"Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, How glorious was the king of Israel to day, who uncovered himself to day in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth himself! And David said unto Michal, It was before the LORD, which chose me before thy father, and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel: therefore will I play before the LORD. And I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own sight: and of the maidservants which thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be had in honour"—2 Samuel 6:20-22.

AVID had been soaring up on eagle's wings. Perhaps never in his life before had he so enjoyed the public worship of God. He had forgotten everything in the delight of bringing the ark of the Lord home to his own city, where he had prepared a tabernacle for its resting-place. He had thrown himself into the gladsome service of the Lord that day. Nor had he been alone in joyful adoration; for all the people had been unanimously with him in honoring Jehovah, the God of their fathers. It had been a high day, a day of days, such a day as the nation had not enjoyed in all its history before.
The king came home to bless his household, wishing that all his family might share in his joy. Exactly at that moment his wife, Michal, Saul's daughter, who had felt disgusted at seeing her husband dressed like a common Levite, and leading the way in the midst of the common people, came out to meet him, full of furious scorn. Her language to him must have acted as if a man had thrown a pail of cold water into his face. With sarcastic words, villainously exaggerating what he had done, and imputing to him what he had never done, she scolded the man she had scorned. How he must have felt it for the moment! We need not wonder if some have thought that his answer was somewhat bitter. Remember that David was not Jesus, but only David.
Always suspect some danger nigh when you perceive too much delight. It may sound like a paradox, but it is true, and experience proves it, that we never seem to be so near meeting the devil as when we have just met our God. When our Savior had been on the Mount of Transfiguration with his disciples, he met, at the foot of the hill, a father with a child possessed of the devil! Whenever you enjoy a season of peculiarly close communion with God, and are full of very high joy, be on your guard. The very worst side of the world will be turned towards you when you have been nearest to the eternal throne. Pirates look out for loaded vessels. Probably Michal had never spoken so to David before; but then David had never before danced before the ark of the Lord. Here stood the man of God confronted by one whose feelings were the very opposite of his own. Like an iceberg, she crossed the path of this great vessel, and chilled it like an Arctic winter.
This led David to reaffirm and yet more plainly state his faith in God. As many of the choicest words of our Lord Jesus were brought out of him by the Pharisees, so one of the choicest statements of electing love that David had made was brought out by the shrewishness of Saul's daughter. I hope it will be for our profit this morning to consider it. David justified what he had done by God's choice of him. If he had arrayed himself like a Levite, and danced with all his might before the ark in the presence of the common people, he said, "It was before the Lord, which chose me before thy father, and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel: therefore will I play before the Lord."
Dear brethren, there is a great power in the truth of election when a man can grasp it. When he knows for himself truthfully, and by indisputable evidence, that the Lord has chosen him, then he breaks forth in songs of divine adoration and praise: then is his heart lifted up, and he pays a homage to God which others would not think of paying. The Lord Jesus has manifested himself to him as he does not unto the world; and therefore he acts towards the Lord Jesus as the world can never act, and does what the world can never understand. I am going to speak to those of you who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, for you are chosen: faith is the sure mark of election. If you believe in Jesus, and are resting in him, this is the token that God has chosen you from before the foundation of the world; for no man yet ever had a true faith in Christ without receiving it from God, and that gift from God is the token that he will give all other saving, gifts, and that he has chosen that man to eternal salvation. The effect upon you of your knowing your election of God will be similar to the effect which it had upon David when he knew that the Lord had chosen him to be the ruler over Israel.
