Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Crowning Soft Music for a Hard Heart Msg 324 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Crowning Soft Music for a Hard Heart Msg 324 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Before David fell the giant, Goliath, and ascended to the
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  Speaker 1: throne of Israel, he distinguished himself in Israel as a
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  Speaker 1: skillful musician. We can see from the last half of
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  Speaker 1: 1 Samuel 16 that David acted as a soothing influence
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  Speaker 1: in Saul's life. That happened during a time of extreme
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  Speaker 1: difficulty for the king. David's willingness to use his skills
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  Speaker 1: for the Lord provided refreshment and relief for those around him.
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  Speaker 1: especially for the weary king. Young David's example of service
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  Speaker 1: helps us to see how we can make a positive
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  Speaker 1: impact in our world. Please open your Bibles and read
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  Speaker 1: along with me from 1 Samuel 16, beginning with verse 14.
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  Speaker 1: Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and
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  Speaker 1: an evil spirit from the Lord terrorized him. Saul's servants
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  Speaker 1: then said to him, Behold now, an evil spirit from
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  Speaker 1: God is is terrorizing you. Let our Lord now command
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  Speaker 1: your servants who are before you. Let them seek a
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  Speaker 1: man who is a skillful player on the harp, and
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  Speaker 1: it shall come about when the evil spirit from God
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  Speaker 1: is on you, that he shall play the harp with
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  Speaker 1: his hand, and you will be well. So Saul said
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  Speaker 1: to his servants, Provide for me now a man who
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  Speaker 1: can play well, and bring him to me. Then one
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  Speaker 1: of the young men said, Behold, I have seen a
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  Speaker 1: son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite, who is a skillful musician,
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  Speaker 1: a mighty man of valor, a warrior, one prudent in speech,
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  Speaker 1: and a handsome man, and the Lord is with him.
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  Speaker 1: So Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, Send me
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  Speaker 1: your son David, who is with the flock. Jesse took
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  Speaker 1: a donkey loaded with bread and a jug of wine,
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  Speaker 1: and a young goat, and sent them to Saul by
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  Speaker 1: David his son. Then David came to Saul, and attended him.
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  Speaker 1: And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer.
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  Speaker 1: Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David now stand before me,
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  Speaker 1: for he has found favor in my sight. So it
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  Speaker 1: came about, whenever the evil spirit from God came to Saul,
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  Speaker 1: David would take the harp, and play it with his hand,
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  Speaker 1: and Saul would be refreshed and be well, and the
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  Speaker 1: evil spirit would depart from him.
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  Speaker 2: I want to share with you this evening an old
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  Speaker 2: statement I drew from the 18th century writings of a
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  Speaker 2: man named William Congreve, who was an English dramatist. And
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  Speaker 2: he was the first who used these familiar words, music
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  Speaker 2: hath charms to soothe, the savage breast, to soften rocks,
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  Speaker 2: to bend a.
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  Speaker 3: Knotted oak. Isn't that true?
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  Speaker 2: I was interested in reading in Sports Illustrated the pastime
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  Speaker 2: leisure activities of many of the great hulks of masculine
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  Speaker 2: humanity called the professional football players. And to my surprise,
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  Speaker 2: over half of the men spend their leisure listening to music.
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  Speaker 3: So do a lot of us. Most of us love to.
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  Speaker 2: Turn again to music when our savage breast needs to
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  Speaker 2: be soothed. I came from a musical family. My fondest
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  Speaker 2: memories aside from summer spent down at a little bay
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  Speaker 2: cottage with a grandfather that I dearly idolized are the
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  Speaker 2: memories of singing with a family that gathered around a
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  Speaker 2: piano with a brother that could play like crazy, and
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  Speaker 2: a mother that sang good soprano, and a sister that
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  Speaker 2: could handle a little alto, and then I'd bring up
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  Speaker 2: the rear and whatever was left, and we would just
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  Speaker 2: sing through the evening. I remember the Bloodworth family that
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  Speaker 2: lived next door, very tragic home.
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  Speaker 3: They had a lot of bucks. They were very affluent.
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  Speaker 2: They were into regattas and all of this, had a
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  Speaker 2: big sailing vessel, but they often left their kids at
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  Speaker 2: home for a weekend as they had their fun, which
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  Speaker 2: ended tragically in the mother's suicide and the father's departure.
