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Amen. All right. I want to first of all, just thank First Works Baptist Church and Pastor Mejia for inviting me here to preach tonight. It was kind of really short notice, actually, when I gave Pastor Mejia a call or a text this week, like Monday, maybe something like that. I think it was, I was like, oh man, I've been trying to get ahold of you because sometimes my work brings me out here and it just happened to recently and I've been extremely busy. So it's nice having the opportunity to be here with y'all tonight. And it was wise to cut the announcement short because I've got a lot of notes here tonight. I was kidding. But anyways, it's always really good being here. I love seeing new faces. It seems like there's always somebody new, at least when I come and visit and plenty of old familiar faces as well. All right. So this evening, you normally do Bible studies midweek service, don't you? This is going to be similar to a Bible study. You're going to be studying a lot on, well, the topic of my sermon is called The Lord's Anointed. And this story here, there's two stories like this in scripture with King David before he became king against King Saul, where Saul is chasing after David. Saul wants to kill David. And David makes a point and he really stresses this point quite a bit that he's not going to lift up his hand against the Lord's anointed. So we're going to look in a little bit as what does that actually mean that he's the Lord's anointed? How does that apply? Probably more importantly for us today. And one of my drivers for preaching on this subject is I've heard different things preached about the Lord's anointed. And I think there's different extremes that people can fall on when it comes to this subject that we shouldn't really be on either extreme. On the one hand, you'll have people that will use this as being the Lord's anointed. A lot of preachers want to be like, well, I'm the Lord's anointed and kind of get this attitude where like nobody can say or do or contradict or like have anything contrary to like what they're going to say. And that's just, that's not right. And we're going to, we're going to go through this and see exactly what the Bible is talking about here. But then on the other hand, you also have people who have absolutely no regard and no respect for the Lord's anointed and feel like they could just walk all over and trample on and just treat them like they're anybody or, you know, that, that it's not that big of a deal when, when in fact it is. So, uh, we're going to take a look kind of at both sides of this and see how David approaches this because David has, has, is very remarkable what he does here because David is, is interested in what the Lord thinks throughout all of this. You've got, he's got pressures from King Saul coming against him. He's even has pressures from his own men that are on his side and trying to get him to do certain things. But what we see David doing, he does his own thing, but not just because it's his own thing. He does his own thing. What he sees is right in the eyes of the Lord. And it doesn't matter what anybody else is saying unto him. It doesn't matter what people think about him. It doesn't matter if people are trying to, uh, you know, even trying to kill him, he's going to do what's right in God's eyes, even if that means his own death. So he's a great example here and something we could learn a lot from. Now, when we talk about the Lord's anointed, I did my own Bible study on this. I'm looking to see who the Bible even refers to as people who are anointed. And in scripture, there's kind of basically three main categories of people who are anointed. You have the priests who are anointed in the Old Testament. They were anointed with blood. They were anointed with oil. And, uh, when you'd have the new priest or the high priest, they'd be anointed when they were set in their position. You would also have Kings that are anointed, right? So after the period of the judge, when, when Kings began to reign in Israel and in Judah, you would find some Kings being anointed as Saul was, as David was. And then you have Jesus Christ himself, who is the anointed one. And I think that's another thing to keep in mind as we're looking through this is that there's a lot of symbolism referencing Christ as well being the anointed one and how we ought to be in submission to the anointed one. But those are the three categories of people. I don't see anyone else really being referred to as being anointed, right? So even the disciples and apostles aren't referred to in scripture as being anointed. Now they're chosen, right? They were chosen to do a great work. Um, they were selected, but they were not what, what the Bible is talking about here, being the Lord's anointed. And we could see, uh, Saul's anointing happened in first Samuel chapter 10. I'll just read this for you. Verse number one about says, then Samuel took a vial of oil and poured it upon his head and kissed him and said, is it not because the Lord has anointed thee to be captain over his inheritance? So God chose Saul to be the captain, right? To be that King. But then Samuel literally anointed him with oil over his head, showing that this is God's chosen. This is God's anointed in order to, uh, be that first King of Israel. And then David's anointing by Samuel happens in first Samuel chapter 16 and verse number 13, the Bible reads, then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren. And the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Rhema, but the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. Now that was a moment that David was anointed, but these events that we're going to read about more in depth about Saul going after David and David saying, well, I'm not going to raise my hand against the Lord's anointed. It's also, I think important to keep this in mind. Well, David's also been anointed. David's already been anointed by Samuel, but David isn't King yet because David hasn't also been anointed by, uh, the people to reign over the land. In God's eyes, God said, Hey, I've already got David lined up. He set up, he's going to be the next King. He, the spirit of the Lord is coming upon David. David is going to start doing