I. What effect had this doctrine, this experience, this inward conviction upon David? First, IT MADE GOD THE LEADING THOUGHT WITH DAVID; and I believe that, in every case where a man is inwardly persuaded of the Holy Ghost that the Lord has chosen him out of the world, the sure and certain effect is that the Lord stands out to him in a clear light, and becomes to him the greatest force in his life, the chief motive power, the main thought of his mind. Observe how David said to Michal, "It was before the Lord"; and all through the chapter you constantly read that David did this and that "before the Lord." In the fourteenth verse we read, "And David danced before the Lord with all his might." It will be so, God will be realized in every passage of our life. Has the Lord chosen me to be his own? Then, I see the hand of the Lord in my parentage, in my birth, in my bringing up; I see the hand of the Lord in my calling out from the world, and in my conversion. I see the Lord in his providence, in his preservation of me from the paths of the destroyer; in fact, everywhere I see the Lord. You will notice in the whole teaching of the Puritans, great believers in this doctrine of divine choice, that they saw God's hand in everything. The laws of nature they knew very little about, but the presence of God they knew a great deal about; and to my mind we have made a very poor exchange when we have given up the Lord for his laws, and when the whole bent of our philosophy has been to teach us that God is much further off than our fathers thought. I love still to see God when I wake, and watch through the day and believe that I see him in all that happens. In a thunderstorm I hear the voice of God, and I see his glory in the flames of fire. I love to think of God as sending us the genial shower and the cheery sunshine I know it is all resolved into natural law, but I am simple enough to see God rather than the law. The man who believes that God has chosen him, from that moment beholds a living God in nature, in providence, and in grace: in fact, the Lord becomes everything to him.
This was especially the case with David in his devotion. David that day worshipped God in spirit and in truth. A great many people, when they go up to the assembly, are very particular about their bonnets or their garments. Somebody might, perhaps, notice their bonnets, and this thought weighs heavily on their hearts. I have known people say that they could not go to a place of worship because they had not proper things to go in; their clothes being evidently a great consideration. What a turning aside from God to the tailor! Often people sit in the house of prayer, and profess to worship, but they are noticing who is there, and who is not there; and any little slip in the preacher's language is a welcome diversion to them. They think of anybody and anything rather than God. It was not so with David: to him the Lord was all in all in worship. He said to himself, "I am King of Israel, but that I may avow myself to be the true servant of Jehovah I will put on a linen garment to-day, like a common Levite." This he did "before the Lord." The Lord, who searches the heart, knew what David meant by his dress, by his playing upon the harp, and by his leaping and dancing in the midst of the people. It was "before the Lord" that he showed his excessive joy; and if others happened to be there as spectators, he did not repel them, but he did not restrain himself. If the Lord accepted him, and his offerings, and his praises, he would have all that he wanted, whether the multitude or the princes of Israel accepted him or not. Now, the man who believes that the Lord has chosen him unto himself will worship the Lord alone, and will neither idolize the creature, nor even cast a side-look upon him when he is adoring his Maker. It is ours to worship always, and to worship none but Jehovah. I adore Jehovah; I take his Book in my hand; I read it believing it to be inspired; and while so doing, I do not sit as a judge, but as a disciple; I do not criticize, but I adore. I look up to Christ on the cross, and I worship God in Christ Jesus: I do not quibble about the righteousness of substitution, but I adore the wisdom and the grace which are displayed therein. He that believes that God has chosen him feels for God so high a regard that he becomes his All in All. He says, "This people have I formed for myself"; and we reply, "This God is our God for ever and ever."
