1 Sam 18:30, Then the commanders of the Philistines went out to battle, and it happened as often as they went out, that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul. So his name was highly esteemed. 
	The reading this morning gives some background information as to what was taking place as David fell out of the graces of King Saul. Yet, at the same time, the Lord was working in the course of this young man’s military career to make him beloved of the people. As declared in this passage, David manifested himself wisely to all, and therefore his name became highly esteemed. 
This is in evidence as we read this morning in verse 5 of this 18th chapter. 1 Sam 18:5, So David went out wherever Saul sent him, and prospered; and Saul set him over the men of war. And it was pleasing in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants. 
	This fact was important in the growth and development of David in order to prepare him for his eventual position as the ordained king of the nation. It also worked to prepare the heart of the people to accept him as one who could rule wisely and honorably as their earthly sovereign. All of this was according to the plan and the purposes foreordained for him by the Lord God Jehovah. 
	None of this was happenstance. None of it was luck nor was it good fortune. It all showed the Hand of God upon this young shepherd from early on in his life, to the maturity required of one who would eventually lead a nation to become the great witness of the Lord God Almighty on this earth. 
	Inherent in this fact of the preparation by the Lord, is the reality that David had a heart and a love for God and for His Word. There was within this young man that earnest desire to please and to honor and to bring adoration to God. It was intrinsic in the songs of praise that he wrote as well as the manner in which he held the solemn and intense desire to know and to fellowship and to enjoy the relationship of friendship with Jehovah.
There was that innate heart after God that wanted to build the earthly house of the Lord, the Temple. He would not be permitted this opportunity because he was a man of war. However, but that was in his heart and he made every provision for the building to take place by his son, Solomon. All the materials and the craftsmen required were put into place and allotted for by David so that Solomon would lack nothing in the actual construction of the Temple of the Lord.
We must backtrack a few chapters to get to the core of the heart of the relationship that David shared with Jehovah, the Lord God Almighty. Please return to 1 Sam 2:30 in that sad passage detailing the Word of the Lord to the Prophet Eli. His regard for the Lord had withered. His sons were running amok in the land, the so called priests of Jehovah who only did what was needed to feed their lusts and cravings. Eli did not try to stop them in order to defend the testimony of the Lord. Thus the Lord declared the following reality to Eli.
1 Sam 2:30, "Therefore the Lord God of Israel declares, 'I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father should walk before Me forever'; but now the Lord declares, 'Far be it from Me — for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me will be lightly esteemed.
	…for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me will be lightly esteemed. This set the tone for the priesthood of the Prophet Samuel before the Lord, because he did honor the Lord and the Lord honored him in that everything he spoke came to pass. Of course the key to his prophesying was that Samuel went to the Lord and only spoke that which the Lord required and prompted him to put forth. Therefore, since it was the direct Word of God that was being declared by Samuel, it came to pass just as he so spoke.
	As well, in this regard, we have the further recognition of this truth from the Lord …for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me will be lightly esteemed. This theme becomes evident in the difference between King Saul and King David. Saul had no regard for the Lord. He was interested in maintaining his hold on power and prestige and honor from the people. Therefore, when David received the accolades from the populace, Saul was jealous and tried to kill this declared usurper of the throne. David, in honoring the king chosen by God would not touch the head of Saul. David honored the Lord by honoring Saul. 
However, in Saul, there resided that utter disregard for the Lord that characterized him for the rest of his kingship. As a result, The Lord lightly esteemed Saul and chose a man whose heart was after a living relationship with Jehovah as the new and anointed king of the nation of God.
	Let us be very clear on several points before we proceed any further. Note that the declaration of the Lord is …for those who honor Me I will honor…. This is all about the heart of the person and whether that person honors the Lord or not. It is not based on any actions or works. That avails a person nothing in the sight of God. 
Saul did a number of great acts as king, but it was his heart and his attitude and his nonchalance toward God that was his downfall. He had those times and those opportunities to change the course of how he dealt with the Lord. Each time he chose to go his own way, regardless of the fact that the Lord had set before him exactly what was expected. Saul’s mind and heart was set on the things of this world and that held the place of honor in him. He despised the Lord and therefore the Lord lightly esteemed him by replacing him with another who would do that which showed an inherent honor and reverence and glory to God, Alone!
	Again, the key is that we can not earn the honor of the Lord by doing things which we think He would find to be of service. So many people look at their lives in the terms of doing more good things than bad things, of doing enough things that seem to be of service to the Lord in their own eyes and then surmising that the Lord will account it to them in the end. They live on a scale of good and bad so to speak. They try to balance out their works with the depraved concept that God has to accept them because they are basically good people.
	The main issue with this is that, rather than coming to God in order to freely receive the salvation that is only found in Jesus Christ, these people try to one up God. They think that they know better than God what is needed to buy their way into heaven. They cast aside the unfathomable cost of the death and the resurrection of the Only Begotten Son of God, God, Himself coming to this earth and being viciously crucified, dying a death that He never should have suffered, our death, on that cross. Then in all the victory of such an awesome resurrection that never was before and never will be again, the Only Begotten Son of God was raised up in life and glory and power and majesty to rule as Lord over the entirety of His creation, forever and forever. 