all the great works through your Lord's departed from Saul, but Saul is still being referred to even by David as the Lord's anointed. And you can't, you can't look past that fact because if anybody would have had an opportunity to say, well, he's not the Lord's anointed. It would have been David. Cause he knew, I mean, he was anointed by the Lord. He knew he was going to be set up for the next King and everything else. He could say, you know what? The spirit of the Lord is apart from you, Saul. Uh, take a back seat now, buddy. I'm in charge, but he doesn't have that attitude at all. He has, he has a much more respectful attitude towards God's anointed. Look at verse number, um, number four here in first Samuel chapter 24. This is where David refuses to kill Saul because he is the Lord's anointed. The Bible says, and the men of David said, and behold, the day of which the Lord said unto thee, behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe, privily. Now I actually looked for this reference and I can't find this anywhere in the Bible where, because whereas men approach David and they say, hey, look, this is the day that the Lord said unto you, behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. I can't find that anywhere where God said that to David. Now we do have maybe a more, uh, generic form of that in the law and the Old Testament law where, uh, God will deliver your enemies unto you. You know, when you, when you follow the law, when you, when you follow the law of Moses and you're right with God, that God will make your enemies to run from you and flee from you and that type of concept. But this, I don't really necessarily see anywhere. And, um, you know, they may be misapplying this for David, but David doesn't adhere to what his, you know, his, his mighty manner, whoever's with him there is counseling him to do instead of, of killing Saul, what he does, he just takes a little piece of his robe and cuts it off privily. Now that's why I got to say this since we're here, I've heard people say in the past like, Oh, men used to wear skirts in the Bible. It says he's cut Saul's skirt. And obviously right here, it says it cut off the skirt of Saul's robe. That word skirt literally just means the lower portion. That's all it means is real simple. So it says he's cutting off his skirt or cutting off the skirt of his robe. It's the, it's the end part of the garment of the fabric that he's wearing. It's near the bottom. Okay. That's all that means. It's not, it's not the way that we understand a skirt being like, it's not like a kilt right? It's not, it's not some skirt that Saul's wearing. It's, it's literally a reference to his robe. So I just want to throw that out there, but look at verse number five, the Bible says, and it came to pass afterward that David's heart smote him because he had cut off. So there's Saul's skirt. Now was Saul wearing a lady's skirt? No, the skirt of his robe, the bottom part of his robe, but David's already, his heart, he's being troubled by the sense that he even did that, you know, just raising up and getting a knife and cutting off a piece of his fabric. He's saying, man, that, you know, that bothered him, that he would go that close and do something like that to the Lord's anointed because he was holding him still in high regard and, and keep this in mind as well. We're going to circle back on this later. David understood that his personal enemies are not necessarily God's enemies. And that is an important truth that we need to remember as well. If someone does you wrong, especially a brother or sister in Christ, someone does you wrong, you got to realize, you know, Hey, they may be my enemy. I mean, to this point, Saul, Saul was pretty serious enemy of David trying to kill him. I mean, I don't know. I, I have no friends that I know of, right? No brothers or sisters in Christ that are trying to kill me. I hope, I'm hoping there isn't any, and maybe, you know, I just, I'm just not aware of it, but David knew firsthand and he's like literally being chased and he still is thinking, Hey, it's hard for him to even cut off a piece of his garment. That, that takes a lot of one humility because when someone comes after you, I mean, what do you want to do? You want to go right back at them, right? And especially so it's trying to kill you. You're gonna be a lot more justified, even just self-defense speaking saying, Hey, I'm going to, you know, I want to make sure this guy isn't going to get me. I'll get him first. David doesn't have that attitude with King Saul. He says, look, he's the Lord's anointed and, and his best option was to flee and to kind of just run away and just make sure that God knows to keep distance between me and Saul. Uh, because I, I, I wouldn't be right by killing the Lord's anointed verse six, the Bible says, and he said unto his men, the Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the Lord's, the anointed of the Lord. So David stayed his servants was words. So he kind of quieted his servants down who were trying to urge him to kill him. And he didn't allow any of his men to go forth and harm Saul in any way. He just said, look, he's the Lord's anointed. We need to just, uh, uh, hold back here. And then of course he, um, he calls out to Saul and this is, this is where David's hardest. See, David knows David knows Saul's not in the right clearly. David is, is trying to do what's right though. And one of the things he says that, that stands out to me, look at verse number 11 Bible says, moreover, my father see, yay, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe and killed thee not know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand. And I have not sinned against thee yet thou huntest my soul to take it. So this is also kind of a proving point for him saying, look, Saul, you've been coming after me and hunting me. And you have all these thoughts that I'm after you and trying to kill you. Look, this is pretty clear. Now, you know, I've proven myself. If I wanted to kill you, I could have killed you. I look, I got the piece of your robe right here. You were in my hand. Even my, the people that are with me were telling me to kill you and I didn't do it. Okay. I'm not after you, Saul. I'm not trying to do anything to you. But