[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to the very first episode of the Line Upon Line Ministries podcast.
Hello and welcome to the Line Upon Line Ministries Podcast, a podcast committed to the expository ministry of God's Word for the life of the local church. I am your host, Mark Williams. Today on the podcast, we are going to talk about what's next for Line Upon Line Ministries after the passing of our dear Brother David Miller.
And then we're also going to recommend a resource to you for those who are engaged in expository ministry of preaching particularly then we're going to share a classic sermon by Brother David Miller. And on this first episode, we thought it fitting to play a sermon that many would recognize that has been memorable for those of us who love Brother David.
It's called Rizpah upon the Rock. And finally, we will conclude today's episode with some final thoughts.
As most of you, if not all of you, know, Brother David Miller passed away last year on August 7, 2024.
And since then, we've had lots of time to reflect on the life of Brother David after he passed. Many people wrote very heartfelt and loving articles and blogs and talked about him in some other podcasts, sharing good memories of him. Brother David had such a huge impact on so many over the life of his ministry. As you know, he was preaching for over 50 years, nearly 60 years, the last couple years of his life. He wasn't preaching quite as much, but from indications from Brother David himself, I saw a sermon back in the 90s that he preached. That said, at that point he had already preached probably more than 6,000 times.
So he very likely could have preached over 10,000, maybe 12,000, 15,000 times over the course of his ministry. And so he's touched many lives. Many people know Brother David, his strong dedication to the sufficiency of scripture to expository preaching for the life of the local church. He loved the local church. I had the privilege of being able to be his pastor for, for the last couple of years of his life. And he loved the church. He was a huge supporter of mine. He loved preachers. He loved seeing people hear the Word and be changed by the Word. And that was his ministry.
Of course, over the years, he has done many different kinds of things, of course, most of most of which has been preaching ministry. But he also was engaged in training. He had the Expository Preaching Conference for many, many years, along with Herschel York and others who helped with that and trained up thousands of pastors in expository preaching. Many of you who are watching may be, may have been a part of those conferences.
He spoke in different revival meetings and preached in, in different churches all across the country for so many years and so many people were touched by him. Of course, who can forget his attention to detail, his, his blessed memory, if you will, of being able to memorize and then recite large portions of scripture and to preach with, with no notes was inspiring and encouraging and showed us that what came from David's mouth came out of his heart.
And so when Brother David passed, he did leave a big hole in our hearts. We know he had. He did. For so many of you as well who've reached out, who have again shared in various ways their condolences to the family and other into the ministry. And so we will dearly miss our Brother David and, and throughout this podcast we plan to try to have interviews with those who may have known him well over the years to get some, some more background information to, to share stories and reminisce of, of ways that Brother David has touched their lives and, and, and taught them in many ways.
So I'll be looking forward to that. After his passing, David's son Joshua approached me and asked me to think about continuing on the Line Upon Line Ministries.
And after some prayer and, and time speaking with my wife and other solid counsel from other brothers in ministry, we decided to, to, to take that on. And, and so what we're doing next here is a couple of different things for the future of Line Upon Line Ministries. First and foremost, we want to honor the Lord. And that's by far always number one. And of course was David's priority as well.
But for this ministry in particular, we want to honor the legacy of Brother David. And so as you'll see, there is a brand new ministry website, lineuponlineministries.com where we will house an archive of all of the least recorded sermons that we have of Brother David as well as newsletters, outlines of sermons, videos that were recorded, videos that were recorded either by David or, or at other churches venues where he, he spoke.
