed are you if you do this. And the other side would say, amen.

Blessed are we if we do this. And they would say, amen. And there was this great symbolic time in Israel's life of the blessing and cursing.

God promised blessing if you obeyed my word. And God promised cursing if you disobeyed my word. Simple as that.

And so David would make a covenant with the people of Israel. They would make a covenant with him. We will follow you.

We will serve you as our King. And it says they did this, verse 3, before the Lord. That's important.

Why? Back in 1 Samuel chapter 10, listen to what it says. Israel had clamored, we got to have a King like everybody else has a King. All the nations have Kings.

We don't have a King. We need somebody to go before us in battle. We need a King.

We need someone strong for us in battle. We need a leader. We need somebody we can follow.

And Samuel says, God's your leader. Yeah, but we can't see God. We can't see Him.

We can't touch Him. Can't feel Him. Can't hold onto Him.

We got to have somebody we can hold onto. Somebody that we can kiss. Somebody that we can see.

We got to have somebody in the flesh. So, they got Saul. So they got.

Stood head and shoulders above everybody else. In 1 Samuel chapter 10, verse number 19, Samuel says, But you today rejected your God who delivers you from all your calamities and your distresses. You've rejected your God.

The day that Saul was anointed King of Israel, Israel decided that God wasn't good enough to lead them. And they rejected their God. And they rejected Him for 47 and a half years.

Because Saul reigned for 40 years. David reigned for 40 years. And Solomon reigned for 40 years.

But between Saul's death and David's reign over all of Israel, it was seven and a half years. So, for 47 and a half years, they symbolically rejected Christ as Lord over their lives. They didn't want God to rule over them.

They wanted somebody in the flesh. Somebody that they could see. And they rejected their God because of it.

And God gave them the desires of the heart and sent leanness to their soul. How many times does that happen in people's lives? We clamor for this and clamor for that. We want this and we want that.

And I can give you, I can give you marriage after marriage after marriage of somebody saying, I've got to have this guy. I've got to have this guy. I've got to have this guy.

And they marry them. God gave them the desire of their heart and they sent leanness to their soul for the rest of their time on earth. Because they had to have that one person that their parents said no to or God said no to.

They said, I've got to have him. I've got to have him. And their lives were miserable because they did what they wanted to do.

Got to have it. And God gave them the desire of the heart and sent leanness, a wasting disease, Psalm 106 says, to their souls. How many people do you know like that? Maybe you're one of them.

I'm sorry if you are. And God says, turn to me. Give your life to me.

Follow me. Honor me. They rejected God for 47 and a half years.

That's why the text says they do this before the Lord. This is what God wanted for them. God always had David in mind for them.

They just were too, too quick to get another king in there. Too quick to get the tall, handsome Saul in there. The guy who could lead them in the battle.

And he, after that, he was such, he was a big guy on the outside, but he was a little puny guy on the inside. He was a weakling. He was soft.

He was sugary. He wasn't strong. See? But he looked good on the outside, but his character was weak.

So very, very weak. So you got to think about those things. And so as we look at the covenant with David as ruler, David's promise to maintain God's covenant with them.

People's promise to obey God's covenant with them. God's promise to them. And you know, it goes back to our series, you know, for our men on Wednesday nights after our study, faith driven fathers.

Fathers driven by the faith of God's Holy Word. It's God's Word that drives us. We submit to God's Word, model to our family what that means, that they in turn might submit to God's Word because we're driven by one thing, the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

That's what drives us. That's what motivates us. Nothing else.

Just the Word of God. The next thing I want you to see, number four, is the crowning of David as ruler. This is really simple.

It says in verse number three, that they anointed David king over Israel. You know, I think about that and I think, wow, I wonder what David must have been going through on this day, having waited all these years and they anointed him king over all of Israel. Remember way back when he's on the backside of Bethlehem, tending to the sheep, when he's in the schoolroom of suffering, running through all the caves and forests there in the land of Israel from Saul, all the things that he went through, all the conflicts that he had, and now he is the recognized king of Israel.

He had all the divine capabilities. He had the divine call upon his life. And now he sees God's plan unfold before his eyes.

What happened way back when he was just 15 or 16 years of age, when the prophet Samuel anointed him as king over Israel, was now realized. What a day it must have been for David. And then the celebration of David as ruler, this is found in first Chronicles chapter 12, first Chronicles chapter 12 verses 37 and verse number 39 and verse number 40, it says, and they were there with David three days, eating and drinking, for the kinsmen had prepared for them.

Moreover, those who were near to him, even as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali brought food on donkeys, camels, mules, and oxen, great quantities of flour, cakes, fig cakes, and bunches of raisins, wine, oil, oxen, and sheep. There was joy indeed in Israel. You bet when you finally do what God says, there's always joy, right? Just took him a while to get there.

But boy, there was joy in all of Israel. There was a feast. There was a feast that took place, a feast that would happen.

And is that what God promises? Revelation 3.20, behold, I stand at the door and knock. You open the door. I'll come in and dine with you.

I'll dine with you. So much so that it culminates in that great marriage supper of the Lamb in Revelation 19, with a great assembly of saved people in heaven. And that marriage supper of the Lamb continues with the celebration here on earth.