then he says this, the Lord judge between me and thee and the Lord avenged me of thee, but mine hand shall not be upon thee. David still wanted justice being done in general. I mean, he's sitting there going, look, I'm just going to let the Lord judge. He sees, he knows everything. Look, I've done nothing to you. You keep coming after me, but you know what? I'll just leave this up to the Lord to avenge me. He says, but mine hand shall not be, just so you know, though, I'm not going to come after you. I'm not going to do anything to you. And this is, um, this is a great attitude to have when, when you find yourself in a position where people are coming after you. And again, I don't think there's probably anyone looking forward, looking out to kill you, but when people come after you, especially if it's some other believer in the faith, some someone maybe was just really backslidden, you know, just let God judge, let him deal with it. You know, we don't need to be getting involved in, in this mess and stooping down to other people's level. Hey, let God be the judge because God's going to see everything. And the more here, the more righteous you are and in dealing with these things, that's going to speak volumes. David was a man that was loved by the people broadly, like the people loved King David. And the reason why is because they were able to see where his heart was based on his actions. And he did the right thing so many times. And what I mean by that is, you know, even publicly in the business of, of politics and with Kings and things like that, there's a lot of, a lot of wicked things and underhanded things that go along with being in that much power and having that stuff happen. And especially when you've got here, the kingship was changing families from the tribe of Benjamin from, from Saul over to David's line and taking over that power. And we see all throughout scripture and just human history, what happens when power changes, people are wiping out other families and killing a bunch of people just to establish their own power. But what happened with King David is that, you know, he was really upset when Saul died. He was upset when Jonathan died. He was upset when Abner, the son of nerd, died. He was upset when these people died. He wasn't trying, he wasn't out to kill them. He recognized them as brethren. He was just like, look, you know, they're on that side. I'm over here. But, but he wasn't for all that death and all the killing. He was just like, man, you know, God already anointed me and knowing you're doing right and knowing God anointed you, you don't need to go out and do anything extra. You didn't have to go out and try to establish his own power through his own physical means. Hey, God's going to do that for him. And when you're living righteously, you know, you don't even have to worry about your name being cast out as evil. Jesus said to rejoice in that day, you don't have to defend yourself to every single rumor. Everybody's trying to attack you or come after you. Hey, let God deal with that. If you're doing what's right, let the, let the chips fall where they fall. As long as you are doing right and you can let God judge the Bible. And he says this again, you know, in verse 14, he says, after whom is the king of Israel come out after whom to stop pursue after a dead dog, after a flee, like, like, who am I saw, what are you doing coming after me? And then he says, the Lord, therefore be judged and judge between me and thee and see and plead my cause and deliver me out of thine hand. If we turn to chapter 26, just a page or two forward in your Bible, we're going to see the second time that Saul could have been killed by David, but he wasn't. And he basically is reiterating almost the same exact things that he said before. Look at verse number eight. The Bible says then said, Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day. Now, therefore, let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear, even to the earth at once. And I will not smite him the second time. Abishai is saying, look, I only need one shot at this. I'll just, I'll smite my spear through him. He's going to be dead. I'm not going to need to do it. I'm not going to have to hit him twice. He'll, he'll be dead instantly. And David said to Abishai, destroy him not for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless. He's saying, you can't, you can't just go and kill this guy. Don't forget. Yes. I know he's after us. Yes. I know he's after the kill me. Yes. I know he's my enemy, but God anointed this man to be the King. He is the Lord's anointed right now. He is in charge over this nation. He is the, he is the God ordained authority. And he's saying, how, how can I be guiltless if I kill this guy? David said, furthermore, verse 10, as the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him or his day shall come to die or he shall descend into battle and Paris. So he's not saying even that Saul doesn't deserve to die. What he's saying is I'm not going to take this matter into my hands. God will deal with him. God sees his wickedness. God's going to make sure he dies. I don't think David necessarily wanted. So, I mean, he was looking for relief from King Saul and if it comes as death, great, but you know what? God's going to deal with that. Not me. The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed, but I pray thee take thou now the spear that is at his bolster and the cruise of water and let us go. So again, he does something similar, like cutting off the piece of his robe. Now he's going to take his spear and be like, okay, hey, let's, let's show him. I was right up on you again and didn't do anything. Jump down to verse number 23. The Bible says the Lord rendered every man his righteousness and his faithfulness for the Lord delivered thee into my hand today, but I would not stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed and behold as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes. So let my life be much set by in the eyes of the Lord and let him deliver me out of all tribulation. So now he's, he's basically praying to God and saying, you know what? God's going to see the way that I dealt with you today. And I always pray that God will deal with me the same way that I'll