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  Speaker 2: Kids sort of left to raise themselves. I remember around
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  Speaker 2: a Christmas time, one season, we were singing through the
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  Speaker 2: hours of the evening, and as it got late, we
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  Speaker 2: decided we wouldn't bother the neighbors anymore, and we pull
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  Speaker 2: the window down. Our phone rang in less than a minute,
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  Speaker 2: and it was the oldest of the four children who asked,
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  Speaker 2: would you please pull the window back up? We haven't
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  Speaker 2: heard singing like that, and I remember lifting the window
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  Speaker 2: up and looking out across the little area between our homes,
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  Speaker 2: and there they were, sitting like little ducks in the window,
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  Speaker 2: alone that evening, finding music to soothe their hearts. That's
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  Speaker 2: the ministry of music can be duplicated with nothing else.
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  Speaker 2: Cynthia recently bought an album of Tchaikovsky and boy, I
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  Speaker 2: was listening the other. It was just yesterday afternoon and
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  Speaker 2: I thought I could study while it was going on.
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  Speaker 2: And after a while, oh, it was marvelous. And whatever
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  Speaker 2: might be the taste, there's something about music that.
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  Speaker 3: Soothes and ministers.
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  Speaker 2: It goes all the way back to the first genealogical
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  Speaker 2: record where a man was gifted on the pipe and lyre.
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  Speaker 2: And a little later on, we find in the Bible
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  Speaker 2: a whole book of songs right in the middle, as
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  Speaker 2: if God is saying, sing them often and learn them well.
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  Speaker 2: These are my songs over twice the length of any
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  Speaker 2: other chapters or any other book.
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  Speaker 3: Of the Bible. Hundred and fifty of them.
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  Speaker 2: Half of them or more written by David, who put
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  Speaker 2: them together on the hills of Judah. Who knows, maybe
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  Speaker 2: in the very context we're looking at in 1 Samuel 16,
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  Speaker 2: in the threatening presence of a madman named Saul. Saul's
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  Speaker 2: strange malady starts these verses beginning at verse 14 And
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  Speaker 2: carrying us down to the end of the chapter, we're
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  Speaker 2: going to see the part that music played in soothing
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  Speaker 2: his savagery. Let's look at the 14th and 15th verses
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  Speaker 2: to start with. The spirit of the Lord departed from
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  Speaker 2: Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord terrorized him.
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  Speaker 2: Saul's servants then said to him, it's obvious that they
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  Speaker 2: could see the maddening results of And they said to him, behold,
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  Speaker 2: now an evil spirit from God is terrorizing you. Unfortunately,
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  Speaker 2: with mindsets like we have, we get hung up on
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  Speaker 2: the spirit of evil from the Lord and we don't
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  Speaker 2: enter into the misery of this malady that Saul wrestled with.
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  Speaker 3: We'll talk about that.
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  Speaker 2: In a minute. But you'll notice that first of all,
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  Speaker 2: the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul before an
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  Speaker 2: evil spirit came. Christians read those words and they fear
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  Speaker 2: that could happen today. I've heard evangelists use that as
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  Speaker 2: a tool to shock people that are Christians walking in
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  Speaker 2: the flesh. You continue to walk in the flesh and
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  Speaker 2: God will lift his spirit from you and you won't
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  Speaker 2: have that life you once had. And they'll quote this
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  Speaker 2: verse or the verse in Judges 16 where Samson is
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  Speaker 2: in Delilah's lap and it says, he knew not that
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  Speaker 2: the Lord had departed from him. Or in Psalm 51
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  Speaker 2: 11 that says, take not your Holy Spirit from me.
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  Speaker 2: Those are fearful verses. Had a man stopped me right
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  Speaker 2: behind the church building this evening and just needed assurance
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  Speaker 2: that that wouldn't happen today. It's a fearful thought that
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  Speaker 2: God could lift his spirit from us and we'd be
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  Speaker 2: lost having once been saved. Let me clarify that tonight.