It'll be an online archive of all things David Miller and it will be completely free. It is completely free and so you can go there now. Not all the sermons are in the archive yet because there as I said, are very many of them, but we will be uploading those as we go. And so all of that online in, on the website is completely free to download, to use, for encouragement, to equip you in, in your own walk with the Lord and, and for your own edification. And then along with that we will continue to again honor the legacy of David by continuing his work in, in ways like what we're doing right now through podcasting and through providing other resources along the way, whether written or or audio, video and other kinds of things. We'll have our social media, as some of you have seen, through Facebook, Instagram x YouTube, all those kinds of things, so you can find us there as well, trying to again explain, equip and encourage the local church with expository ministry material. And so we want to honor David in both preserving and offering his resources that he has and then also continuing on in the work that he has done in our own personal ways, opportunities that we have to speak or, or to provide online resources such as this podcast. It is my privilege and pleasure to be able to, to help with that. And so I am looking forward to this podcast and what all it can become, what God can use it to do. And so as I mentioned before, be be looking out for different interviews with, with different people. We want to have people on who are experts or have practiced expository ministry in various ways for years to share, give their insights and encouragements to, to again equip us to be better expositors. And also I, I am also privileged to do this along with, with family. As you can see if you're watching this video podcast behind me there is a nice little background. My wife and my daughter helped to paint the wall and, and in particular my daughter Ella painted our logo on canvas and, and then also if you can see over here on this wall, this other canvas painting from my daughter. And also my son Clay has also been helping with a lot of this ministry. So he's been helping with the website and some social media quotes and videos and things that we've put out already. So this is very much a family ministry that we're, that we're taking on here along with Josh and those who have been a part of the ministry for, for many years. So we're grateful for the legacy that brother David has left. We miss him. I miss him dearly as a friend. As a brother, he was a great encouragement to me as a, as a pastor, as his pastor. He was my biggest fan, he was my biggest supporter and he is, he is and will be greatly missed. And we look forward now with anticipation and joy, knowing first of all that our brother is rejoicing in the presence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And, and we rejoice with, along with him that he is there and happy. And we look forward to the day when we will see him and all those who have gone before us as well.
Along with some of the other things that I've mentioned, I would also like to request from you if you have any video, audio, pictures, resources of Brother David that you would like to share with us, I would invite you to please reach out email me at lineuponlineministriesmail.com we would love to be able to offer those those resources that you that you might have on the website along with the other resources. If you have questions about the ministry, you can also reach out to me about anything that you have questions about. And also if you have any prayer requests, we'd love to be able to pray with you and for you along the way as well. Also, if you have any ideas for topics or future podcasts or articles or blogs or other resources that you might want to see made available, please let me know. We want this podcast to be both an encouragement and an opportunity to truly equip. And so if you have specific needs, please let me know and see if we can get that into a future episode.
One of the ways that we want to help equip and encourage you in your ministry is by recommending solid resources to help. If you are engaged in the expository ministry of the Word, particularly in preaching, we would highly recommend this resource to you. This is called Preaching with Bold Assurance is by our good brother Herschel York and Bert Decker. This is a helpful resource to help you in crafting, preparing and presenting effective sermons.
So if you are new to expository preaching or you just need to sharpen your skills, I recommend that you pick this up. You can find this and many other recommended resources in our online
[email protected] store next here we want to play a classic sermon from Brother David. As I mentioned earlier, this is one of those sermons that many remember David by this sermon he preached multiple times over the years and it is a true blessing to hear from him. And so along the way through these podcasts and we're going to play a classic sermon from Brother David and eventually we will get to the point where we will be we'll work our way line by line through different sermon series that he did. But for this first one we thought it would be appropriate to play this particular sermon because it is so memorable. This is from 2nd Samuel chapter 21 called Rizpah upon the Rock. And then stick around after the sermon for some final thoughts.
[00:14:32] Speaker B: Would you Turn please to Second Samuel Chapter 21, the Old Testament book of Second Samuel Chapter 21.
The title of my sermon is Rispah upon the Rock or A Strange Providence.
Have any of you ever noticed that sometimes providence will knock you down, and while you are down, it will kick you in the ribs?
Sometimes the providences of God are bitter, they are hard, and yet they are the providences of God. Nonetheless.
I want to help you to see the strange providence in the life of this lady named Rizpah.
Rizpah upon the Rock.
Let's begin at verse one.
Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year.
And David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered, it is for Saul and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.
Then the king called the Gibeonites and said unto them, now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites, and the children of Israel had sworn unto them. And Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.
Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, what shall I do for you? And wherewith shall I make the atonement that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord?
And the Gibeonites said unto him, we will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel.
And he said, what ye shall say, that will I do for you?