have mercy. That when my day of tribulation comes, that God will see this, what I've done today and, and show mercy on me and allow me to get relief. And, you know, again, it's a, it's another, uh, great example on how to live, but you think about how trying a circumstance that is, it's amazing that David was able to keep his cool and keep his mind and still be able to, uh, to make that, that what I consider to be the right choice in that situation. Now flip over to second Samuel chapter one. And what we see in David, he's a, he's a type of Jesus Christ. I'll throw out the Bible. There are people who, uh, through their actions and through, through the stories that we see in scripture are, are types of Christ and, and they typify different aspects of Jesus Christ. And one of the things that we see here with David was, you know, David loved Saul even, even under the end, even when he was his enemy, he had this, this respect and reverence for, for King Saul. Uh, even until the day he died, he had, he had great honor for King Saul. And what we see here, even when he, you know, after all these things, he's going and trying to kill him, even after proving he wasn't out to hurt him, Saul still continues to go after David. But then ultimately what happens is what David said, he died in battle, right? God took care of it. God finally, uh, made sure that Saul was going to die. It wasn't at David's hand. And, um, verse number five there in second Samuel chapter one, the Bible reads. And David said unto the young man that told him, how knowest thou that Saul and Jonathan, his son be dead. And the young man that told him said, as I happened by chance upon Mount Gilboa, behold, Saul leaned upon his spear and lo, the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him. And when he looked behind him, he saw me and called out to me. And I answered, here am I. And he said unto me, who art thou? And I answered him, I am an Amalekite. He said unto me again, stand I pray thee upon me and slay me for anguish has come upon me because my life is yet whole in me. Now this is the story that this Amalekite is telling David as to, uh, Saul's death. Now, this guy didn't kill King Saul. The Bible says that Saul fell upon his spear and then so Saul died. Like that's how he died. The reason why this guy is telling this story is because he's thinking he's expecting that he's going to get some good reward from King David because he's like, Hey, Saul's been David's enemy. You know, if I tell him this, this half truth, he fell on his spear, you know, but then, but then I, you know, I kind of finished the job when he asked me to do it, that, that David might, uh, give me something for the good news that I, that Saul's finally, uh, out of the picture. This is what this guy's thinking, but that's not what happens at all. The Bible says in verse 10, so I stood upon 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 we know that David's going to mourn for Jonathan because he uses, he was his best friend. I mean, the guy was, was knit closely with Saul, but it doesn't just say that he mourned and wept and fasted for Jonathan and says he mourned wept and fasted for Saul and for Jonathan, his son and for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel, because they were fallen by the sword. So David still had love in his heart for King Saul, even after being his enemy, even after all these things. And, you know, honestly, when people do you wrong and do bad to you, if they're a brother or sister in Christ, if there's someone who's born again, you ought to maintain still a level of love for that person, love and respect for the person that is another child of God. The Bible says in Psalm 116 verse 15, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. And David saw those people as being precious that died, even though they might have been coming after him. Look at verse number 13 there in second Samuel chapter one. And David said unto the young man that told him, whence art thou? And he answered, I am the son of a stranger in Amalekite. And David said unto him, how was thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lord's anointed? It's like, what are you thinking? Don't you know who King Saul is? How could you even think? And even in the circumstance, he's still saying, how in the world could you possibly kill the Lord's anointed? And he has every excuse here saying, well, look, I knew he wouldn't live. I could just going to stand on him. He's asking me to do this. And David still holds this standard of saying, look, man, you don't get involved in the killing of 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 hath testified against thee saying, I have slain the Lord's anointed. And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son. David was not willing to kill Saul when he was coming after him to kill him. But he was willing to kill this guy who said he stood on Saul and killed him after he was already dying. David had reverence and regard for who God chooses, for who God is ordained, for who God has put in position of power. Now, I'm trying to think where I'll go, where I want to turn next. Turn, if you would, to turn to 1 Chronicles chapter 16. Now, just a couple points to remember, though. David, or excuse me, Saul was anointed the king. Saul was not some random guy. Saul was anointed king. Okay, Saul wasn't even, you know, one of the sons of the prophets or anything like that. He was anointed to be the king. He was not just anyone. And David did not hold everyone to the same regard that he does the Lord's anointed. The reason why I make a point of this is because you ought to be careful if you're going to start applying things like to yourself. Say, well, I'm the Lord's anointed, just like Saul was the Lord's anointed. Why? When were you anointed, right? Look and see. What is the Scripture talking about? Is it really talking about you? And like I said, there's this extreme where people want to say, like, man, if you say anything wrong against me, you say some cross word, don't you know I'm the Lord's anointed? Well, no, you're not. All right, so it's like the Pentecostals that want to talk about all these apostles that they have. Like, sorry, you're not apostles. Like, Paul was the last one. Different