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  Speaker 2: Let's go on record in understanding a good dose of
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  Speaker 2: theology right now. Before the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost,
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  Speaker 2: Acts chapter 2, prior to that time, the Spirit of
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  Speaker 2: God never permanently rested on any believer. It was not
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  Speaker 2: uncommon for the Spirit of God to come for a
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  Speaker 2: temporary period of time. strengthening or insight or whatever was
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  Speaker 2: the need of the moment and then to depart and
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  Speaker 2: then to come back for another surge of the need
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  Speaker 2: of the moment, then to depart. The exception rather than
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  Speaker 2: the rule was that the Spirit of God came to stay. However,
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  Speaker 2: at Pentecost, And from that time all the way through
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  Speaker 2: our present era, when the Spirit of God comes at salvation,
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  Speaker 2: He never leaves. He comes to baptize us into the
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  Speaker 2: body of Christ. That happens at salvation. We're never exhorted
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  Speaker 2: to be baptized by the Spirit. We are baptized into
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  Speaker 2: the body. We will never be unidentified with the body
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  Speaker 2: of Christ. We are placed by the Spirit into the body.
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  Speaker 3: That's baptism. We are sealed until the day of redemption.
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  Speaker 3: That's the day we die.
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  Speaker 2: The last verse of Ephesians tells us in chapter 4
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  Speaker 2: that he seals us until that day.
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  Speaker 3: So he's there. He never leaves. Furthermore, our bodies are
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  Speaker 3: the temple of the Holy Spirit.
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  Speaker 2: And as long as we as Christians have bodies, we
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  Speaker 2: have the temple in which the Spirit of God dwells.
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  Speaker 2: He permanently resides within us and will never, ever depart. Now,
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  Speaker 2: we're reading in 1 Samuel before Pentecost, of course. And
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  Speaker 2: we are not surprised, therefore, to read that in this
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  Speaker 2: moment of severity in the life of Saul, the Spirit
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  Speaker 2: of God departed from Saul and there was a vacuum
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  Speaker 2: created and God sent an evil spirit to terrorize him.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know why. No one knows why.
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  Speaker 2: No one can explain God's permission in this place except
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  Speaker 2: for the fact that he was put out with Saul.
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  Speaker 2: It was as if to say, I will punish you
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  Speaker 2: for presuming on your office as a king and walking
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  Speaker 2: against my will. You have not taken me seriously. You
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  Speaker 2: will learn to do that, Saul. I'm jealous for my name.
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  Speaker 2: And so he departed from Saul and an evil spirit
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  Speaker 2: came to terrorize him. Let's look at that for a moment.
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  Speaker 2: It was so obvious that the servants said, an evil
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  Speaker 2: spirit is terrorizing you. The Hebrew word is ba'at, and
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  Speaker 2: it's interesting. It means to fall upon, to startle, to overwhelm.
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  Speaker 2: Job uses it in chapter 3 to refer to his
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  Speaker 2: date of birth.
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  Speaker 1: And in the.
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  Speaker 2: Misery of the boils, Job says, let the blackness of
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  Speaker 2: the day terrify it. Same word, ba'atz. Let the blackness
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  Speaker 2: of my day simply envelop and overwhelm the day of
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  Speaker 2: my birth.
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  Speaker 3: He's saying, oh, that I'd never been born.
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  Speaker 2: Now, when this evil spirit came on Saul, it began
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  Speaker 2: to terrorize him. Kyle and Dalich are some of the
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  Speaker 2: most reputable of Old Testament scholars, and they write this
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  Speaker 2: about this evil spirit. Listen to the paragraph. The evil
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  Speaker 2: spirit from Jehovah which came into Saul in the place
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  Speaker 2: of the spirit of Jehovah was not merely an inward
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  Speaker 2: feeling of depression at the rejection announced to him, which
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  Speaker 2: grew into melancholy and occasionally broke out in passing fits
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  Speaker 2: of insanity, but a higher evil power which took possession
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  Speaker 2: of him. And not only deprived him of his peace
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  Speaker 2: of mind, but stirred up the feelings, imagination, and thoughts
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  Speaker 2: of his soul to such an extent that at times
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  Speaker 2: it drove him into madness. The demon is called an
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  Speaker 2: evil spirit coming from Jehovah. It was visible to others.
