The Right King for Israel

We'll get started a few seconds early.

Father, we thank you for the day, God, and we give you praise. We give you thanks for what you do for us, Lord, for all the ways you take care of us and provide for us, Lord, for the new life that you give us, for the grace and the mercy that you give us, Lord God. Lord, we just ask your favor upon this time, Lord, your blessing upon this time. Help us to lift a joyful noise to you, Lord.

Position our hearts rightly before you. God, we love you, Father. We praise you and we thank you. In Jesus' name, amen.

We worship the God who was. We worship the God who is. We worship the God who is. You guys can go ahead and have a seat if you like, and I'll continue on. My victory I see is the most. Thank you for who you are. I thank you, Lord, that you are the same God that brought your entire nation of people out of slavery. You're the same God that parted an ocean. Lord, you're the same God that took a,

a shepherd boy and made him king.

Lord God, you're the same God yesterday, today, and forever, Lord God. And I believe that you can do those things in our lives too, Lord. So Lord, if there's anybody here tonight, Lord, that doesn't know you, Lord, that is still shackled by the chains of sin and unbelief, Lord, I pray that you would set them free this evening. Lord, I pray that you speak mightily through Pastor Ryan this evening, Lord.

Lord, prepare our hearts to receive that word. We love you and we praise you, God. We thank you. All God's people said, Amen. If you would, please open up in your Bibles to the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 15. 1 Samuel 15.

Tonight, there's another sort of passing of the era. We said that 1 Samuel broke down really three different ways. We saw the ministry of Samuel, the kingship of Saul, but then also the rise of King David. And so that's what we're gonna start. We're gonna start to see tonight as we transition from Saul, who's gonna end up falling into disobedience and as God chooses the right king

for the nation of Israel. And so we start off in chapter 15, verse 1, and this is what it says. Then Samuel said to Saul, the Lord sent me to anoint you as king over his people, over Israel. Now, therefore, listen to the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel. How he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt.

Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has and do not spare him, but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. Now, the last time that we were together, we saw a downward spiral of Saul. He started off so well. He started off really very humble. As the man that God had chosen, he looked like a king.

The problem was he didn't really have the heart of a king. And we saw not only a foolish order that he gave to Jonathan or gave to the entire military when he said, I will be avenged of my enemies, making the battle all about him instead of about the Lord. But we also saw that act of disobedience as he offered the sacrifice that was not his to offer. It should have been the priest.

It should have been Samuel that offered the sacrifice, but he wouldn't. He wouldn't wait on God and he wouldn't wait on Samuel. And so we saw this downward spiral begin to take place in Saul. And Samuel had even told him, God has sought a man after his own heart. Well, now as Samuel comes to Saul, it's almost to give him one more chance, one more chance to do things the right way.

And I find it interesting the way that Samuel addresses Saul with the words of the Lord, because he says, the Lord sent me to anoint you as king. Now, this is the word of the Lord to you. And it's a good reminder, not only to anoint you as king, but only for Saul, a reminder of what he was supposed to do as king. His job as king was not to build his own kingdom.

His job as king was not to build a name for himself or even to avenge himself of what he thought were his own enemies. His job as king was to live out the word of the Lord, to do what God had told for him to do. And it made me think about anybody who has been put in any kind of leadership within a church or even within a family, your job is to live out the word of the Lord, to live out what God has to say in that aspect of leadership. But then I got to thinking even more deeply than that.

And I thought, ultimately, all of us have that command. Our job is to live out the word of the Lord, is to do what God has told for us to do. But I fear sometimes that we are so busy building our own kingdoms. We are so busy building our own empires as far as this world is concerned, that we forget that our number one task is to live out what God has given for us to do.