Paul. Different Saul. So, you know, we want to be careful about that. David had regard for this because he was the Lord's anointed. They buried Saul, and then we see David finally gets anointed. Now, the first time he was anointed, he was anointed by the Lord. He was anointed by Samuel, right? God chose him. He's anointed by Samuel. But then the people come and they actually anoint him and make him the king. So there's a difference even still between being anointed spiritually and being anointed physically, because he didn't actually take over the king. He wasn't really the king. He's never considered the king over Israel or the king over Judah until he was literally placed in power, even though the Lord put his spirit upon him and even though he was anointed by Samuel. The point at which he is determined to be that king or to be the new anointed one in the land is after he becomes king, after the people have also anointed him. He was already selected by God, but then the people finally followed through. That's when he became the new anointed one. Second Samuel, chapter five, I'll read this for you. The Bible says, Then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron and spake, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. Also, in time past, when Saul was king over us, thou wast he that led us out and brought us in Israel. And the Lord said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be a captain over Israel. So all the elders of Israel came to the king, to Hebron, and King David made a league with them in Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel. Now in 1 Chronicles, chapter 16, verse number 19, we're going to see here a phrase. Let's just start reading. Verse number 19, the Bible says, When ye were but few, even a few and strangers in it, and when they went from nation to nation and from one kingdom to another people, he suffered no man to do them wrong. Yea, he reproved kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not mine anointed and do my prophets no harm. And this is said about especially the early fathers of the faith, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and how God was protecting them and said, Hey, don't touch mine anointed and do my prophets no harm. And when it says he reproved kings for their sakes, we see this play out in Genesis chapter 20. You don't have to turn or actually have you turn to 2 Samuel chapter 12. But in Genesis chapter 20, it's when Abraham is with Sarah and he's saying, Hey, don't let the people know that you're my wife. You know, tell her you're my sister because they might kill me to take you. And so he does that. And this happens twice happens in Egypt. It also happens with the Bimlech. God appears with Bimlech in a dream, and he's saying, Hey, you know, careful what you do, because that woman you have is another man's wife and is basically warning him and telling him that if he doesn't return Sarah back to Abraham, that God's going to have something in store for him. And so God was looking out for his prophet and looking out for his anointed. And, you know, that's a pretty cool thing also to understand is that, you know, when God has chosen you, God selected these people, they're anointed, there is prophets, that God will take care of them and protect them. You know, we see that God is our defense. God is the one who is going to look out for you. Now, I'm sorry this is running really long, but we're in 2 Samuel 12. I swear this is going to come together real quickly here. We need to understand that the Lord's anointed is not above rebuking or punishment, right? While there is a high regard for the anointed of the Lord, David was serious about not raising his hand against him. What we see in these stories, and we don't want to apply this out of bounds or going farther than it needs to be, it was in regards to, like, killing him, right? It's not that he never said anything, that Saul was in the wrong, he never was calling out Saul to anyone, saying, hey, I don't know why Saul's doing this, he shouldn't be doing this, and saying anything like that. He was literally just not killing him. When he's not raising his hand against the Lord's anointed, that's what he was not doing, was not harming him and not killing him. And, you know, I stress this because people like to take that so far into, oh, if you do anything that's offensive to me, then you're raising your hand against the Lord's anointed. It's like, no, no, I'm not killing you. So there, I'm not raising my hand against the Lord's anointed, okay? But we see very clearly, when David is the Lord's anointed and David sins, he's not above rebuke. You can't just say, oh, well, he's the Lord's anointed, so no one could say anything about it, and everyone just has to go along with everything that he says as if it's right because he's the Lord's anointed. That's not what the Bible teaches. So when you got the Lord's anointed, yeah, you shouldn't be killing him, right? You shouldn't be raising your hands to him and bringing forth the judgment that God will bring forth against his own anointed. But when it comes to being wrong and out of the way or getting in sin and needing a serious rebuke, hey, Lord's anointed or not, you need that rebuke. And in 2 Samuel chapter 12 verse number 5, the Bible reads, And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, as the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die. This is when Nathan tells the story about the lamb, and it was like, you know, his family's only got this one lamb and, you know, this rich man. He had plenty of flocks and all kinds of animals, but then he goes and takes this person's lamb that was like part of their family and kills it for his friend to be able to feed him some food. So David gets mad at this story. He's like, you know what? That guy is going to be put to death. That is a wicked thing to do. And he shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity. Verse 7, And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Nathan tells him that story because he's trying to drive home the point of saying, Hey, look, that's what you did. This poor Uriah, right? This soldier in the battle, he's got his own wife. He's out in the battle. He's doing righteously. You have access to all