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  Speaker 2: Forgive me for lingering longer than maybe you think I
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  Speaker 2: should on these two verses, but there's something here in
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  Speaker 2: application that I don't want us to miss. We're living
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  Speaker 2: in a demonic era. I don't know where you're reading,
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  Speaker 2: but the periodicals I'm reading are revealing awful, unbelievable facts.
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  Speaker 2: Take one child battering. Newsweek had an article on it
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  Speaker 2: just this past week, and I was just shocked to
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  Speaker 2: read what I read. And to see the sights that
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  Speaker 2: were portrayed of the parental beatings and torturings of children.
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  Speaker 2: Often the parents declare, something overcomes me. Something overwhelms me.
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  Speaker 2: I sat in a jail separated only by bars from
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  Speaker 2: a man who took the life of one of his
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  Speaker 2: own babies. A number of years ago, right here in
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  Speaker 2: this area. And I heard him say, I don't know
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  Speaker 2: what happened, but I... I struck the child and something
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  Speaker 2: came over me. It overwhelmed me and I couldn't quit.
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  Speaker 2: The legal world calls it temporary insanity. Maybe you have
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  Speaker 2: a temper like that. Leo Held did. The article reads
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  Speaker 2: that he was a paragon of respectability.
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  Speaker 3: He was a middle-aged, hard-working lab.
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  Speaker 2: Technician for 19 years at a Pennsylvania paper mill, had
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  Speaker 2: been a Boy Scout leader, an affectionate father, a member
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  Speaker 2: of the local fire brigade, a regular churchgoer, knew many
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  Speaker 2: hymns by heart. He was admired as a model in
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  Speaker 2: his community until the image was shattered in a well-planned
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  Speaker 2: hour of bloodshed one brisk October morning. Held decided to
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  Speaker 2: mount a one-man revolt against the world, he inwardly resented.
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  Speaker 2: A proficient marksman, he stuffed two pistols into his coat pockets, a.
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  Speaker 2: 45 automatic and a Smith-Wesson. 38. Before he drove his
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  Speaker 2: station wagon to the paper mill, parking quietly, he gripped
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  Speaker 2: a gun in each fist, then slowly stalked into the shop.
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  Speaker 2: and started shooting with such calculated frenzy that it resembled
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  Speaker 2: a scene out of gun smoke. He filled several of
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  Speaker 2: his fellow workmen with two and three bullets apiece, firing
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  Speaker 2: more than 30 shots before he was through, killing in
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  Speaker 2: cold blood some of the men he had worked with
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  Speaker 2: for over 15 years. When a posse was formed to
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  Speaker 2: capture the man, they found him standing in his doorway,
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  Speaker 2: smiling defiantly.
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  Speaker 3: I could go on and on.
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  Speaker 2: The neighborhood couldn't believe it. Interesting that when Time magazine
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  Speaker 2: put together a caption, they said underneath his picture, responsible, respectable,
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  Speaker 2: and resentful. He lived in the powder keg of resentment
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  Speaker 2: so long until explosions happened. And like the husband who
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  Speaker 2: admitted to me a number of years ago, that's when
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  Speaker 2: I punched my wife.
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  Speaker 3: And she had left him.
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  Speaker 2: As he talked about something coming over him. And before
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  Speaker 2: long he's swinging his fists. And there's a maddening sense
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  Speaker 2: of presence. And he's lost control. Now this is no
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  Speaker 2: theoretical comment. This is real. This is Saul went through
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  Speaker 2: what many go through. We just cover up for it.
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  Speaker 2: I want to say before going any further that the
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  Speaker 2: only hope for the child of God is the power
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  Speaker 2: of the Holy Spirit. If you do not know Christ,
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  Speaker 2: there is no power that you can find that will
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  Speaker 2: overcome that kind of overwhelming evil presence. And even as
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  Speaker 2: a child of God, we can, out of the controls
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  Speaker 2: of our own flesh, say no to the Spirit's control
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  Speaker 2: and perform all acts of evil and debauchery. and claimed,
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  Speaker 2: we just don't know what happened. It just overcame me. Well,
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  Speaker 2: that was Saul's malady. Strange, and yet not really that strange.