And that's what Samuel reminds Saul of. Listen to the word of the Lord. And this was the word of the Lord. He says, I want to punish Amalek for what he did to my people along the way. Now, if you were to go back and remember the history, you know that when the children of Israel left Egypt and were on their way to the promised land, they came to a part on the journey

where the Amalekites began to, to come upon the weaker members of the nation, the ones who were at the back, the sick and the weak. And they started picking them off as a way to sort of begin to attack the nation of Israel. And ultimately, a battle had to be fought. And it was a fascinating battle that was fought. I won't go into all the details, but it was the one where Joshua was down below

as the commanding general. And Moses was up with his hands raised. And as long as his hands were raised, they were able to win the victory. But if his hands began to fall, they began to lose. And so Aaron and Hur saw what was going on. And so they supported Moses and his hands so that everybody had some sort of a job in the battle. Well, because of the way that Amalek

treated the nation of Israel, because they tried to defeat them in this way, in really the most heinous way possible, and that was to, first of all, go after the weak members of the nation of Israel, God had told Moses, write it down that Amalek will be punished. Well, now, several hundred years later, God has chosen to punish Amalek. Now, there's a couple of things I want to point out to you about this. The first is, why would God wait this long to punish Amalek?

Why would God wait this long? I mean, I thought that the fathers were, the sons were not to be put to death for the sins of the fathers. But I would ask you a question. If that's the way they were then, and they didn't have an influence of God in their lives, do you think that they got better? Or do you think that they got worse? I tend to think that they got worse.

I tend to think that they got worse. I tend to think that perhaps God gave them an opportunity to repent, and no repentance was taken. No opportunity was taken. I think that they continued to get worse, and were probably in the same self-destructive mode that most of the inhabitants of the promised land were in. And so God was going to use the nation of Israel,

in particular Saul and his leadership, to be God's arm of judgment over the Amalekites. But there's an interesting spiritual parallel that God gave them. That's to be made here as well. In the Old Testament scripture, Amalek is often affiliated with the flesh. It becomes a type and a picture of the flesh in our lives. And you know what God tells us that we are to do with the flesh.

We are to put the flesh to death. Because isn't that exactly what our flesh does? It preys on the weak members. It preys on the weaknesses that we have in our lives and seeks to overcome us. It seeks to defeat us by exploiting our weak areas. That's kind of what the flesh does in our lives, right? It seeks to defeat us, because the mind of the flesh is death.

And it doesn't get better with time. It only gets worse with time. The only thing that can be done with the flesh is it has to be utterly put to death. And so that's what God tells Saul that he's supposed to do. He says, you need to go, and you need to annihilate everybody, everybody, and everything. Because any aspect of the flesh that's left will ultimately become a stumbling block to you.

So he gives the command. And so verse four, it says, Saul summoned the people, and he numbered them in Talaim, 200,000 foot soldiers, and 10,000 men of Judah. Saul came to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the valley. And Saul said to the Kenites, go depart, go down from among, so that I do not destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to the sons of Israel

when they came up from Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. So Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as you go to Shur, which is east of Egypt. Now everything seems to be going great, right? It seems as though Saul's doing exactly what he's supposed to. Maybe he's redeemed himself. Saul gathers an army, a pretty good army, I would say,

gathers an army, he even shows mercy to those who need to have mercy shown to them, the people of the Kenites, and sends them away. And then he ambushes the Amalekites and he defeats them. Everything's great, right? Saul has done what he is supposed to do. And in Saul's mind, he has done everything that he's supposed to do. But there's one problem. Read on.

Verse 8. He captured Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive. And he utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good and were not willing to destroy them utterly. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.

If you're an underliner, you might at the end of, or middle of verse 9 underline, and they were not willing to destroy them utterly. Because this was the problem that Saul had. Saul saved the best for himself. Now he's going to give a really good reason why he saved the best and he's going to use God as his reason. But ultimately he saved the best for himself.

