Faith Baptist Church
12/7/25 Worship Service

      • Micah 5:2KJV

  • Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
  • He Is Born
  • O Come, O Come Emmanuel
  • How Great Our Joy

      • Psalms 59:1-2ESV

      • Psalms 59:3-5ESV

      • Psalms 59:6-9ESV

      • Psalms 59:10-12ESV

      • Psalms 59:13-15ESV

      • Psalms 59:16-17ESV

  • How does life feel when things are not under control? Have you every been in the front seat with a bad driver? Husbands and wives- you better not be elbowing each other! Example: Grandma Gersdorf. How does that feel?
    Who is the best driver you know? Let’s say you are driving during a blizzard and the roads are terrible, who would you want to be driving the vehicle? Could you go to sleep while that person drove through the storm? There is a wonderful sense of peace that comes with knowing someone is in control.
    Do you know that God is in control?
    Do you KNOW that God rules over all? Do you trust that God rules over all? This is the theme of our text this morning.
    Proverbs 21:1 “1 The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.”
    Daniel 4:34 “34 At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;”
    Daniel 4:35 “35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?””
    Do you believe in that God? Is that the God you trust?
    In our text this morning we are going to marvel at our soverign God. He rules and reigns from his heavenly throne. He is working out his plan for all creation. He does whatever is according to his will- among the host of heave or the inhabitants (grasshoppers) of the earth. No one can stop his hand. There is no higher authority that can call God into account. There is no 9th court circuit judge that can rescind his decrees. There is no supreme court that can overturn his plan.
    Hannah said it this way in her prayer:
    1 Samuel 2:2 “2 “There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.”
    1 Samuel 2:6–8 “6 The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. 7 The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts. 8 He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and on them he has set the world.”
    You see God has a plan for his creation! It is a glorious plan.
    God created this universe. He designed it for a purpose. And God made us for a purpose. What is that purpose? We are his image bearers. We are like little mirrors that reflect God’s wondrous glory. At least we should be. God created us in his image to rule and reign with him in his perfect creation. But, sin entered the world and death through sin. We have been ruined by the fall- God’s image within us has been marred, it has been corrupted by sin.
    But, God has a plan to renew all of his creation. He gave us the first hint of that plan in Genesis 3:15 “15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.””
    God would redeem creation- he would redeem his image bearers. And that redeemer would be one of the offspring of Eve.
    Then a little while later we learn that the promised redeemer would come from the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then we learn that the promised One would be a lion of the tribe of Judah.
    Now, we get to the story of the book of Samuel. Sin is running wild throughout the people of Isreal. They are not doing a great job at being image bearers of a holy God. But God has a plan. Even though everyone was doing that which was right in their own eyes, God had a plan to draw his people back to himself. And that plan involved establishing a king after his own heart. That king was not king Saul. Saul was a king like unto the godless nations. Saul rejected God’s Word and despised his commandments. So God rejected Saul from being king. And God did something remarkable. God raised up for Himself a king after his own heart. A little unlearned rural shepherd boy from a backwater town of Bethlehem from a nobody as a father. Yet, God had a plan to redeem his own people and the rest of the world from the consequences of sin. And that plan was promised to come through an offspring of Eve, then Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, then Judah, and now God’s plan is aimed at a young shepherd named David.
    And nothing can stay God’s hand. Nothing can hinder God’s great plan of redemption. Not even the most powerful man in all the land of Israel.
    1 Samuel 15:28 “28 And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.”
    Yet, Saul went on to reign as king for 40 years. All the while God was working our his plan. I Sam 18 beings the decades long process of God tearing the kingdom of Israel away from Saul and giving it to David.
    The author of Samuel wanted the people of Isreal to know that God is fully able to accomplish his plan.
    Do you know that? Do you know that God is fully able to accomplish his plan?
    What are the different ways God uses to accomplish his plan?

    1. God uses friendships to accomplish his plan (18:1-5)

    1 Samuel 17:55–58 ESV
    55 As soon as Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this youth?” And Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.” 56 And the king said, “Inquire whose son the boy is.” 57 And as soon as David returned from the striking down of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. 58 And Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”
    God begins the process of building David’s reputation.
    1 Samuel 18:1–5 ESV
    1 As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 2 And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house. 3 Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. 4 And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt. 5 And David went out and was successful wherever Saul sent him, so that Saul set him over the men of war. And this was good in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul’s servants.
    Jonathan’s clothes and armor were specially made. They were for the next king of Israel- Saul’s successor. Significant that Jonathan clothes David in the garments of the future king.
    Good in the sight of the people- God is building up David’s renown and favor with all of the people of Israel. God is establishing his king.
    God could have come down in all his shinning glory and struck Saul dead and installed David as the next king. But God didn’t do that. Instead the sovereign God of all the universe used a key friendship with Jonathan. God can uses even the smallest and most ordinary things to direct the course of history.
    Do you know that God rules over all? Are you waiting for a lightning bolt from the heavens to prove to you that God is working out his plan in your life? Or are you trusting that God is working out his plan even in small things like friendships here in your church body? Do you truly trust God that way?
    What are the different ways God uses to accomplish his plan?