these. You have multiple wives, David. You already have abundance and you want and go after this woman. Hey, you're that man. You're the guy that ought to be put to death. And he needed that rebuke and to be put in his place, Lord's anointed or not. He needed that driven home. So, you know, when people want to say, Oh, you shouldn't be saying that to Lord's anointed. You know what? There's a lot of things you can say about or against the Lord's anointed, even if, you know, even if they are the Lord's anointed, which I would already call that in the question. People are calling themselves Lord's anointed, but it's not about saying things. Raising your hand against the Lord's anointed is about doing harm, like physical harm and killing. The Bible says here, I will continue on with this story. Nathan said to David in verse seven, Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul. And I gave thee thy master's house and thy master's wives into thy bosom and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah. And if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto these such and such things. Wherefore has thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight? Thou has killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword and has taken his wife to be thy wife and has slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from thine house because thou has despised me and has taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house and I will take thy wives before thine eyes and give them unto thy neighbor and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this son for thou didst it secretly. But I will do this thing before all Israel and before the son. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also put away thy sin. Thou shalt not die. Howbeit because by this deed thou has given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. The child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. And Nathan departed unto his house and the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bare unto David. And it was very sick. We have another instance of people being rebuked in scripture. It's not just David who literally was the Lord's anointed, but also people who are the Lord's prophets, right? We saw the Bible says that to not to touch mine anointed and do my prophets no harm. Again, that's talking about physical harm, somewhat like not hurting them. The apostle Paul rebukes Peter in Galatians chapter two. You don't have to turn or turn if you would to first Timothy chapter five. Paul rebukes Peter. I'll read it for you. Galatians two verse three, but neither Titus who was with me being a Greek was compelled to be circumcised and that because of false brethren, unawares brought in who came in privately to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage to whom we gave place by subjection. No, not for an hour that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. But of these who seem to be somewhat whatsoever they were and make it no matter to me, God accepteth no man's person for they who seem to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me. The apostle Paul kind of the same attitude that King David had. You know, these people who seem to be something, it doesn't matter who they are. It doesn't matter what their title was. He even says later, you know, these people who seem to be pillars of the faith, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter who they are. It doesn't matter their own clout or what their history was. You know, what matters is the word of God. What matters is what's right. And even if all these people seem to be these great pillars, if they're all in error and they're all wrong, you know what? That means nothing to me because I'm still going to say what's right. And you could have many old IFB pastors that were great men of God and great men of the faith and have done a lot of great works for the Lord. But if they're wrong and if they start spewing out heresies or whatever, hey, I'm going to call them out and I'm not going to worry about, oh, that's the anointing to the Lord. I'm not going to try to kill him. I'm not going to try to hurt him, but we're going to rebuke where rebuke is necessary without fear. Okay. There's no, the clout doesn't matter. And you know, it doesn't matter who I am. It doesn't matter who pastor he is. Doesn't matter who anyone is. What matters is what the word of God says, and people are going to stand and make their decisions on the word of God and stand for that truth. And just like King David, he has men trying to urge him to kill the Lord. He's like, no, not going to do it. We have the apostle Paul. You know, someone's trying to come in and bring in his damnable heresy. He's like, I don't need to talk to anyone about this. I know that salvation is by grace. It's not of works. I don't need to go ask anyone else's opinion about this. You don't need to send me to Jerusalem to go figure out if the fathers of the faith say it's by faith only because I know it's by faith only. I'm not even going to entertain this. I'm not even going to give you space for a half an hour to talk about it because it's ridiculous. It's nonsense. And no one else is going to say whether they agree with me or not doesn't matter. We're going to stand on what's right. So, so they, he goes down here. He says, you know, when James, Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and the right hands of fellowship. Amen. Right. They're getting along. So great. That sounds good that we should go into the heathen and they end in the circumcision. Only they would, that we should remember the poor, the same, which I also was forward to do. And then the next verse, verse 11, it says, but when Peter was coming to Antioch, I was stood him to the face because he was to be blamed. And he goes on to talk about how Peter was, you know, before the Jews came from James as he was eating and drinking and fellowshipping with the Gentiles. But then as soon as they show up, he's like withdrawing himself and, and trying to live after the custom of the Jews, instead of living righteously and, and showing the truth of God. Hey, of all people, people, Peter, you know, weren't you the one that had that vision? What therefore God has cleansed