He saved King Agag. Why did he save King Agag? I saw a couple of really good reasons that some commentators pointed out. But I think the number one reason why he saved Agag is for pride purpose. So that he could, he could always look and say, I'm better than that king because he is my servant or he is my slaver. He is my prisoner. However he was going to use him

and he refused to put him to death. And he refused to put to death all of the best of the oxen. Now all of the shameful things, all of the things that were despised, he utterly destroyed those. But he saved the best for himself. Now, if we follow the spiritual parallel as we should, we notice that Saul had a problem. The problem that he had is that he was not really willing

to put to death the flesh. Kind of sound familiar? Kind of sound like the problem that sometimes we struggle with is that we're not really willing to completely put to death the flesh. You know what's interesting? It didn't seem like a big deal to Saul at this particular point in time. As a matter of fact, in his mind, he's going to justify everything that he did.

But just like happily, when we justify not putting to death the flesh, we will find that if we don't put to death the flesh, the flesh will eventually seek to put us to death. If we were to keep going on in 1 Samuel, and we will, when we get to the end of 1 Samuel, spoiler alert, when we get to the end of 1 Samuel and Saul is killed, do you know who the last person to deliver the death blow to him is? An Amalekite. He didn't put to death the flesh, and so the flesh put him to death.

And usually what most of us justify this is this. Well, I'm really only hurting myself. I'm really only hurting me. Except if we were to go even further into the Old Testament, which by the way, you probably just read this if you're keeping up with our reading plan and you read the book of Esther, you would know that within the book of Esther, there was a man who wanted to put all of the nation of Israel to death, all of the Jews to death because he hated Mordecai so much.

And that man's name was, Haman. And do you know who Haman was a descendant of? Agag. That's what we find, is that he was a descendant of him. And so not only does it defeat us, but ultimately, if we don't put the flesh to death, it affects everybody else around us. All because he would not deal with the flesh. And because Saul would not obey God completely,

we're going to see that there's great consequences. But this is where Saul finds himself as not having put the flesh to death completely. And so, verse 10, the word of the Lord came to Samuel saying, I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and he has not carried out my commandments. And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the Lord all night.

I find it interesting the way that the Lord responded to Samuel. He responds because in our minds, I don't know about you, but there is that little bit of me that goes, I mean, it wasn't that big of a deal, right? He just refused to put the king to death. It's not like he murdered somebody. It's not like he had an affair with someone and then murdered somebody to try to cover it up.

Why was this such a big deal? Why was this such a problem? And we'll really see why it was a problem in just a minute when we see his refusal to repent. But for whatever reason it was, God saw into the king's heart and he saw into the king's heart and he saw into the heart of Saul. And he saw that this was not a one-time incident. This had now become a pattern of rebellion

on the part of Saul, where he said, I don't care what the right thing to do is, I'm gonna do what I wanna do. Also, does that kind of sound familiar to anybody? And that's where he found himself. And so the Lord shows up to Samuel at night and he says, I regret that I have made Saul king. Now that's what we call an anthropomorphism, attributing human character,

characteristics to God, because there's no way for God to really say, I wish I hadn't made him king, other than to say, I wish I hadn't made him king. And so it sort of applies a human characteristic, regret, because that was the only way that God knew how to put it, that Samuel could understand it. And so he says, I regret that I've made Saul king and I'm gonna have to remove him. And did you notice how Samuel responded?

Samuel responded with a real heart of a man of God. And he cried out to the Lord all night long. I read a great quote today. I don't remember. I didn't write down who said it, but no, this didn't come from me. He said, we are close to God's heart when the things that grieve him grieve us. Let me read that to you one more time. We are close to God's heart when the things that grieve him grieve us.

Again, I think there's a really good searching question here today. Do the things that grieve the heart of God grieve us? Do the things that grieve the heart of God grieve us? Do the things that grieve the heart of God grieve us? us. When you hear about somebody that's fallen into sin, do you say, man, I saw that come and I told you so, or is your heart broken? When you see the effects of sin in the culture today,

do you sort of do this and look with judgment or is your heart broken? Because I want us to know something. Judgment is God's strange work. And he wishes that none would perish, but that all would come to repentance. And so when we see people lost in sin, when we see people fall in sin, even if they're our enemies, does it grieve your heart? Because you are never nearer to the heart