    2. God uses jealousy to accomplish his plan (18:6-16)

    1 Samuel 18:6–9 ESV
    6 As they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments. 7 And the women sang to one another as they celebrated, “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” 8 And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom?” 9 And Saul eyed David from that day on.
    1 Samuel 18:9 CSB
    9 So Saul watched David jealously from that day forward.
    How does God tear the kingdom away from Saul? He uses the victory songs of a group of women.
    Rather than giving thanks for the Lord being with David and using David to defeat Israel’s enemies, all Saul could do was be overwhelmed with jealously towards him.
    Example: Pastors being jealous of other pastors (church sizes).
    Our God can use even the jealous heart of a king to accomplish his will.
    This is God’s providence!
    Governing Providence: “God graciously guides and governs all events, including the free acts of men and their external circumstances, and directs all things to their appointed ends for His glory.” —Layton Talbert
    Here we see an example of God using even the free acts of men and their external circumstances- to accomplish his plan.
    Did God compel Saul to react with jealousy? No!
    Where did Saul’s jealousy come from? From within! From his own heart. This was Saul’s free act, his free choice to respond to external circumstances in a sinful way. And yet God can use the sinful response of Saul to direct the kingdom to his appointed end for his own glory.
    God’s providence is powerful . . . It is so powerful that it even brings good out of evil; making bad men and fallen angels to serve God’s designs, while they intend no such thing: giving the greatest efficiency to causes apparently the most contemptible; and infallibly securing the very best ends . . . All conspiracies and combinations against providence are vain . . . He who rejects the mystery of providence must ever be in perplexity. —William S. Plumer
    Do you know that God rules over all? Is this how you think about God? Do you trust God in this way?
    How do you know?
    What does it look like when someone tries to go against God’s providence?
    1 Samuel 18:10–11 ESV
    10 The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand. 11 And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David evaded him twice.
    Harmful spirit- a spirit sent by God that brings forth disaster/harm.
    Notice the order- first Saul responds wrongly to the singing of the women, he responds with jealousy. Then God sends a spirit that brough forth disaster. God is not hardening Saul’s heart, like a robot being controlled by a controller. Saul already choose to harden his heart in the first place.
    In other words, even before God providentially hardens Saul’s heart, Saul’s free and independent inclination was to refuse God’s decision to reject him as king. Because of Saul’s refusal to humble himself and obey God’s decision, his own inclination was to respond with anger and jealousy when God began to exalt David.
    When God sent a spirit to bring forth disaster upon Saul so that Saul raved within his house and hurled his spear at David two times, God was not forcing Saul to choose anything contrary to his own desire or inclination.
    God was merely confirming Saul’s jealous and angry heart, in keeping with the choices and inclinations Saul had himself already expressed. God was using the free acts of Saul to accomplish his plan.
    Notice how else Saul responds.
    1 Samuel 18:12 ESV
    12 Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul.
    Irony! Saul is the one with the spear! Saul is the one trying to pin David to the wall. Shouldn’t David be the one who is afraid?
    1 Samuel 18:13–16 ESV
    13 So Saul removed him from his presence and made him a commander of a thousand. And he went out and came in before the people. 14 And David had success in all his undertakings, for the Lord was with him. 15 And when Saul saw that he had great success, he stood in fearful awe (dread) of him. 16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in before them.
    What does it look like when someone tries to go against God’s providence?
    anger (at the women)
    jealousy (toward David)
    fear (because God was with David)
    dread (because God gave David great success)
    Can you identify any of these emotions in your life? Might they be present because you are not humbling yourself and trusting in the providence of our mighty God?
    Examples: What might this look like in our own lives?
    jealousy over another pastor who has great success, instead of thanking God that the church is being built up!
    siblings- jealousy over your siblings-especially your older siblings who seem to do everything in life way better than you do. And your jealousy leads to distrust and broken relationships, instead of thanking God for your siblings and enjoying a close relationship with them.
    What other situations in your life could you be guilty of “rejecting the mystery of providence”? Where do you see yourself getting angry or jealous or fearful? How would knowing that God rules over all change those situations?
    What other ways does God use to accomplish his plan?