that call, call not thou common or unclean Peter. And, you know, people could be wrong people, even someone like the apostle Peter, I mean, he's a great leader, great man in the faith. I mean, I would love to be able to have the, the, the faith that Peter had when he's calling out to Jesus and, you know, asking him, Hey, bid me come out onto the end of the water. That's, that's incredible, right? He did lots of great things, lots of great things to serve the Lord, but even him, he's not above that rebuke. He's not above being corrected. Oh, but don't, you know, he's a Lord's anointed. Look, he needed a correction and he got it. Now everything needs to be done, decent order. And I was talking about, you know, there's two extremes. I kind of covered the one where people want to just take the one extreme, just going way too far with who's the Lord's anointed and what you can do, what you should say or anything like that. It's obvious that people, no matter who you are, if you need correction can be called out for correction. But on the same token, you don't want to go the exact opposite direction completely to the other side, to where you become this arrogant jerk. That's going to start going after everybody for all the smallest infractions thinking like, well, who do you think you are? I don't care if you're a pastor, I don't care if you're this or that look, no, it does matter. It does matter and it does matter where the rebukes are coming from. It does matter the type of rebuke you're getting. The apostle Paul, you know, he was in a position of a lot of authority. He wasn't just anybody in the faith, even though the title itself doesn't matter as far as whether you're right or wrong with God. It should matter on how you deal with them, though. The Bible says in first Timothy, chapter five, you're there, look at verse number one, the Bible says rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father and the younger men as brethren. Now I'll say this, I don't know exactly how you teach on this, Pastor Mejia, but I believe that first and foremost, the context of this passage, this is talking about elder people, people who are older than you. However, you know, because we ought to be treating people who are older than you with respect and that just you, you, you shouldn't just go up to your, I shouldn't just go to some gray headed old man and just start yelling at him or rebuke him in his face. I shouldn't treat him as I would a father, right? Give him the respect of being an elder. But this completely 100% applies also spiritually to those who are called elders within the church. The reason why they're called an elder is because they should be elder spiritually. They're not novices. They know what they're doing. They've been taught, they've been trained, they've been put in a position, you know, and, and they have been ordained by the Holy Ghost to do that job. So yes, while I believe this on the surface, this is talking about physically, but it also completely 100% applies to not rebuking someone who is the spiritual elder in charge of a church that you don't just go up and just rebuke that man to his face. You entreat him. Look, it doesn't say don't correct. It's how do you do it? Rebuke not an elder and treat him as a father. Have that level of respect for the elder and the younger men as brethren. Turn if you would to Numbers chapter 12. Numbers chapter 12. Because God definitely protects his prophets and his anointed ones. God is there for them. And we need to make sure that we have a healthy balance of respect for the prophets of the Lord, but also without putting them beyond correction or elevating them too high in status. That is inordinate. That was not where they should be. And just, you know, to the point of like bowing down at someone's feet because they're, you know, this great prophet or something. No, they are just men, but at the same time, having that correct respect for them. Numbers chapter 12. We see this story here about Moses with Aaron and Miriam. They start getting a bad attitude towards Moses and God has to put them in their place. Look at verse number five. The Bible says, and the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle and called Aaron and Miriam. And they both came forth and he said, hear now my words. If there be a prophet among you, I, the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so who is faithful in all mine house with him will I speak mouth to mouth even apparently and not in dark speeches and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold wherefore then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses and the anger of the Lord was kindled against them. And he departed and the cloud departed from off the tabernacle and behold Miriam became leprous white as snow and Aaron looked upon Miriam and behold she was leprous. So God steps in here Aaron and Miriam are basically saying like you know what this Moses did something that that they didn't like he married someone they didn't want him to marry and they're just thinking like well you know God's been using us too so you know nuts of this Moses guy we'll just we'll just step in and do this and God's like no you don't understand you need to show Moses a little bit more respect you need you need to treat Moses a little bit better Aaron and Miriam. I don't care how much you've done to serve me Aaron and look Aaron and Miriam have they served the Lord quite a bit sure they have Aaron is a high priest but when they get this bad attitude against Moses no no no no not no not against Moses look watch who you're talking about show some respect and and you know people need this this today just as much as the other maybe even more I don't know I don't know which one's worse I kind of hear I probably don't hear as much about people getting all upset about the Lord's anointed but there's a lot of people who don't show the respect that that they ought to and here's the thing you know if someone disrespects me okay I'm not gonna get all angry about it Moses didn't get all angry about it David didn't get all angry about it but you know he could let this serve as a warning we see the pattern of how God does feel about those who are just completely abrasive and disrespectful towards his people especially the people that he's elevating and he's using and and I'm not saying that I'm even you know I'm definitely not saying I'm at the point of Moses okay but it's all gonna come from a spirit of humility anyways right if you have a spirit of humility you're not gonna be overstepping and and and treating people like trash that are worthy of respect and you know we ought to check who's worthy of respect David found King Saul to be worthy of his respect he did a lot of things wrong but he was still worthy of respect and I'll kind of close on this you know I I've heard this before it's kind of common at least it has been recently when I say recently it isn't I don't know how recently I saw it a lot more when I was spending more time on the internet I don't I spend very little time these days on social media but one of the cool things about the new IAB is you've got you've got a lot of a lot of zealous people you got a lot of great teaching you get a lot of bible a lot of doctrine a lot of learning a lot of growth and you get people learning the bible I mean I remember when I started going to faithful word it was just like man I just couldn't get enough I'm listening to the bible on audio I'm listening to sermons I'm reading I'm doing you know going to church doing everything I can just to like just like a sponge like soak up just as much as you possibly can and I know I'm not alone there's many people keep your heads nodding like yeah it's exactly the way that you were it's exactly the way I was you know you love it it's great because you all of a sudden man your eyes are just kind of just wide open now and you're seeing so many cool things you're learning so much it's great it's a great time of growth unfortunately what happens is sometimes especially because when people are kind of young spiritual babes they don't know very much they go from from not knowing anything to starting to learn quite a bit in a short period of time you know the bible even says that knowledge puffeth up but charity edify it so there's a puffing up that can that can take place and I've heard some really stupid comments out of people in the past that really needs to be put in check and people need to I hope you've never had this before or definitely not right now where I've heard people say like oh man that pastor is such an idiot and they're so I know way more than that pastor and they're talking about like some saved maybe an old ivy pastor or something that's like winning souls and has been doing this for like 30 years 40 years 50 years or just just totally disregarding disrespecting someone who's been serving the lord faithfully for like 50 years and they've been serving the lord for like six months well I can't how could he possibly believe that pre-trip raptures I mean you have to be an idiot to believe that okay yeah well you know you'd have been right there along believe if someone didn't tell you that that was wrong what do you have that you haven't received okay careful with allowing that wisdom to lift you up and and to the point especially we stop respecting the people where god's saying look show some regard lessons learned from david through all of this i'm going to circle back david exhibited great temperance self-control not putting his hand forth when he easily could have when it was right there ready for him to do it everything was saying hey go kill this guy wouldn't do it great self-control and patience to endure when he was going through the tribulation and suffering why because of his faith because he said nope i'm not gonna touch god's anointed and god will deal with this it may not be on my time but god will deal with this i trust that i know that god will deal with this he showed great humility even though he knew he was god's anointed he knew he was chosen he knew who he was i mean even when when shimmy i was was casting out his name he's just saying you know what just let it go okay let it go i know who i am we know what happened to stay that's obviously he knew he was wicked he was doing something else wrong but he's saying you know what forget it i don't need to avenge myself and you don't need to avenge yourself either he had massive amount of respect for the will of the lord and who god chooses massive respect we all should learn that david's enemies is not necessarily god's enemies saul was anointed he was selected to do a job and you know if god didn't want him doing that job anymore and god will take care of that and that's different than those who are god's enemies david had no problem lifting up his hand against them and ultimately david wanted to let god be the judge over saul pretty cool stories here and you know it's one of those things to me it just it stood out a lot especially recently in my own bible reading and stuff just how many times david's talking about you know i'm not going to touch the lord i'm not going to touch the lord you know it meant a lot to him how much do the things of god matter to you and and the authorities that god puts in your life like how much does that matter to you how important are they really you know david cared a lot about that we ought to as well let's bow our heads have a word of prayer well let's bow our heads have a word of prayer dear heavenly father lord we thank you so much for your words we thank you for these great stories and for these great examples that we get from your word lord i pray that you would please help us to do righteously in our own trials and our own tribulations help us to have the the temperance to control ourselves help us have the humility not to be stirred up or roused up to to evil lord if if people are coming after us or saying things about us that are just dragging our name down dear lord i pray that you please help us to have reverence to to the people that you choose and the people that you place in our life to be our teachers and instructors dear lord and i pray that you would just help us all continue to grow and and stir up our spirits to to learn and to do more but uh also through charity help us to balance out that wisdom by by caring for other people and loving on them and just acting out the the knowledge that you give us lord we thank you so much for all that you've done for us we love you in jesus name we pray amen