of God than when the things that grieve him grieve you. And all too often we like to play the I told you so game. Believers in Jesus Christ, instead of crying out to the Lord all night long. And that's what Samuel did. Samuel's heart was broken for the nation. It was broken for Saul. It was broken for the fact that there was somebody that he had poured his heart into that now had been rejected

by God. And I got to tell you, I've been at this for quite some time now, and there's just nothing worse than pouring your heart into somebody and pouring your life into somebody. And see them reject the things of God. It's just something your heart never really gets hardened to. It's just something that your heart never really learns to deal with. And it just really

grieves you more than you can ever imagine. And that's where Samuel found himself in a place where he was crying out to the Lord. It says in verse 12, so Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul. And it was told Samuel saying, Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself. And then he turned and proceeded on down to Gilgal. I hate to just run past that, but it's not one of the main points I was going to

make, but, but perhaps you can see the heart of Saul here because he just set up a monument for himself, even though he disobeyed God. Anyway, it says, so Samuel came to Saul and said, and Saul said to him, blessed are you of the Lord. I have carried you. I have carried out the command of the Lord. Again, I'll get to Samuel's response in just a minute. How can you say that at that point in time? Like if you're Samuel, you're going,

destroy everything, leave no one alive, make it another destruction, right? The, the number of, the number of descriptive words that were to be used in the destruction of this were pretty clear in the command, right? Like a lot of different synonyms for destruction were used there. And now he kept most of them alive, including, the king. And he comes and says, blessed are you of the Lord, my brother,

I did everything that God wanted me to do. And that's how, you know, you're in a dangerous place when you're living in disobedience and your heart can justify it as complete obedience. That's a dangerous spot to be when you can fail to do what God tells you to do and then claim complete obedience because you are so blind to what's really going on. Maybe, God always keep our eyes open to the weak spots that we have. And so he says,

then, but Samuel said to him in verse 14, what did is the bleeding of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen, which I hear. And Saul said, well, they have brought them from the Amalekites for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord, your God. But the rest we have utterly destroyed. And Samuel said, wait, and let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night. And he said, speak. Samuel said, is it not true though you were little

in your own eyes, you were made the head of the tribes of Israel and the Lord anointed you king over Israel. And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites and fight against them until they're exterminated. Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? But rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

Saul said to Samuel, I did obey the voice of the Lord and went on the mission, which the Lord spoke to me and it brought back Agag, the king of Amalek and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. Here's where it gets good. But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choices of the things devoted to destruction to sacrifice to the Lord, your God. She knows the kind of excuses he was using in there. Number one, it was the people's fault,

right? It's, it's those people. It's everybody else's fault, but mine. We've seen this tree before, right? When's the last time that we saw this tree before? The last time we saw this tree was with Adam and Eve. Lord, it was that woman that you gave me. Lord, it was that serpent that came along and the serpent was like, right? And so everybody's playing the blame game. And that's exactly what

Saul told his people. Oh, but they did it for a good reason. They disobeyed for a really good reason. They brought all of the stuff back to sacrifice to your God. Did you take note of the verbiage that was used there? Your God. Saul doesn't refer to him as my God. He doesn't even refer to him as the Lord. This is now Samuel's God. Why? Because Saul's heart was in complete rebellion. You see, it didn't seem like a big deal, did it? It didn't

seem like a big deal, but he left the king alive. But what are the three things that he's done now? He's built a monument to himself. He has spared all of the things he was supposed to put to death. And now God is no longer his God. Why did God have to reject him? Because he was no longer a man after God's own heart. He was living in complete rebellion. Listen, even though on the outside,

he could claim that he was living in complete obedience because obedience is not always just a condition of the exterior. Obedience is a condition of the interior. And his heart was not really obedient. And so he says, Samuel's going, why am I, why am I hearing sheep? You were sent to do something. Why didn't you do it? And he goes, well, it's those people. And we did it for a

really good reason to sacrifice to the Lord, your God at Gilgal. And notice what it says in verse 22, Samuel said, has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in the obeying of the voice of the Lord. Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice. And to hear the voice of the Lord is better than sacrifice. And to hear the voice of the Lord is better than sacrifice.