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  Speaker 2: They realized he needed help, as your friend would if
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  Speaker 2: he saw you in that condition. And so the friends
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  Speaker 2: said to Saul, verse 16, Let our Lord now command
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  Speaker 2: your servants who are before you.
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  Speaker 3: Let them seek a man who is a skillful player,
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  Speaker 3: on the harp.
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  Speaker 2: Before I go any further, I think that is interesting
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  Speaker 2: that the first description of David is a skillful player
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  Speaker 2: on a harp. The word skillful in the Hebrew is
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  Speaker 2: an intensive verb originally, and it has in mind the
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  Speaker 2: idea of knowing fully. David knew fully his instrument, and
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  Speaker 2: his instrument was called the harp. That's a rather unfortunate rendering.
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  Speaker 2: The word is kenor, and it means liar, L-Y-R-E. The
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  Speaker 2: liar of that day is described by Merrill Unger in
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  Speaker 2: these words. An instrument that consists of strings made from
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  Speaker 2: the small intestines of sheep, stretched across a sounding board
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  Speaker 2: over a blank space, then attached to a crossbar. Did
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  Speaker 2: that go by too fast for you to identify it?
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  Speaker 2: What does it sound like? Strings stretched across a sounding
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  Speaker 2: board over a blank space, then attached to a crossbar.
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  Speaker 3: What does it sound like? A tennis racket.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, my God.
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  Speaker 3: Go to your room. What do you mean? That's terrible.
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  Speaker 2: I just knew she would say guitar and I'd say right.
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  Speaker 2: She's a tennis runner. I think it is interesting that
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  Speaker 2: one of the early... instruments mentioned in the Bible is
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  Speaker 2: the lyre, and yet, do you know there are many
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  Speaker 2: churches that absolutely will not have a guitar in the
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  Speaker 2: presence of the place of worship? And that will have
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  Speaker 2: a piano that is a rather.
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  Speaker 2: Forgive me, Lloyd, I love the piano, but rather recent
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  Speaker 2: invention as compared to a lyre or the old ancient
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  Speaker 2: strumming instruments or certainly an organ. We adopt them and
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  Speaker 2: yet to bring in a stringed instrument is seen as
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  Speaker 2: a travesty against theology or against biblical truth. That's the
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  Speaker 2: earliest instrument mentioned. Not a tennis racket, but a lyre.
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  Speaker 2: He played it.
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  Speaker 3: He was proficient with his guitar.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, I can picture David on the hillsides of Judah,
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  Speaker 2: strumming along, working through, as only you that compose know,
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  Speaker 2: thinking of his notes and working on the fingering and
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  Speaker 2: just coming through with that pick and that sound.
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  Speaker 3: And he would write something down as.
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  Speaker 2: He soothed the savage breast of that young shepherd's heart.
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  Speaker 2: He's putting his music together. Now, I want you to
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  Speaker 2: see the perspective. He's a shepherd in the field strumming
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  Speaker 2: a guitar. He's destined for the throne. There is no
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  Speaker 2: way on earth a shepherd will ever see the inside
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  Speaker 2: of the courtroom of the king.
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  Speaker 3: Unless God does it.
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  Speaker 2: I want you to see how God worked to get
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  Speaker 2: this man some exposure.
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  Speaker 3: In the protocol of the king's court. It's beautiful.
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  Speaker 2: Just beautiful how God used the gift of music to
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  Speaker 2: put him right into the very presence of the king's chamber.
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  Speaker 2: The king fell in love with him. Okay, let's go.
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  Speaker 3: 16.
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  Speaker 2: Let him seek a man who is skillful on the harp,
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  Speaker 2: and it shall come about when the evil spirit from
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  Speaker 2: God is on you that he shall play the harp
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  Speaker 2: with his hand and you will be well. So Saul
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  Speaker 2: said to his servants, Provide for me now a man
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  Speaker 2: who can play well and bring him to me. Earliest
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  Speaker 2: archaeological records show us that ancients believed music soothed passions,
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  Speaker 2: healed mental diseases, and even held in check riots and tumults.
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  Speaker 2: There's an ancient black obelisk of Shalmaneser III. Boy, I
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  Speaker 2: worked on that all week to get it out just right.