	This is what these so called workers of righteousness rather than sinfulness set aside, trying to replace it with their paltry human deeds that will never, ever, in any measure compare to the perfect work of Christ Jesus. That is the utter manifestation of their disregard for God, and thus they will be so very lightly esteemed by God. They will suffer the consequences of turning their backs on His freely offered and only way of salvation.
	Concerning those good works by those who are the redeemed of the Lord, there is a vast difference, the difference evidenced between Saul and David. Saul did what he thought was good and what might serve to show Jehovah something of value as a reason for those things that Saul accomplished. His focus was on the acclaim of his people, thinking that if what he did also pleased the Lord, then all was AOK with him.
	David, on the other hand, imperfectly as it was, tried to do those things that the Lord required of him. He did not attempt to manipulate the heart of God. David sought to please and honor God. If that served to please the people whom he had rule over, fine.
However, David’s first and utmost priority was to honor God and only do those things which the Lord showed him to do. That meant that David continually read and feasted on the Word of God. He spent much time in prayer, talking with and worshipping and praising the Lord. His Psalms are filled with those conversations which brought forth honor and adoration to Jehovah, the Lord God Almighty. That was his heart and that was the reason for the good works that he set forth to accomplish.
	The same needs to be true in our lives. We are only to do those things which we know the Lord would have us do, not those things that we try to manipulate into something that might please God in the long run. No, as we spend our time with the Lord, as we commune with Him, as we praise and worship Him, as we cherish our time in prayer and in His Word, we will learn to only do those things which are what He would have us to do. 
We will seek first to please Him. Everything else will be the result of our obedience and our reverence and our dedication unto Him. The good works that we do on this earth will not be to show how great we might be. They will all be to show those around us Whom we serve with all our heart and being and might and utmost joy and dedication! 
	Consider what King David told his son, Solomon, as David’s time on this earth drew to a close. Please open to 1 Kings 2:1-3. Here we have the advice from father to son, from one ruler to his successor, from one man who cherished the Lord to another whom he hoped would follow that same path all the days of his life.
	  1 Kings 2:1-3, As David's time to die drew near, he charged Solomon his son, saying, "I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man. And keep the charge of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn… 
	This was not the heart of a Saul, trying to propagate the success of another who would try to make the people serve him and praise him and give him all the earthly glory and recognition and adoration. There is no manner of trying to tell Solomon that his success as a man and as a king depended on all the human acknowledgment and acclaim. That he had to learn to stride upward on the backs and with the enslavement of those who would serve only as stepping stones to greater and greater triumph in the realm of the human accounting of prominence. 
	No, this is the heart felt urging of a man of God to his successor to hold to that path. Study the Word of God. Cherish the time in it. Hold to the fullness of being a tremendous testimony of the Lord God Jehovah. Spend time with Him as time is spent in the study, the fellowshipping, the recounting and the rejoicing in the Lord’s statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and the wonderful recounting of His Faithfulness. 
If Solomon would so cherish and honor and reverence and adhere to the Lord, there would be great success in all his endeavors. The reason would be self-evident in relation to the fact that as Solomon obeyed and honored the Lord, the Lord would bring forth that praise and honor and esteem upon the king. Hand in hand it would proceed, as it did, albeit, imperfectly with David and the Lord God Jehovah. 
	The other lesson that we can take from the way in which we consider and honor the Lord, or else despise Him, is in the manner in which we deal with those around us. What the point is, here, at this time, is the difference in which Saul used people and the way in which David treated people. Again, we are not considering David as the perfect type of Christ, but he was a type of the kingship of Jesus Christ in the course of the treatment of those over whom he had reign. 
	Saul was a user. He dealt with those around him in terms of how he could benefit. He would treat them well for a period of time, then utterly dismiss, and even plot their death when they no longer were needed to promote his own agenda. 
	That is often how we treat others, if we carefully examine the manner in which we view those who could promote us or become a stepping stone to a better situation. We try to make them a slave to our needs for dealing with the daily drudgery that we might have in our lives. Many times, we may not even see them as people, just those necessary cogs in the wheels to our success. 
	The truth is that we can often make ourselves seem so wonderful and so great to be around that we sway their opinion and their admiration and their cooperation for a time. We present an aura of likability and estimation in terms of climbing up on pedestals of human construction and imagination. Look at how the world showcases those who are the rich and the famous and the thriving and the powerful. Mankind is generally very gullible and willing to be led by those human icons which represent the desires and the aspirations of our dreams and our human goals.
	However, no one can hoodwink the Lord God Almighty! No one can influence His estimation and His esteem and His loving kindness. All is open and fully presented to Him despite our every human effort to hide all our indiscretions and our motivations and our schemes and our feeble patterns of supposed likability. Nothing of mankind, from the time of Adam onward, can be used to make us any more worthy of God and His consideration and His estimation of who we are. 
Either we are in Christ, covered over by Christ’s Righteousness, fully partakers of His spiritual life, and adopted into the very family of God, or we are outsiders, lost in our sin and our trespasses. As such we will be hopelessly flailing against the true and accurate presentation of who we are in our selfish and pitiful despising of God and His Word and His Sanctity and His Righteousness. Thus we will be lightly esteemed by the One Who is the Divine and Holy Judge of all mankind. So be it.
	Then the commanders of the Philistines went out to battle, and it happened as often as they went out, that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul. So his name was highly esteemed. Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Phil 4:13. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Amen.