And to hear the voice of the Lord is better than sacrifice. And to hear the voice of the Lord is better than sacrifice. than the fat of rams for rebellion is as the sin of divination and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry because you have rejected the word of the Lord. He has rejected you from being king. That's a man. If you don't have that underlined in your Bible, I would highly recommend you

bracket that thing, underline it, highlighted everything that you possibly can, because you need to pay attention to that. We all need to pay attention to that, to obey is better than sacrifice it is so easy to make grand gestures and have a heart that is far from god it's so easy to make grand gestures and have a heart that is living in rebellion john corson in his commentary pointed out something really interesting he said have you ever noticed that so many people that are in the eye of the public be they actors or politicians or athletes live some of the most reprobate lives you can imagine and then they put on a charity auction or a charity golf tournament and they write a huge check do you know why they do that

it's because they think that a sacrifice takes care of all of the rebellion and what god would say is put your check back in your pocket because to obey is better than your gift to obey is better than your sacrifice because what god truly wants from us is not all of our things what god truly wants from us is not all of our gestures what god truly wants from us is a heart of obedience because if he has our heart listen he'll have everything else that's a gift that's a gift that's a gift that's a gift and saul says but i've made this grand gesture and samuel says forget your gesture god doesn't want it and it's interesting because this same sort of heart and this same sort of issue will flow throughout the rest of the old testament

as a matter of fact there will come a point when god will tell the nation of israel could you please just stop bringing me sacrifices i'm tired of them unless they're going to be accompanied with a repentant heart i'm tired of them unless they're going to be accompanied with a repentant heart i'm tired of them unless they're going to be accompanied with a repentant heart I would rather you tear your hearts, not your garments. Because to obey is better than sacrifice. And because you've rejected God, God has rejected you. Verse 24, then Samuel said to Saul, I have sinned.

I have indeed transgressed the command of the Lord and your words because I feared the people and listened to their voice. I still think at this point in time, had Saul said, you're right. I sinned and I have messed up. I still think there's a chance for repentance, but he just can't do it. He can't get real. He can't say, I'm the problem. He can't say, I'm the reason their sin.

He still had to say, I was scared of the people. You're the king. Why are you scared of the people? Because his heart was not to obey. And he would never own up to his business. He would never own up to his issues. And he would never own up to his sin. And because he wouldn't own up to his sin and say, this is my sin, not everybody else's sin. The consequences will continue to be steep.

And brothers and sisters, as believers in Jesus Christ, as members of the family of God, the best thing we can do is own up to our issues and not blame them on everybody else. And not blame them on anybody else. But say, this is my problem. I have sinned. I have sinned. Do you know what the difference between Saul and David was? When David was confronted with his sin, we'll get to it, of course, in 2 Samuel.

But when David was confronted with his sin, what happened? He said, indeed, I have sinned against the Lord. He didn't say it was that girl's fault. He didn't say it was anybody else's fault. He said, it was me. See, that's the difference between a heart of rebellion and a man after God's own heart. And so. He says, I was scared of these people. Now, therefore, please pardon, verse 25, my sin and return with me that I may worship.

But Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you for you have rejected the word of the Lord. And the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel. And as Samuel turned to go, Saul seized the edge of his robe and it tore. And Samuel said, the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you. Also, the glory of Israel will not lie or change his mind, for he is not a man that he should change his mind.

Then he said, I have sinned, but please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel and go back with me that I may worship the Lord your God. And so Samuel went back following Saul and Saul worshiped the Lord. Now, Samuel or Saul goes on to say, go back with me so that I look good in front of all of the elders of Israel. And I think that last final statement of Saul is our best view into his heart because he was more concerned about what was on the outside than he was about what was on the inside.