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  Speaker 2: That great black obelisk that stands. And on that are
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  Speaker 2: carved some characters who have the instruments that they're strumming.
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  Speaker 2: As far back as those ancient Assyrians who got those
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  Speaker 2: instruments right there. And God had his hand on David
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  Speaker 2: who put together music that not only filled the Bible,
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  Speaker 2: but Fill the heart of a depressed king in his tent.
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  Speaker 2: You ought to read Browning's Saul to feel the depression
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: of that man. I took a trip to the library
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: and checked it out. And I just read through it
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: as I was working through the feeling of Saul. And
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: I sort of was overwhelmed in the sense of Saul's,
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: the blackness of the tent. And then to that canvas-like
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: attachment where he was living came David with his little lyre.
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: And he walked into that place and there was Saul.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: The madness of his depression. Well, you notice how David
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: is described. Saul was willing to try anything. Verse 17,
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: he says, provide a man. I don't care who it is.
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: Bring him. Now, then one of.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: The young men answered and said, And notice how God
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: puts together the missing link that's needed to bring David
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: to the throne. There is a guy who happens to
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: hear that Saul's depressed and he knows a fellow who
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: knows David. And he says, I know the guy that
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: can do that. And he's described in six words or six. Well,
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: his resume includes six things.
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: Number one, he is a son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite,
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: who is one, a skillful musician. He knows music.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: Two, he's a mighty man of valor. Three, he's a warrior. Four,
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: he's prudent in speech. He's got control of his tongue. Five,
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: he's handsome.
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: Six, the Lord is with him. That's not a bad resume,
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: is it?
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: He's good looking. He knows music. He knows how to
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: keep his mouth shut. And he's ready to go.
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: He's available.
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: Hey, never discount anything.
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: Of your past.
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: God can pick it up and use it in the
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: most incredible ways.
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: Incredible ways.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: I remember while I was doing a hitch in the
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: Marine Corps, I was overseas for 18 months. And 10
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: of those 18 months were delightful. I should say maybe
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: 12 of the 18 were delightful. And the other section
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: we'd just like to forget about. I was in the
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: infantry regiment. And I realized early after getting there that
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: God's hand was somehow in my life and I was
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: going to be used in some capacity in the future.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: I didn't know where, but I knew the infantry wasn't
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: contributing to it. And I wanted to be in leadership
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: or at least know how leadership was done. I'd never
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: had any training in it. Just a rough old untaught
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: vessel stuck in the Marine Corps on Okinawa. And it
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: dawned on me that if I'm ever going to get
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: any kind of relief so that, first of all, I
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: can do intensive Bible study with some kind of leisure
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: and really get a hold of the Word of God,
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: I'm going to have to have some time free, and
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: the infantry will not provide it. So I drew on, well,
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: six years earlier, I had played the reed instruments, clarinet
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: and saxophone and oboe, and I'd played a little on
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: the flute. So I thought, hey, I'll try out as
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: an audition with the band, 3rd Division Band.
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: I'll never forget it. I hadn't touched a clarinet for
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: six years. So I decided I'll go.
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: In and audition. So I walked in and to remind.
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: Myself which end, which way.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: And I stuck it together and I fiddled around for
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: about 30 minutes. And the captain called me in and
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: I auditioned. And I sight read and played marches and
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: played some things from memory. God brought it all back
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: and I was in. In two days I'd made the
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: transfer and would you believe, that the most familiar surroundings
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: for our 3rd Division band was with General Shoup, who
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: became later the Commandant of the Marine Corps. And our
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: constant concerts and combos and whatever we were involved in
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: were in the presence of the general. A dum-dum like me,
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: sitting in the presence of the general, evening in and
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: evening out, in fact, got to know.
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: Him and talked with him.
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: One of the few men that jumped from a major
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: general to full four-star general. They also lost 18 lieutenant
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: generals when that happened, I might add. But that's the
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: kind of man he was.
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: What a leader.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: Leader of the entire third division. And here I was
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: a grunt in the infantry. I would never even see
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: the shoes he wore. And suddenly I'm now playing music
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: for him in a quartet and a woodwind quintet, which
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: he loved. And here we were looking eyeball to eyeball.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: And I watched the protocol of a general as he
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: did his thing. Just because of music.