    3. God uses evil schemes to accomplish his plan (18:17-30)

    1 Samuel 18:17–30 ESV
    17 Then Saul said to David, “Here is my elder daughter Merab. I will give her to you for a wife. Only be valiant for me and fight the Lord’s battles.” For Saul thought, (God knew Saul’s thoughts!) “Let not my hand be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him.” 18 And David said to Saul, “Who am I, and who are my relatives, my father’s clan in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?” 19 But at the time when Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite for a wife. 20 Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David. And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. 21 Saul thought, “Let me give her to him, that she may be a snare for him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” Therefore Saul said to David a second time, “You shall now be my son-in-law.” 22 And Saul commanded his servants, “Speak to David in private and say, ‘Behold, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you. Now then become the king’s son-in-law.’ ” 23 And Saul’s servants spoke those words in the ears of David. And David said, “Does it seem to you a little thing to become the king’s son-in-law, since I am a poor man and have no reputation?” 24 And the servants of Saul told him, “Thus and so did David speak.” 25 Then Saul said, “Thus shall you say to David, ‘The king desires no bride-price except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, that he may be avenged of the king’s enemies.’ ” Now Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. 26 And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king’s son-in-law. Before the time had expired, 27 David arose and went, along with his men, and killed two hundred of the Philistines. And David brought their foreskins, which were given in full number to the king, that he might become the king’s son-in-law. And Saul gave him his daughter Michal for a wife. 28 But when Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him, 29 Saul was even more afraid of David. So Saul was David’s enemy continually. 30 Then the commanders of the Philistines came out to battle, and as often as they came out David had more success than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was highly esteemed.
    “No thought can enter into the mind of man better adapted to promote its piety and peace than this—that the world is under the government of God, and all the events of our lives under the direction of His providence”—Orton
    How do you react and respond the schemes of people in your life?
    Have you ever worked for a boss that was a schemer? Conniver, manipulator, trickster, deceiver.
    Maybe you have been in a relationship with someone like that. Maybe you are or were someone like that.
    How did you handle it?
    What was your response when you heard some of the numbers that the Federal Government was wasting in taxpayer dollars? Billions of dollars wasted. Do you feel like there are evil schemes taking place in the leadership of our country? How does that make you feel?
    Do you know that God rules over all? Do you know that God uses even the schemes of evil people to accomplish his plan? Does that thought give your heart peace? Does that thought promote piety or godliness in you?
    What about when your spouse treats you this way? Have you ever been the victim of an evil scheme of someone you love? Husband, wife, children, parents? It happens all the time. How should we think about that as believers? Do we know in those times that God rules over all? Well I know it pastor Jon, but then when I am lying awake at night in my bed, many times it feels like my heart turns to ice. My skin tingles in worry and fear. My mind races with all of the past wrongs like a Netflix series that I binge watch.
    In those times, all alone in the dark, do you know that God rules over all?
    Do you know that you can put your trust in an all powerful, all soverign God, who has a plan for all of creation, and who has a plan for you? He cares so much for you that he invites you, whenever you want, to draw near to his throne. It is a throne of grace. And there you will find mercy and help. And when you approach his gracious throne he speaks to you as his own child and he invites you to heave the awful burden of worry and dread upon his shoulders. Cast all your cares upon me because I care for you! That’s what God says to you in the lonely moments of the night.
    You can put your trust in the sovereign God of all creation who uses even the evil schemes of men to accomplish his plan.
    What other ways does God use to accomplish his plan?

    4. God uses wise counsel to accomplish his plan (19:1-7)

    1 Samuel 19:1–7 ESV
    1 And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul’s son, delighted much in David. 2 And Jonathan told David, “Saul my father seeks to kill you. Therefore be on your guard in the morning. Stay in a secret place and hide yourself. 3 And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak to my father about you. And if I learn anything I will tell you.” 4 And Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the king sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have brought good to you. 5 For he took his life in his hand and he struck down the Philistine, and the Lord worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause?” 6 And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan. Saul swore, “As the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death.” 7 And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan reported to him all these things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as before.
    Jonathan, just happened to be in the right place at the right time to give wise counsel to his father. Just happened right?
    Governing Providence: “God graciously guides and governs all events, including the free acts of men and their external circumstances, and directs all things to their appointed ends for His glory.” —Layton Talbert
    God uses the good and the evil free acts of men- God used Saul’s jealousy and his evil schemes. And God used Jonathan’s friendship and wise counsel. God rules over all!
    What other ways does God use to accomplish his plan?