So notice how Samuel responds now in verse 32. Samuel said, bring me Agag, the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came to him cheerfully and Agag said, surely the bitterness of death is past. But Samuel said, as your sword has made women childless. So your mother shall be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag to pieces before the Lord at Gilgal. And then Samuel went to Ramah.

But Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul. And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death. For Samuel grieved over Saul and the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. Dude, an intense scene. But can I create a somewhat comedic scene out of something that's a little bit intense? I don't know how you picture Samuel at this point in time.

He's not a young dude, right? He's probably pretty old by this point in time. And so when Agag sees Samuel, he goes, no problem. The bitterness of death is past. I picture Yoda. Okay, that's all I can see in my mind right now is just a little Yoda right there, a little old dude coming up in his robe. And he just sort of trots up there. And he says, the bitterness of death is past.

Isn't it good to be alive? And he says, you know what? In the same way that you've made other mothers childless, I'm about to make your mother. Their childless. And he pulls out his lightsaber and just hacks him up. Can you imagine how freaked out everybody had to have been of Samuel at that time? They're like, whoa, I didn't see Yoda coming out of that situation.

I didn't see that old guy hacking that guy to pieces. That's the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life. That's why in the next chapter, when he shows up in Bethlehem, they're going to be like, you here for a good reason. Cause we remember what you did to Agag. And I don't want that to happen to us. Right? Like that's the picture I have in my mind. But Samuel deals with what Saul would not deal with.

And he puts the flesh to death. So now we move on to chapter 16 as David is anointed as king. It says, now the Lord said to Samuel, how long will you grieve over Saul? Since I have rejected him from being king over Israel, fill your horn with oil and go. And I will send you to Jesse, the Bethlehemite. For I have selected a king for myself from among his sons.

And I think that's a good word right there that God gives to Samuel. Because for everything, there is a season and there is a season to mourn over someone's sin like that. And then there's a season to move on. There's a season to move past and say, you know what? What's in the past is in the past. And now it's time to move on because the nation still has to be run.

We still have to find a leader. So God tells him, you need to go to Bethlehem because I have chosen a king for myself from among the sons of Jesse. Of course, Samuel's a little nervous. Notice what he said. But Samuel said, how can I go? When Saul hears of it, he will. Kill me. The Lord said, take a heifer with you and say, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.

You shall invite Jesse to the sacrifice and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me the one who I designate to you. So Samuel did what the Lord said and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the city came trembling to meet him and said, do you come in peace? This is the part where I think that they were thinking about the whole Agag situation.

Like, dude, last time we saw him. Ah, you, you went medieval on like that king. And we just want to make sure everything's good. It's a pretty peaceful area. We're all pretty good folks here. But Samuel's a little nervous about Saul because Saul's heart had gotten so far from God, had gotten so far from what God had called for him to do. That Samuel said, he's probably going to kill me.

A man of God, a man who was simply delivering the word of the Lord. He says, no, no, you just go and make a sacrifice. Let me handle everything else. And so he shows up and they say, have you come in peace? In verse five, it says, he said. In peace, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me. He also consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

And when they entered, he looked at Eliab and thought, surely the Lord's anointed is before him. But the Lord said to Samuel, do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature because I have rejected him. For God sees not. As a man sees for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. Now, again, this would have been a peace or a fellowship offering that was made, not the sin offering.

So once the portion was burned to the Lord, everyone would have sat and had a feast. And Jesse's there and in several of his sons are there. Most of his sons, all but one are there. And the first young man that he sees, of course, is the oldest. Because remember, in the days that they were living in and biblical times, the oldest had all of the. Authority and would have been the most natural choice for King.

And so he sees this young man, Eliab, and he looks like a kingly sort of guy. He stands like a kingly sort of guy. He, of course, is the oldest and carries himself very well. And Samuel, thinking of Saul, says, that must be who the king is. Lord, are you ready for me to anoint him? And God says, it's not him. You see, Samuel, you have a problem. And it's a problem to most people.