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: It opened the door. That's David.
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: Here is David plucking away on his lyre, whistling Dixie
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: out in the fields of Judah. He's never even met Saul,
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: and he's Saul's replacement.
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: Get that. He's Saul's replacement. And there he.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: Comes, trucking down with a messenger that said, Saul wants
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: to see you.
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: I want you to see it. It's incredible how it happens.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: Verse 19, Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, Send
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: me your son David who's with the flock. Now here's Jesse,
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: good father that he is. He just hasn't gotten his
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: word about his son. Samuel anointed him in the early
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: part of the chapter, and Jesse let him go back
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: with the sheep. And here's another runner, says from the king,
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: Saul wants to see a youngest son. And so Jesse
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: lets him go. Verse 20, it's a funny scene. Jesse
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: took a donkey loaded with bread and a jug of
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: wine and a young goat.
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: Looked like the grapes of wrath going over towards Saul.
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: He had a goat hung on the thing and he
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: had a jug of wine and some bread. He didn't
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: know why he was going. Guitar slung over his shoulder.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: Looked like he was out to lunch and he was
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: on his way to see Saul. He didn't know it,
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: but he was getting ready to learn how to king it.
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: That's God's program. He knows how to work. You sit
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: here tonight and you think some old ancient skill you
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: knew back several years ago is lost. You wasted all
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: your time doing such and such. Don't you believe it?
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: God can draw from your background the most incredible things
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: and put you right in the right place with a
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: little bit of skill.
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: And you're there with the chief. Now, that's the way
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: it was with David. He walked in the tent. Look
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: at what happened.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: This is good. David came to Saul and he attended him.
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: They had never met.
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: I think it's beautiful.
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: David never once says to Saul, I'm going to take
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: your place, pal. Never once did he pull rank on Saul.
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: He was never jealous or envious of that position. He'd
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: been anointed, but he'd let the Lord open the door.
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: That's the kind of guy David was. Hey, you pushing
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: somebody out of his job? Let God open the door. Okay?
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: Are you in a subservient position towards someone else? You
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: make that boss successful.
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: You lift him up. You use your talents to let
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: him look good.
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: You support him. God will put you where you ought
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: to be just at the right time. You don't have
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: to manipulate that. David comes in and he attends Saul. Remember,
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: our guy David, no badge, no words. He never opened
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: his mouth. Saul had no idea who that young guy
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: was standing in front of him with a lyre slung
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: over his shoulder. Hey, that was his successor standing in
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: front of him. You may be your boss's successor. He
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: may not know it. You may have already been told.
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: You're heir apparent. Hey, let God open the door.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: Let him do that.
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: David came to Saul and attended him and Saul loved him.
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: He loved him.
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: He became his armor bearer. He was right in the
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: chamber of the king. Why did he love him?
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: 23, because it came about whenever the evil spirit came
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: to Saul, David would take the harp and play it
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: with his hand. Isn't that beautiful? There's David in the corner.
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: Here's Saul on his cot. Maybe in his bedchamber. Writhing
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: in the madness of those depressive moments and David playing
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: out the songs.
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: Who knows? Maybe they sang together after a while. Maybe
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: he taught Saul the songs.
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: We're not told.
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: But they were bound together in love and Saul.
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: Loved that young man because he brought deliverance to his life.
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: You will be beloved when you minister to people. You'll
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: be a beloved person for helping them in their misery
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: and malady. You'll be attached to their heart and you
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: can't drive a wedge between it. In the most simple things,
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: the things that just come naturally to you, You minister.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: He says in verse 22, let David now stand before
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: me for he has found favor in my sight.
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: What a statement. Invited to the throne room. He won
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: the heart of the king. Just a shepherd lad.
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: And now the king says to the father, verse 22,
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: let your son stay. He's effective.
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: He's got it together. Let me show you one other thing.
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: See verse 23, two things happened to show how effective
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: David's music was. First of all, he refreshed Saul, verse 23.
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: David would take the harp and play it with his
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: hand and Saul would be refreshed. Interesting word. The Berkeley
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: says it eased Saul's The Hebrew word is rawak, which
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: means to be wide, to be spacious, to give space
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: so as to bring relief. Moffat translates it, he played
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: for Saul till Saul breathed freely. Music unleashes the caged
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: feelings and soothes the savagery inside of us.