It's a great continual feast with God, filled with what? Joy. Why? Because now there's peace in Israel. I mean, we're going to read about it next week, how David advances the kingdom.

And then they destroy the Philistines. They destroy the Amorites, the Amalekites. They just rule over everybody.

Peace is in the land. Why? Because the prince who gave them peace is ruling in the land, David himself. And that's why there was a celebration.

There was joy in Israel. Indeed, there's always joy when you do what God says. No matter how long it takes you to get there, folks, it might take you a week.

It might take a year. It might take you 10 years. But you know what? If you start today doing what God says, you will experience the joy of the Lord.

You will. Because the joy of the Lord is your strength, Nehemiah 10. That's where your strength comes from, from the Lord God of Israel himself.

And David now rules. Proverbs 29, verse number two. When the wicked man rules, the people groan.

But when the righteous rules, the people rejoice. And the righteous man was ruling. The people were rejoicing.

Under Saul, man, they were groaning. They were grumbling. It was hard under Saul, because he was a bad leader.

He was a horrible leader. And David professionally was a great leader. Familiar in his family? Not so much.

But in the kingdom of Israel, he was a great leader. And the people followed him. And joy encompassed the people.

And the last thing I want you to see is number five. And that's the conspectus of David Israel. Isn't that a good word? Conspectus.

What does that mean? I knew you'd ask that, you know? And so I just think you need to understand that this is a great word, not because it makes my outline alliterated, but simply because it means to survey or synopsis. A synopsis of David as ruler. Listen to what it says in verse number 10.

And David became greater and greater for the Lord God of hosts was with him. Isn't that good? He didn't become great. He became greater and greater.

Step by step, he became greater and greater. And the reason he became greater is because God was with him. God was right alongside him.

Read Genesis 39 about Joseph and how the key phrase in Genesis 39 says, and the Lord was with him. Where? In prison. And the Lord was with him as he got out of prison.

And the Lord was with him through all the difficulty with Potiphar's wife. God was with him. God protected him.

And God was with David, just like God wants to be with us. And this is the synopsis of David's rulership. It begins with the fact that he begins to become very powerful as a leader, as a ruler.

He's getting greater and greater and greater because God is with him. And then it says these words, and David realized, this is David's perception. He realized that the Lord had established him as king over Israel.

You see, he knew that God did it. You see, if he was to take control while he was in Judah and ramrod through Israel and destroy all those other nations and say, I'm your leader, it would have been David who did it. But he waited on God to do it.

And God would take out Saul. God took out Abner. God took out Ish-bosheth.

God always takes your obstacles out of the way. Just let Him do it in His time. And God did.

And David says, man, I know that God has made me ruler of Israel. God did it. He gets all the glory.

And it says, and that he had exalted his kingdom. Wow. God did that too.

He did. Now what's the last phrase? For the sake of who? Ah, his people. Not for David's sake.

And here comes the great lesson that every leader must learn. God doesn't do it for you. He does it for the people you oversee.

If you're a father, He doesn't do it for you. He does it for your wife and for your kids. If you're a leader in the church, He doesn't do it for you.

He does it for the people of the church. See, God has a purpose. And that's for the people you lead, that they would experience the blessing of God.

That's why leadership is so important in the family, in the church, in the marketplace. No matter where you're at, leadership is absolutely crucial. Because when the righteous man rules, the people rejoice.

Why? Because the ultimate purpose of his leadership is to affect the people he leads. See that? And this was David. He was leading the people.

God exalted him over Israel. God made him king over Israel. He realizes that it's God who did it.

And God did it not for David's sake, but for the people's sake. Wow, that is just such a beautiful, beautiful principle of Scripture. God does it for you, the people.

And I'm a father. I'm a pastor. And what God does, it's not about me.

And sometimes that's a hard lesson to learn. Because sometimes I want it to be about me. Don't you? Sometimes you want it to be a little bit about you.

But it's not. It's always about the people you oversee. If you're a mom, it's not about you.

And that's about your kids. God's doing it for your kids' sake. If you're a teacher, God's doing it for the kids in your class.

He does what he does in your life for them, for them. Now, David needs to keep that perspective. It's a hard perspective to keep.

And David will find himself fighting against the selfishness of that and saying, ah, but what about me? What about me? And we'll see over the next 33 years of David's life that we will cover between now and the end of May, how it is he has to fight against that. Because sometimes he thinks, wait a minute, this is about me, isn't it? This is for me, isn't it? And God says, no, it's not. It's for them.

I'm doing it for them, David. I'm just using you to accomplish my purposes in their life. Isn't that a great principle? Let's ask God to give us the grace to remember that.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for tonight, a chance to be in your word and to understand the truth of it. Truly, you are a great God, and you alone are worthy of praise.

Thank you for every person who came tonight. I ask your blessing upon their life, their family, their friends, their marriage, that as they lead, as they serve, as they honor you, you'll do a mighty work in their lives. Thank you for David's life and the things you're teaching us.

Truly, they are convicting. There's so much we need to learn. By your grace, Lord, help us to capture those principles.

I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.