The effect of this truth upon David was also that, as the Lord had bccome the great influence of his life, and the great object of his adoration, so he was to him his supreme Lord. Mark well the language of the twenty-first verse: "The Lord which chose me to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord." David did not say, "Over my people": he acknowledged that they were not his people, but Jehovah's people. He was only lieutenant-governor; the Lord was still the great King of Israel. O dear friends, if you have a due sense of God's choice of you, you recognize that Jehovah is your Lord and King. You are mindful of your stewardship; you admit that you are God's servant. If you have property, it is not yours, but his who has chosen you. If you are placed in office in Church or State, still the Lord who has chosen you has sovereign rights over you, which you acknowledge in your daily life, only grieving that you fail to be perfectly obedient, and that, when you have done all, you are still only an unprofitable servant. Complete subordination to God is the desire of every man who delights in being chosen of the Lord. Oh, that we could practice it more and more! Those who are chosen are the Lord's portion, and are not their own to live unto themselves. Those who hope to be saved by merit work for themselves that they may win their wages; but those who have received the gift of God, which is eternal life, live unto the Lord alone, that they may show their gratitude for his royal love. Our hearts are stout before men, but in the Lord's presence we bow in the dust; the words of others we test and weigh, but at the word of Jehovah we tremble. Every man who recognizes himself as chosen of God will loyally serve the glorious Lord who hath chosen him. It is not ours to follow our wills, wishes, or whims, but ours to fulfill our life's mission at all costs, knowing that he who has appointed us thereto has an absolute right to do as he wills with his own.
The great system known as "The Doctrines of Grace," brings before the mind of the man who truly receives it God and not man. The whole scheme of that doctrine looks God-ward, and regards God as first, and the plan of salvation as chiefly arranged for the glory of the Most High. If you believe that everything turns upon the free-will of man, apart from any purpose of God, you will naturally have man as the principal figure in your landscape; but if you believe that there is a choice on the part of the Lord, then God will become prominent in your thoughts. If you look to be saved by your own works you will of course think much of yourself; if you believe your faith and your repentance to have come to you without the work of the Spirit of God, you will think well of yourself; and if you believe that your future perseverance depends upon your unaided self, you will look to yourself for everything, and you will rely upon your own wisdom and strength. The doctrines which are not of grace lead you away from God and throw you upon self. On the other hand, if you fully believe the doctrine which Jonah learned in the belly of the great fish—"salvation is of the Lord"—then you will trust in God, hope in God, love God, worship God, serve God, and God will be even unto you as the rising sun, shining more and more in your heart unto the perfect day. I do pray that God may be great, and greatly to be praised in the heart of every one of us. May we serve him with gladness, and come before him with thanksgiving; for we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
II. Secondly, IT WILL CREATE IN US A PROPER DISREGARD FOR HUMAN OPINION. I have already told you that in his worship David did not allow the opinions of men to weigh with him. He worshipped "before the Lord," and there he left it. Men might judge him mad, as Michal seems to hint that he was; or they might condemn him as fanatical, extravagant, and rabid; but this was as the chaff of the threshing-floor to him. If any despised him in their hearts he was not moved thereby; for so long as he knew that his heart was right before God, and that his worship was accepted of God, he would let others commend or censure at their own sweet wills. God's chosen servant is not the servant of men. He could not serve two masters, and he does not try to do so. He goes about his Master's business with a holy liberty of soul, for his bonds are loosed towards man.
He does not seek honor from the many. You remember Saul, and what he said to Samuel. Samuel turned away from him in indignation, and was about to leave him, when Saul laid hold upon him, and said, "Honour me before the people." That was the great idea of Saul's mind. "Honour me before the people; let the people think well of me. O prophet of God, do not disgrace me in the eyes of the multitude, but let the people still have me in esteem." David sought not the honor which cometh from men. It would have struck some minds that if the king wore the ordinary garment of a Levite, if he mixed with the crowd, if he became one of the people, if he walked in procession with them, if he even led them in the holy dance, then the common crowd would say in their hearts," Is this a king? Why should we obey a man who is one of ourselves?" Potentates surround themselves with pomp, and keep themselves apart, that they may have glory in men's eyes. But it did not occur to David to provide against such a danger when the glory of God was concerned. The populace might think as they pleased of him: he was the elect of God, and therefore he did not consider his standing with the people. In the presence of God it became him to abase himself, and he did so, whether it was good policy or not. Kings before God are only men, and however bright their crowns or high their thrones, when they worship they must lay aside their trappings and affectations of superiority, and must bow before Jehovah in the dust. So King David did, and in doing it, he had no fear lest the multitude should hold him in the less esteem. O child of God, have a holy disregard of that Vox Populi which is profanely said to be Vox Dei; but which once cried, "Crucify him, crucify him."