Have you're only looking at the outside. I don't look at the outside appearance. I look at the heart. Don't judge what they are on the outside. Let's judge what they are on the inside. I think this is a really good word again for us in the culture that we live in today, because sometimes we can we can judge a book by its cover. Right. And we think we know what it looks like to be right.

Oh, that must be the right kind of person. Because look at them on the outside. They're clearly the right person for the job. Meanwhile, their heart's not right. Their heart's not in the right place. I have known people over the years that are some of the most educated, wisest. They just know all kinds of stuff. And you think that's probably going to be a great pastor.

That's probably going to be a great leader. And they end up becoming the craziest people you've ever seen in your entire life. And you're going. But they looked on the outside. Exactly what a great man of God is supposed to be. The problem was that was judging them by what they look like on the outside, not by who they were on the inside, because who they were on the inside eventually showed itself by the way that they live their life.

And he says, I don't look like man does. I look at what's on the inside because I can change anything on the outside. I just need to know that I have their heart. And, you know, I think that. Again, this is a good word for us. This was a this is a beautiful word for the folks that were originally a part of the Calvary Chapel movement. Right. This was this was one of the things that Chuck Smith was huge on in the origins of the Calvary Chapel movement, because you had a whole bunch of people with long hair and they didn't smell very good and they didn't wear shoes and all these kinds of crazy things coming into the church.

And everybody said, what are we going to do? They don't look like the right kind of people. And Chuck said, that's OK. If God gets a hold of their heart, that he'll change whatever he needs to. So on the outside, let's just be concerned about who they are on the inside. And so God began doing work. Well, when I was in high school and early on in college, everybody had all the piercings and the tattoos.

That was not the norm at that point in time. And you started going, well, I guess if it needs to change on the outside, that's fine. God's going to change the heart first and then it'll go from there. Well, now we're dealing with a whole different set of people, whole different set of people that sometimes don't look like you. What do you think they should look like on the outside?

But that's OK. Let's get their hearts, because if we can deal with the heart, then God can keep changing who they are on the outside. Yeah, but don't. Yeah, but me. Let's just worry about God getting to their heart because every generation has their counterculture. Every generation's counterculture looks just a little bit different. And God's not concerned about how they look on the outside.

God's concerned about who they are on the inside. And if their heart can change by the truth of the word of God, he'll change everything else about them that needs to be changed. Many a young girl that is a teenage or early 20s girl has come into a church and felt judged by everybody there because her clothes aren't as appropriate as everybody else's. And all she wants to do is come and worship Jesus.

And she can't because she's being judged by every other woman in the church who's saying, I can't believe she showed up to church like that. And now she'll never come back to church. Because she got judged. Many a young man has come into church not having the right kind of clothes, not being dressed the way everybody else thinks that he should. And everybody crosses their arms and says, I can't believe he dressed like that to come to church.

And now he'll never come back because we were concerned about what he was on the outside. And again, in our culture today, there's going to start being some transgender kids that start going, I think I screwed up. And they're going to want to start coming to church. And we can't cross our arms and say, I can't believe. You did that because we need to know that God saves.

And if we can deal with their heart, then God can deal with everything else. Amen. And so he says, I don't look like man does. You're looking at the outside. I'm looking at the inside. And so Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. The Lord has not chosen this one either. And next, Jesse made Shammah pass by. The Lord said, I haven't chosen this one either.

Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, the Lord has not chosen these. And Samuel says, are these all your kids? And he said, there remains yet the youngest. And behold, he is tending the sheep. Then Samuel said to Jesse, send and bring him for we will not sit down until he comes here. Poor David, right? Now, depending on who you read, most think that David was anywhere between the ages of 10 and 15 at this point in time.

Pretty young kid, at least as far as our standards would consider. And dude just stuck out taking care of the sheep, right? Not only is he stuck out taking care of the sheep while everybody else is at the feast, they kind of forget he exists. Bring all your sons. Probably not David. He does not mean David. David's just a loser out there taking care of the sheep.