    5. God uses the sinful choices of others to accomplish his plan (19:8-17)

    1 Samuel 19:8–17 ESV
    8 And there was war again. And David went out and fought with the Philistines and struck them with a great blow, so that they fled before him. 9 Then a harmful spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing the lyre. 10 And Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night. 11 Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, told him, “If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” 12 So Michal let David down through the window, and he fled away and escaped. 13 Michal took an image and laid it on the bed and put a pillow of goats’ hair at its head and covered it with the clothes. 14 And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.” 15 Then Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” 16 And when the messengers came in, behold, the image was in the bed, with the pillow of goats’ hair at its head. 17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me thus and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” And Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go. Why should I kill you?’ ”
    The beginning explanation to Psalm 59-
    English Standard Version Psalm 59

    A MIKTAM OF DAVID, WHEN SAUL SENT MEN TO WATCH HIS HOUSE IN ORDER TO KILL HIM.

    Psalm 59:1–4 ESV
    1 Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise up against me; 2 deliver me from those who work evil, and save me from bloodthirsty men. 3 For behold, they lie in wait for my life; fierce men stir up strife against me. For no transgression or sin of mine, O Lord, 4 for no fault of mine, they run and make ready. Awake, come to meet me, and see!
    Psalm 59:12–13 ESV
    12 For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride. For the cursing and lies that they utter, 13 consume them in wrath; consume them till they are no more, that they may know that God rules over Jacob to the ends of the earth. Selah
    Psalm 59:14–17 ESV
    14 Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city. 15 They wander about for food and growl if they do not get their fill. 16 But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. 17 O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love.
    Do you KNOW that God rules over all?
    God can use the sinful choices of others! Michal, the daughter that Saul intended to be a snare to David, who had household idols at hand in the house- God used her to deliver David.
    You would think Saul would figure things out by now! Everything he does backfires! Why? He who rejects the mystery of providence must ever be in perplexity. —William S. Plumer

    6. God uses His own mighty power to accomplish his plan (19:18-24)

    1 Samuel 19:18–24 ESV
    18 Now David fled and escaped, and he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and lived at Naioth. 19 And it was told Saul, “Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.” 20 Then Saul sent messengers to take David, and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. 21 When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied. 22 Then he himself went to Ramah and came to the great well that is in Secu. And he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” And one said, “Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.” 23 And he went there to Naioth in Ramah. And the Spirit of God came upon him also, and as he went he prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24 And he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay naked all that day and all that night. Thus it is said, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
    1, 2 Samuel (11) God’s Spirit Rescues David from Saul and His Troops (19:18–24)

    Saul’s loss of royal attire in the presence of God’s Spirit presented a powerful image confirming the prophetic judgments Samuel made earlier (cf. 15:23, 28). God had rejected Saul as king, so in God’s presence Saul would not be permitted to wear the clothing of royalty. Saul had “rejected the word of the LORD” (15:23), so now in an ironic twist he would be condemned to be a mouthpiece for that word.

    Saul comes to kill David- and God in his mercy humbles Saul. God who is working all things according to his plan. And what is his plan? To bring forth from the line of David the Messiah, the Savior of the world. Saul was trying to kill the line of the Messiah- the Messiah he needed to save him from hell. And God mercifully governs and directs all things according to his plan. But in humbling Saul, he is also providing a way for Saul to be saved!
    1 Samuel 2:2 ESV
    2 “There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.
    Daniel 4:35 ESV
    35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”
    Do you KNOW that God rules over all? Do you trust that God rules over all?
    God works out his plan in a multitude of ways:
    friendships
    jealous hearts
    evil schemes
    wise counsel
    sinful choices
    His own mighty power
    And so much more!
    God is working out his plan for all of creation, and he is working out his plan for you? Do you know that? Do you trust him?

      • 1 Samuel 18:9ESV

      • 1 Samuel 18:10–11ESV

      • 1 Samuel 18:12ESV

      • Psalm 59:1–4ESV

      • Psalm 59:12–13ESV

      • Psalm 59:14–17ESV

      • 1 Samuel 2:2ESV

      • Daniel 4:35ESV

  • Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
Faith Baptist Church
faith@fbcocon.org
262-567-0040
http://www.fbcocon.org
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