David did not even consult the judgment of the few. Of course, he had around him a little set of special people, the elite of Israel, who had great reverence for royalty and all its dignity. Michal was the representative of these. Looking out of the window, she looked down upon David in a double sense, for she could not bear to see a king dressed as a servant, a king dancing before the ark. She thought him light-headed, and frivolous, if not distinctly mad. No doubt, there are particularly nice and dainty people who will censure God's chosen if they live wholly to his praise, and they will call them eccentric, old-fashioned, obstinate, absurd, and I don't know what besides. From the window of their superiority they look down upon us. Suppose they do. They may wait until it is their turn to look up, and that will come sooner than they think. The man who says, "God has chosen me," can afford to let others think and speak after their own nature. It is his business to take his stand separately, and deliberately and distinctly to do what he believes to be right, and let the many or the few do as they will.
Beloved, the doctrines of grace put the very idea of honoring man out of court with us. Go and listen to certain preachers, and hear how they enlarge upon the dignity of human nature. My friend Dr. Pierson, who prayed just now, has accepted very little of modern teaching upon that point; for he confessed unto God that we were worse than the worms we trod upon. What say you to that? We are not very dignified creatures according to that statement; and I fully endorse it. Dignity of human nature! Dignity of flesh which goes to corruption and the worm! Let those who will extol the creature of an hour, I glorify the Creator, who is everlasting. Fallen human nature deserves no praise. It is not easy to find terms humiliating enough fitly to describe the degradation into which sin has brought us, and the helplessness in which sin has left us, and the need of sovereign grace to save us from perishing for ever. If any think that we should magnify man, we are of another mind; for we wonder that the Lord should be mindful of him, and visit him. The Lord of hosts will not endure that man should magnify himself; for he has purposed to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the excellent of the earth.
Proud man-worshippers will despise you if you hold the doctrines of grace: they want something novel, and so they sneer at you as a piece of antiquity. Be content to be old-fashioned, God's choice of you is older than the fashions, and if that stands, you may well stand by the truth of it. Some will despise you for your simplicity, and insinuate that you are destitute of culture and science, and are repeating exploded dogmas only believed in by the illiterate. This refutes itself; for the truly wise never show contempt of others. After all, God's truth is more profound than all the speculations of men. "The foolishness of God is wiser than men." Hold you to God's truth, challenge it who may. If you find a doctrine in God's Word which flatters human nature, let me know of it. I find therein great truths which lay our nature among the diseased, the condemned, and the dead; but none which sing its praises. The Scriptures tell us that we must be born again, and called out of our spiritual graves by a miracle; they also tell us that we are not saved by our works, and that "it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy." We are saved by grace, and grace alone; and that grace is free and sovereign according to that wondrous word, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." So, you see, the effect of this doctrine, when it is really grasped, is to set the Lord on high in the soul, but to put human opinion in a lower place.
III. Then, thirdly, A SENSE OF ELECTION CAUSES A LOW OPINION OF SELF. David said, "I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own sight." David would more and more abase himself before the Lord. He felt that whatever Michal's opinion of him might be, it could not be more humbling than his own view of himself. Brother, if any man thinks ill of you, do not be angry with him; for you are worse than he thinks you to be. If he charges you falsely on some point, yet be satisfied, for if he knew you better he might change the accusation, and you would be no gainer by the correction. If you have your moral portrait painted, and it is ugly, be satisfied; for it only needs a few blacker touches, and it would be still nearer the truth. "I will be base in mine own sight." This was well said. Perhaps if David had carried it out more fully, and had been rendered watchful thereby, it might have saved him from his great fall. A sense of electing love will render you base in your own sight. I will tell you why.
First, you will never understand why the Lord has chosen you. Often will you sing: