God Looks On the Heart

God Looks On the Heart

David, Part 1

By Pastor Matt Black

23 January 2008
Midweek Prayer Meeting
1 Samuel 16:1-13

Scripture and Theme: Open your Bible to the book of 1 Samuel 16:1-13 this evening. We are looking at the life of David tonight. The title of our message this evening is: “God Looks on the Heart”.

Introduction: The Lord is still looking, as He was in David’s time, for a man after God’s own heart. David had humble beginnings. He knew that he was nothing. That’s a good thing, because the Bible says when we understand that we are weak, then we are truly strong, and God’s strength is completed in and through our weakness.

1 Samuel 16:1-13, “And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons. 2 And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the LORD said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the LORD.

Now look at verse 6, “And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the LORD’S anointed is before him. 7 But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. 8 Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither hath the LORD chosen this. 9 Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. And he said, Neither hath the LORD chosen this. 10 Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The LORD hath not chosen these. 11 And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither. 12 And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.”

[Prayer for guidance]

Are you sealed with the Holy Spirit? Do you know what the filling of the Holy Spirit is? The moment we are saved, we are filled with the Holy Spirit. We go from filling to filling. We are endued with power.

Tonight we come to the life of David, and he is a man who has a heart for God. God would raise up a man to the throne who would exemplify the love of God. This was needed.

We come to verse 1 of 1 Samuel 16, and…

I. We read about the Present Spiritual Darkness in Israel. Verse 1, “And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons”. The people of Israel had everything going for them!

Ø They were Abraham’s descendents!

Ø They had a mighty deliverance from Egypt.

Ø The Red Sea had parted at the hand of Moses.

Ø They had great victory under Joshua, conquering the cities of Canaan.

Ø They all had new homes that they had not built and new vineyards that they had not planted. And they got comfortable.

And isn’t that how it goes in the second and third generation? The slide comes almost out of nowhere! The human heart is that deceitful. How many scandalous stories have we heard of some infamous person in a death metal band having a preacher for a father? Each generation must take hold of God for themselves! Sadly that is not usually the norm, and the next generation falls away! So it was in Israel.

A. We see the darkness of their Culture. God deliver us from a culture of comfort. It led the people of Israel to forget God. They began to dabble in all the temptations of the lost world. And they soon became enslaved to the world. They lost their children. And generation after generation grew up with head knowledge but lost in their hearts. Soon even the head knowledge began vanish from society.

So from the death of Joshua to David’s day, there was almost no moral standard. As Judges 21:25 says, “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes”. So we see the darkness of their culture.

B. So now we see the darkness of their King.

There came a time when the people asked for a king so they could “be like all the nations” (1 Samuel 8:20). As a side note, let me say that there was nothing wrong with Israel requesting a king. God made provision for it in Deuteronomy. He knew such a day would come. The issue was the kind of king they wanted. In Deuteronomy 17:14-20, God gives the qualifications for a king.

Ø He is to be chosen of God

Ø He must be a Hebrew

Ø He must not multiply wives for himself

Ø He must not multiply horses for himself

Ø He must not multiply riches for himself

Ø He was to write an exact copy of the Law for himself, memorize and practice the Word of God

Ø He was to be a servant of the people

1. Saul was highly regarded by men. Saul, described in 1 Samuel 9:2 as “a choice young man, and a goodly: and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people”. Saul was highly regarded for all the wrong reasons. The people were not impressed with his heart; they were impressed with his height. They were not impressed with his passion for God, but only his personality.

2. Saul was quickly rejected by God. Saul was not a man of the Word or a servant of the people. He became an apostate. Paul said, “Demas hath forsaken me having loved this present world” (2 Timothy 4:10). He was one of those who put his hand to the plough and then turn back to the world. He compromised in completely destroying the Amalekites. Saul was an excuse maker. He was a good talker. But Samuel called him on his disobedience. He let the King of the Amalekites live. And by this Saul had rejected God. So God says to Saul in 1 Samuel 15:23, “Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king”.

Saul then turned to sorcery and died of suicide. The suicide of Saul was one of the darkest hours of Israel’s history. The people had rejected God from being king, and now God had “rejected [Saul] from reigning over Israel” as our text in I Samuel 16:1 says. It is during the dark days of human history that God is quietly, behind the scenes, preparing a man after His own heart.

Application: Today our leadership in the USA claim to know God, yet they will not risk their congressional pensions or face time on Television to really end the darkness upon this country.

C. But now in 1 Samuel 16, we see the darkness beginning to Conclude. It begins to depart. God says to Samuel in verse 1, “…fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons”. Oil is an outward symbol of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. God says, “…fill thine horn with oil”.

So we see the Spiritual darkness of the culture and of the king. Secondly we see that during times of great spiritual darkness…

II. God choice for a new Spiritual Direction. Now don’t leave this truth only in the life of David. “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition” (1 Corinthians 10:11). You are God’s answer for a new spiritual direction in your family, in your neighborhood, and in your church! You may be God’s anointed choice for a radical turn in the spiritual atmosphere of your surroundings!

Now the people of Israel had been going their own direction, so no one can quite understand God’s choice of David. Let’s look at God’s choice of David.

A. God’s choice of David is sovereign. It occurs in eternity. What sent Samuel out to meet David’s father Jesse? It was God! David had no idea what was about to happen. Of course these verses are referring to David’s service, but David’s service comes out of his salvation. We are saved to serve! We are all “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

We read again in 1 Samuel 16:1, “…fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons”.

Nobody understood this, but God says in Isaiah 55:9, “as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

B. God’s choice of a man seems strange. It is contrary to human reason.

1. A no-name Town.

God’s choice for a king would come from among the sons of Jesse the Bethlehemite. Bethlehem was an obscure town. Micah 5:2 informs us, that Bethlehem Ephratah was “little among the thousands of Judah.”

2. A no-name Boy. Nobody would have guessed that Jesse’s son David would be chosen that day. His brothers all looked down upon him. Remember how Eliab greeted him when he came to give his brothers bread while they were cowering at Goliath?

a. Samuel thought Eliab would be a good choice. Look at verse 6 of 1 Samuel 16, “And it came to pass, when they [Jesse’s sons] were come, that he [Samuel] looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the LORD’S anointed is before him.”

b. Jesse thought it would be anyone but David.

Ø First he has Eliab come out.

Ø Then Abinadab

Ø Then Shammah

Ø Then in verse 10, “Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The LORD hath not chosen these. 11 And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children?”

And look at how Jesse’s answer: “he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither”. I’m pretty sure Samuel’s instructions at this point annoyed David’s father.

It was foolish in the eyes of Jesse and his older sons that David should be chosen. But Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:27 that “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise”. Why? “That no flesh should glory in His presence” (verse 29).

Application: You may not be well thought of in your family. You may not be an intellectual. God doesn’t care about your education and your family’s place in society or what college degree you have.

c. But aren’t you glad that only God’s choice is the one that counts?! Look back at verse 7, “Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”

Application: What was so attractive to Samuel and Jesse? It is the flesh! The exterior. Romans 8:8 says in the flesh we “cannot please God.” There is only one place for the flesh to go, and that is on Calvary!

God chose David.

III. Finally, we see God’s Spiritual Deliverer. Verse 12, “And he [Jesse] sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.”

A. David knew the Presence of God. This was not the first time David had heard from God!

1. David’s heart was prepared. David wrote many of the Psalms while he was watching his father’s sheep. The Psalms are prayers.

a. Psalm 23—The Lord is my shepherd

b. Psalm 1—Blessed is the man that walketh not…

2. David’s faith was tested. . 1 Samuel 17:34, David tells Saul, “Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: 35 And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. 36 Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.”

God chose David because He kept his heart close to God. God looketh upon the heart.

B. Because of David’s faithfulness he received a greater measure of the Spirit’s Power on his life. Annoint him! Verse 12, “And he [Jesse] sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.” That anointing oil was the outward sign of the Holy Spirit of God. In the NT, we see the sign of the dove, and later of cloven tongues of fire. But here the oil flows down David’s head. He is not given the Spirit for the first time. No, he is already a regenerate, Spirit-sealed believer. What David is given is a greater measure of power by the Spirit for greater service.

Conclusion: What are you doing for God? Are you faithful in the littlest things? As God looks at your life, is there reason He should give you a greater measure of power for a greater measure of service? Is there any reason someone should pray to the Lord, “Anoint him! He’s ready for a greater enduement of the Spirit’s power!!”?

I pray that there is nothing between your soul and the Saviour. Your service may be acceptable to man, but is your heart acceptable to God? Man may look on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.