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: Or, I might add, it cages us. Depending on your taste.
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: You know me well enough to know that my style
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: is not to harass or nitpick insignificant things. But I
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: have become increasingly more concerned with the things that we
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: let fill our heads as people of God. I really have.
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: I've taken a hard line look at it with our family.
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: We've talked about the choice of music that is acceptable.
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: I'm glad we've done that.
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: I haven't screamed and yelled and thrown radios out the
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: window and acted stupid like one would be tempted to
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: do when angry. I've just sat down and tried to
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: work out what taste is all about, what music is
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: trying to say. You know me well enough to know
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: that I, as a shepherd over a flock, and committed
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: to teaching truth and the implication of it. I think
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: you need to look at what you're looking at and
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: listening to in your leisure. Is it, in fact, as
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: with Saul, giving you release and relief from evil so
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: that God is greater? Or is it pulling you down?
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: Is it cutting against the carnality of your muscular strains
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: within you that we all have?
• 35:09
  Speaker 3: Or is it encouraging them? What do you listen to?
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: When you're through, can you say Christ means more to
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: me now than he did before it started? That's a
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: searching question. When David left Saul, Saul was relieved. The
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: evil presence had departed.
• 35:37
  Speaker 3: Let's bow together, shall we?
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: The Lord's saying several things to several different people this evening.
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: For some of you, the last few comments do not
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: even apply. For others of you, that's really all you've
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: heard today. Because it strikes right at the jugular of
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: your life. Began so simple and easy. Now it's almost
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: a religion with some. The beauty and simplicity of the
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: Lord is lost in the pulsation and beat. Of noise.
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: Noise.
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: For some of you, it's realizing God still got his
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: eyes on you even though you're still shepherding the flock
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: in the hills of Judah. For some of you, you've
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: been recently promoted and you're really in that place of
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: preeminence like you've never been before. Hey, that's great. God
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: knows what he's doing. He knows what he's about. Tonight
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: might be a decision time for some of you to say,
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: I need to come to terms with this ridiculous habit
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: that's captivating my time. For others of you, it's saying, Lord,
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: I need the patience to wait as you're teaching me
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: the importance of being faithful. For some, it's I need
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: to support that superior. That's hard to get along with.
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: But that's what God's saying tonight. Soft music for a
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: hard heart. Maybe that's what God's provided for you this evening.
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: If you've never met Christ as your Savior, that's certainly
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: the most important place to begin. He died for you.
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: He rose from the dead to give you power. The
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: ability to walk away from the drives. To control them.
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: To live a positive, fulfilling life. Free of the cage.
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: That's what I'd like to have for you.
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: I'll point you to him. Lord, we began this service
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: with such a delightful note. To you, the greatest joy
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: is to provide for your people. And to remind us
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: that we are the sheep. And you are the shepherd.
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: We just.
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: Rejoice.
• 38:18
  Speaker 3: We exult in God together.
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: And for the message this evening, we have ended on
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: a very searching note. Some want to put it out
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: of their minds. Some want to come to terms with it.
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: Some are still not convinced. Some are adequately convicted by
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: your spirit. Whatever might be the response, Lord, I pray
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: that your ministry would not be thwarted, because even though
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: the sermon ends, the word lingers on. For some, the
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: need is for salvation. We pray as we step into
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: the night air and feel the coolness of the night
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: envelop us, that we will have a renewed appreciation for
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: the relief that David brought to his friend. And you'll
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: remind us on our way home that there's a Saul
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: available to any one of us to whom we can minister.
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: He doesn't quite know how to reach out and ask
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: for it. And we pray that we will not be
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: negligent or reluctant to do so.
• 39:38
  Speaker 3: In Jesus' name.
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: Amen.
• 39:43
  Speaker 4: The preceding message, Soft Music for a Hard Heart, was
• 39:47
  Speaker 4: copyrighted in 1977, 1988, 1997, and 2009. And the sound
• 39:55
  Speaker 4: recording was copyrighted in 2009 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
• 40:00
  Speaker 4: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
• 40:04
  Speaker 4: commercial use is strictly prohibited.