And they answered, the king, the man that consumed us and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coast of Israel, let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, that we may hang them in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord did choose. And the king said, I will give them.
But the king spared Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the Lord's oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.
But the king took the two sons of Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul or Moni and Mephibosheth, and the five sons of Michal, Saul's daughter, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Miholathite, and he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites.
And they hanged them in the hill before the Lord.
And they fell, all seven together, and were put to death. In the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of the barley harvest.
And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for her upon the rock from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest upon them by day nor the beasts of the field by night.
And it was told David what Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.
And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan, his son from the men of Jabesh Gilead, which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa.
And they brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan, his son.
And they gathered the bones of them that were hanged and the bones of Saul and of Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin, in Zelah, in the sepulchre of Kish, his father.
And they performed all that the king commanded. And after that, God was entreated for the land.
Thank you. You may be seated.
I have three items in the lesson tonight. First, I want to give you the historical circumstances.
Secondly, I want to talk about the honorable character Rizpah. And thirdly, I want to give you some hallowed conclusions that can easily be drawn from our text.
Are you interested in the story?
Do you remember the story of the Gibeonites? It's told first in the book of Joshua, chapter 9.
The Israelites were not to leave any of the inhabitants of Canaan remaining.
God said, they'll be thorns in your flesh. They'll be a reproach to you.
Kill all of them. They have conquered Jericho. They have captured AI. And the dread and the fear of them has fallen upon the land.
The Gibeonites dwelt in Canaan. They devised an ingenious plan. They selected a small group of emissaries and dressed them in old clothes, gave them old molded bread and old wineskins.
And these emissaries came to Joshua. And they said, we are from a far country, but we've heard about you and about your God.
Make a league with us. And Joshua said, how shall we know but what you dwell in the land?
And they said, oh, my, look at us. Our clothes were new when we left home.
This bread was freshly baked. We are from a far country.
Make a league with us. And Joshua did not inquire of the Lord.
He made a covenant, promising that he would not destroy the Gibeonites. Soon thereafter, he discovered that he had been deceived. Some of the men in the army rose up and would have slain the Gibeonites then and there. But Joshua said, no, we have sworn before the Lord and we cannot go back.
And so they made the Gibeonites to be servants. They would draw the water and chop the wood for the Israelites. And this arrangement persisted for over 400 years.
But when Saul, the first king of Israel, came to the throne, for reasons not given in the Bible, he began to kill many of the Gibeonites. Now the Bible scholars quibble regarding his motives. Some say Saul was a despot. He enjoyed the carnage and the bloodshed.
Others say he's trying to make amends for his debacle. When God sent him to destroy the Amalekites, he was not to leave any of them remaining nor keep any of the spoil. And he did most of what God told him to do. But he kept Agag, king of the Amalekites, as a trophy of his victory.
And when Samuel the prophet met him in the way as he returned from the battle, Saul said, I have done all that the Lord, my God commanded me.
And Samuel said, what then meaneth this lowing of the oxen and this blating of the sheep in mine ear? To obey is better than to sacrifice. Some of the scholars say that Saul is trying to make amends for this debacle. Others ascribe a more noble motive. They say he's returning to the original command to leave none of the inhabitants remaining.
Whatever his motive, this we know. Saul breached the covenant. He broke the promise.
And 30 years after the death of Saul, when David is king Israel, God sends a famine in the land. It persists for three years. And when David inquires of the Lord, the Lord says plainly, the famine is for Saul and for his bloody house because he slew the Gibeonites. In our text, David has gathered the leaders of the Gibeonites and he is seeking to make atonement for this atrocity. He says, what can I do for you?
And they answer, we don't want any money, and we don't want you to put anyone to death on our behalf. What we prefer is that you deliver into our hands seven of the sons of Saul. He's the one who perpetrated this crime against us. Give us seven of his sons and we will hang them and we will be appeased.
And David agrees. He takes the two sons of Rizpah and the five sons of Michal and delivers them into the hands of the Gibeonites. It is along about the middle of April, at the beginning of the Barley harvest.
And they hang these seven sons. Two first descendant or first generation descendants and five second generation descendants of Saul. They hang them and leave them yonder on the hill at Gibeah. These are the historical circumstances. Now I want to talk to you for a while regarding the honorable character of Rizpah.
Her character is best understood against the light of her great disappointment in life. Do you remember Rizpah?
She had been married to the king as a concubine. She had lived at the palace. She had been among the aristocracy.
She had enjoyed the dainties of the land.
But her husband has died. Do you remember how her husband died? The Philistines wounded Saul in a battle and yet his life remained in him. He impaled himself on his own sword in attempted suicide. And yet he lived. A young man came by and Saul said, come near and draw your sword and kill me. Lest these uncircumcised Philistines torture me.
When the Philistines discovered his body and the body of Jonathan his son, they carried them to Bethshan and hanged them out in the street. The brave men of Jabesh Gilead, who owed Saul a great debt of gratitude came and stole the bodies of Saul and Jonathan and buried them in Jabesh Gilead, 20 miles west of the Jordan River. Lizpah has not attended a funeral. She has not had closure to the death of her husband. How can you articulate the grief and the sorrow of heart and mind when a person loses their lives mate? But that's not all of her disappointment. This lady Rizpah has been sexually abused.
The captain of the host for the Israelite army has been publicly reprimanded for sexually abusing these concubines of Saul.
How can you articulate the horror of that a lady experiences when she is violated in such a fashion as this? Are you folks alarmed at the onslaught of sexual abuse in this nation?
Are you alarmed at the onslaught of child sexual abuse in our land?
I have got some down home thinking about that.
I believe that when a man has been adjudicated, found to be guilty of molesting a small child and the judge gives him a 60 day jail sentence with mandatory treatment.
I personally believe the judge ought to be hanged.
I believe that when a man violates a small child in this fashion he forfeits his right to live and ought to be summarily put to death to rid the land of such wickedness which brings the judgment of God upon the nation.
But that's not all of her disappointment.
She has been deposed from the palace she's having to depend upon, her two boys are Moni and Mephibosheth for her daily sustenance. Perhaps she has entertained the notion that one day David, the man after God's own heart, would restore her to some position of dignity in the land. And so the horsemen ride up to her gate and dismount.
But instead, they apprehend her two boys, Armoni and Mephibosheth, the boys of her love, the fruit of her womb. And they commence to drag them away.
And when she says, what is this about?
They say, stand back, lest you lose your own life also.
And quickly she collects a few items, and she follows them at a distance. And when they come to the hill at Gibeah, she watches in abject horror. She watches in disbelief as they hang the five cousins.
And as they hang her two boys, she watches their life ebb away. She watches as those soldiers at last turned to leave, and there are her two boys suspended between earth and heaven. It's then and it's there that Rizpah commences her vigil. She spreads sackcloth upon the rock, and in the daylight, when the vultures would swoop down to tear the flesh her boys, she rises up and drives them away.
And in the midnight hour, though she is exhausted from lack of sleep, when the jackals of the forest would come to tear and devour the flesh of her boys with courage that she never knew she possessed, with discipline that she had never demonstrated before, with dedication and determination that can only come from the resolve of a mother who's committed totally to her children.
She faces those jackals and she drives them away. And she does it day after day, from the beginning of the barley harvest in the middle of April until October, when the fall rains come, she keeps her vigil. She watches as their flesh emaciates, as their flesh at last drops from their skeleton, and as their bones bleach white in the noonday sun. And neighbors and friends come and they console her. And at last they say, come on home with us now. There's nothing more that you can do here.
You cannot restore their lives. What's done is done. We are so sorry. But, Rizpah, you cannot remain. You are delusional. Give up the vigil. Come on home with us. But this mother is not delusional.
No. In her heart, she yet sees one ray of opportunity to do a good thing for her children. This mother believes that at least, and at last, she might be able to give them a decent burial. A noble interment and the heart of this mother is so committed to her children. As long as there is this one ray of hope, she will not relent and she keeps her vigil. I submit to you tonight, beloved, this is honorable character. Thank God for Rizpah.
Now, wouldn't it be something if God were to raise up a new generation of Riz Pas in our day?
Wouldn't it be something if God, this very evening, in this very room, were to raise up a new generation of parents who understand clearly that while their children live, they as parents, have no greater responsibility than. Than to bring those children up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord?
Wouldn't it be something if God were to raise up a new generation of parents who were committed to this notion that it's more important for my children to be acquainted with the 12 patriarchs of the Old Testament and the 12 apostles of the New Testament than for them to be acquainted with the latest video that Hollywood has produced? Wouldn't that be something?
Wouldn't it be something if God were to raise up a new generation of parents who were more concerned about personal purity and holiness and sanctification in the Christian life than they are about academics and about athletics and about popularity?
Wouldn't it be something if God raised up a new generation of parents who could see beyond this moment, beyond this life, and realize that there is an eternity out yonder where their children are going to live one day and to prepare them for eternity?
Are y'all getting any of this?
Do y'all know what I might do if I got to thinking you weren't getting this?
I would.
I'd go back and repeat every word of it.
[00:36:44] Speaker A: We'll be right back with the rest of this sermon. Rizpah upon the Rock by Brother David Miller. In just a moment. I did want to make one quick comment here, which you can't see because you're listening to the audio of the sermon, is that Brother David is simply reciting from memory these Scriptures and his sermon. And so one of the things I would want to encourage you with in your own personal, not just ministry to others, but in your own spiritual walk with the Lord, in your own spiritual disciplines to.
To learn and practice memorizing Scripture. Now, David had a gift, but he would tell you that that gift was not just zapped into him. It took a lot of hard work and dedication to read again and again and again and again through the Scriptures and to hear the Scriptures over and over in order to memorize them. And so it is Not a discipline beyond our ability to, to grow in. And so I would encourage you to do that to, to learn to memorize Scriptures. One of the things we're doing on the, on our social media is there's a Monday morning memory verse video. And so you can go there, you can see the verse and memorize that verse for the week and see if that doesn't help you throughout the week. Hiding God's word in your heart so that you may not sin against him. So let's get back to Brother David's sermon, Rizpah upon the Rock.
[00:38:20] Speaker B: Now this brings me to the third item. You see how quickly I have moved through this.
Now, I want to give you some hallowed conclusions. Perhaps I ought to caution you because there are several of these.
Number one. Sometimes God sends natural calamity as punishment for sin. It the famine is for Saul.
Now, don't come up to me after the service to inquire about Hurricane Katrina.
I don't know.
I don't know if God sent the hurricane as punishment for sin. I do not know. It is the business of the preacher to speak where the Bible speaks.
The Bible didn't say anything about Katrina.
But here's what the Bible does say. Sometimes God sends natural calamity as punishment for sin. It the famine is for Saul. I would say that for one not to at least raise the question regarding Katrina would require unusual naivete, if not biblical ignorance.
When God sends punishment, it is appropriate for his people to inquire why David inquired of the Lord.
I suggest, however, that David would have been better served if he had not waited three years.
At the first glimpse, at the first hint of God's displeasure, the church ought to begin to inquire why.
Sometimes the wheels of God's justice grind slowly, but they grind nonetheless, and they grind exceedingly fine.
I do not have the answer to this question. Why did God wait 30 years after the death of Saul before he sent the judgment? I do not know. I know the judge of all the earth will do right.
Our ways and our thoughts are not like his, his or higher than ours. I would ask this question, however. Why should you and I be willing, eager even to enjoy the benefits and the blessings and the advantages that have accrued unto us from previous generations and not be willing to suffer some of the consequences for their sins and mistakes? Does that make any sense?
Number four.
Sometimes children suffer because of the sins of the parents.
These seven descendants of Saul were depraved and they would have died. It is appointed unto men once to die. They would have died. But the reason they were hanged, the reason they suffered this infamous death, was the direct consequence of their father or their grandfather. In the Decalogue of Exodus, chapter 20, we have it like for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. Isn't that a sobering contemplation for every parent in this room? Doesn't that cause us to tremble?
Number five.
Providence is personal, and yet Providence is bigger than any one person.
Providence was personal. In the life of Rizpah, she wrestled with those tough questions.
If God loves me, why has he allowed this to happen?
Why do the righteous suffer?
If God is in control, for heaven's sake, why doesn't he do something?
Lord, have you not taken into consideration all that's happened to me already?
Lord, my husband has died.
I have been sexually abused.
I've been deposed from the palace.
Lord, I was having to depend upon Amoni and Mephibosheth for my daily sustenance. What am I going to do now, Lord?
Where are you when I need you?
If you are in this room tonight and you have never been forced by your circumstances to wrestle with those tough questions, let me tell you, my friend, you are fortunate and highly favored of the Lord.
Providence is personal. But listen now. Providence is bigger than just one person. It wasn't about Rizpah.
It was about God.
It was about justice.
It was about sovereignty, working out its plan of the ages. And she had to realize that she was only making a cameo appearance in what was a much larger drama. Listen to me tonight, child of God. It's not always about you.
Providence is personal, but it's much beyond one person. She had to go back to Jeremiah, chapter 18 and read again.
Thou art the potter and I am the clay. Mold me and make me after thy will while I'm waiting yielded and still.
Are y'all getting this?
Number six.
Sometimes parents suffer unspeakable sorrow because of trouble with their children, and the parents are not to blame.
It's highly unusual that these two principles would be juxtaposed in this same passage. On the one hand, children suffering because of the sins of the parents, and on the other hand, parents suffering unspeakable sorrow because of trouble with their children. When the parents were not culpable.
It wasn't Rispah's fault. There isn't one scintilla of biblical evidence that Rizpah had ever sloughed off that she had ever been negligent or delinquent. No. It was the fault of their father and their grandfather. And yet this mother suffers unspeakable sorrow. Why, their father's not even there.
Their grandfather's in his grave. Why should this mother suffer in such a fashion? Listen to me. There may be people in this room tonight who. Last night when you left the service and lay for a repose in your bedchamber, your heart was heavy and you could not sleep. Because though you brought your son or daughter up, instilling biblical principles and precepts into their hearts and minds, you brought them here to the Cropwell Church for Sunday school.
Week after week, month after month, they cut their teeth right here.
You brought them to revival services. You sent them to youth camps.
And yet, when they became older teenagers or young adults, for reasons that still have you mystified, they took a left turn and they went out into the world following the flesh and the devil. Have you ever known of that happening?
And the enemy comes. The accuser of the brethren comes. And here's what he says. Your daughter is in the predicament that she is in tonight because of you.
It's your fault.
You knew that she would be vulnerable. You should never have allowed her to go there.
Are you listening, Church?
You were too strict.
You were too harsh.
Your tone was too abrasive.
It's your fault.
And the accuser of the brethren will beat you up.
He will disarm you and disable you and render you useless, rob you of your joy and contentment and bring you to your grave heavy hearted and discouraged.
You have to be mature. You have to be discerning. You have to retrace your steps. Did you receive them as a gift from God? Did you take your responsibilities seriously? Of course you did. Did you teach your son or your daughter to drink alcoholic beverages? No. Did you teach your daughters to be promiscuous? Did you teach them to engage in the drug culture? No. You sought to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And yet the enemy comes and he accuses the brethren.
You have to learn how to trust God. You have to learn how to trust Providence. You have to learn how to wait upon the Lord. Are y'all listening?
I don't know what the next number is, but next, I think it's maybe seven.
Character is not made in a crisis, it's manifested.
Rispah had character before the crisis developed.
And I'm warning you tonight, my dear friends, as surely as you keep on living down Here you are apt to face a crisis in your own life.
If you want to be able to manifest godly character, if you want to be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, regardless of the circumstances, you've got to develop that kind of character in your life today.
8.
Sometimes a child of God will have their greatest influence in the midst of their deepest disappointment. Who would have ever dreamed that Rizpah would have influenced the mighty monarch of Israel to do something he should have done 30 years ago?
For 30 years, David has been negligent. Do you know what he should have done the first few weeks of his administration?
He should have sent an envoy over to Jabesh Gilead to retrieve the bones of the first king in Israel. You bury the king, do you not?
Even if he's a democrat.
You bury the king even if he's a republican.
He may not be of your political stripe, but if he's the king, he's God's appointed leader. And you bury the king and you do it with dignity and with pomp and Circumstance.
And for 30 years David has neglected to bury the bones of Saul. Who would have ever dreamed this concubine would have influenced the king to do such a thing?
Now, I think there's a practical lesson here. Here's what I want you to do now. I'm going to move towards you and I want you to just kind of lean out toward me. Will you just move your back away from the pew. Move out here like this.
There's no one here but us, is there?
I want you to imagine that you and I are sitting out in the woods on a log.
You on one end and I on the other.
Can we talk?
Do you know what might have to happen for revival to come today?
We might have to go back 30 years and correct some of the mistakes that we've made.
Do you know what Baptist churches are famous for today? It's not pie and ice cream socials.
It's getting enough people together that we can choose upsides and have a big fight.
That's what we're known for.
A little group of folks will get mad over some piddling matter and little white haired ladies that make the best fried apple pies you ever tasted or become meaner than a junkyard dog.
They'll catch the preacher out here on the parking lot and give him a cussing.
And a group of them will pull out because they can't have their way.
And they'll go down the road to the next crossroads and they'll start up a new church. They'll name it Emmanuel Baptist Church.
God is with us.
He's not up there at Cropwell anymore. We left.
Isn't that the truth? Now, some of you are trying to look at me really pious.
But look, I've got the gift of discernment. You know exactly what I'm telling you.
And you know what some of the old mossbacks back up at Cropwell will do.
They've been sitting on a pile of cash so big they could burn a wet mew with all the money they got.
They've got IBM stock and Walmart stock that they bought back in the 70s.
They hadn't given $1,000 to God's Church in 10 years. That's less than $10.
But now that that Emmanuel crowd pulled out, they'll get off of some of that cash and start giving big bucks.
That's not because they love Jesus.
It's because they don't want to run the risk of bumping into some of that Emanuel crowd down at Walmart without having the pleasure of being able to say, well, let me just tell you one thing.
Our budget hasn't suffered one dime since you left. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
And there's a big cloud over the community.
But a year goes by and 2 and 5 and 10 and 20, and the rhetoric has simmered down.
And 30 years goes by and God sends a famine.
Now it's not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of hearing of the words of God.
And we have a form of godliness without the power.
We tread the courts and there's a dearth.
And God says it's for Saul and for his bloody house.
God says it's because of the harshness.
It's because of what was said.
It's because of the attitudes of the people through the years.
Listen, now, you got time for one other item.
Why don't you do like this? Sit back up and go like this.
I want you to look at verse 14, the last half of the verse.
And they performed all that the king commanded.
And after that, God was entreated for the land.
Isn't that amazing?
I confess to you tonight that I believe in the absolute sovereignty of God and that his providence touches every area of our lives. But having said that, I also believe that the sovereign God of the Bible can be and often is entreated by the actions and the attitudes of his people.
Theologically, this is a mystery.
And yet both are clearly taught in the Scriptures.
Wouldn't it be something if God's children got up to date their personal compliance with the will of God.
And so I ask you tonight, have you, sir, have you, ma'am, performed all that the King commanded?
Are you in compliance?
I'm not asking you if you're spiritual. Everybody's spiritual these days. Oprah Winfrey's spiritual. She can give you advice on the show. What I'm asking you is right now, right there where you sit, are you in compliance?
Have you performed all that the king commanded?
If not, my appeal to you tonight is get up to date tonight. Don't wait another day. Don't put it off another hour.
Bend your knee here in God's altar, bow your heart and your head and say, yes, Lord, yes.
And wouldn't it be something if God were to be entreated for the land?
[00:59:07] Speaker A: Thank you for listening to this first episode of the Line Upon Line Ministries podcast. My name is Mark Williams and I'm looking forward to diving into God's Word and more about ministry life and other things with you through this podcast in the days and years to come again. Be sure to subscribe, sign up for our newsletter online through the website and be sure to share this episode if it's been an encouragement to you. God bless you. We'll see you next time.
[00:59:36] Speaker B: Sa.