He's the forgotten one, right? You ever felt that way? You ever felt like the forgotten one? And he's like, he's out there taking care of the sheep. Don't worry about him. Then all these guys pass before him, all these kingly looking young men. And God says no to all of them. And Samuel says, I don't think I heard God wrong on this. Do you have any other kids?

And he's like, oh, shoot. I do have one. Yeah, he's out taking care of the sheep. And Samuel says, we're not going anywhere. And then he says, no one's sitting down till you bring him in. And even though he was forgotten by everybody else, listen, he was not forgotten by God. Again, I don't know who that's a word for. I don't know who needs to hear that. But you may feel forgotten by everybody else in the world.

You are not forgotten by God. And so he calls him in. Notice what it says, verse 12. So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy with beautiful eyes and handsome in appearance. And the Lord said, arise, anoint him for this is he. And Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.

And Samuel arose and went to Ramah. Now. Where had David been this entire time? He had been out taking care of the sheep. Why did he need to be out taking care of the sheep? Because if he was going to shepherd God's people, he needed to learn first how to shepherd the sheep. You see, we can't despise the day of small things. We can't despise the training ground.

We can't despise the wilderness ground. And listen, the wilderness isn't done for David yet. Right? Everything seems pretty cool right now. Because, wow, I just got anointed as king. Right? So he brings in this kid. It says he's ruddy. Some people say it means he's redheaded. I have a tendency to think the potential's there. But I've seen some Jewish people before.

And redheaded's not usually one of them. I think probably his skin was kind of red. Because where had he been this whole time? Out taking care of the sheep. And I do know what hillsides in Israel look like. And there's not a ton of trees there. Right? And so he's probably just absolutely stained by the sun. And he comes in. But he's all sunburned. But he's a pretty good looking kid.

And it says he's redheaded. Right? Right? Right? Right? He's got bright eyes or beautiful eyes. The idea meaning that he was pretty bright eyed. A decently intelligent looking guy. He had all of the intangibles. Even though he did not look like the right kind of guy. And at this point in time, all he'd been doing is taking care of the sheep. But taking care of the sheep was exactly the training that he needed.

In order to become the man that God was going to want him to be. But I want you to think about something. If David's 15 at this point in time. David is not going to actually become king. Until he's 30. Though he is anointed as king as this young man. It's not time for him to be king yet. He would have to wait 15 more years. Why? Because the time that he would grow in the waiting.

Would be what would prepare him for the leading. The time that he spent in the training. Would be what would prepare him to be king. See, being a shepherd was great. But he still had more things to learn. And even though he was anointed. He was still in the training ground. He was still in that training ground to become who God wanted him to be. To become the king that God wanted him to be.

To become the leader that God wanted him to be. And to become the man of God. That God wanted him to be. You see, it may seem like. But Lord, I think I'm ready now to do fill in the blank here. And God may say, yes, let's go forward now. And he may say, yes, let's wait 15 more years. And you may be going, no, but I thought now was the right time. I know you thought now was the right time.

Now is not the right time. The time is going to be right. When I put you in that position. When I have that right thing for you. Until then, you wait. Until then, you learn. Until then, you grow. Until then, let the wilderness do. What only the wilderness can do. And so he's anointed king. Not only is he anointed by man, which is a good thing. But that's not the true anointing.

Did you take note of that? Look at verse 13 again. Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him. And that's great as far as everybody else is concerned. But notice what else happens. And the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. You see, it wasn't just the anointing of man. It was the anointing of God. The anointing of man can lay hands on whoever they want to.

But it's. But until the spirit of God anoints the man. Until the spirit of God anoints the woman. They can't really be used of God. And that anointing came not only from Samuel, but also from the Lord. It says, now the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul. And an evil spirit from the Lord terrorized Saul. And Saul's servants said to him, behold, an evil spirit from God is terrorizing you.

Let our Lord now command your servants who are before you. Let them seek a man who is a skillful player of the harp. And it shall come about when the evil spirit from God is on you, that he shall play the harp with his hand, and you will be well. So Saul said to his servants, provide for me now a man who can play well and bring him to me. Then one of the young men said, behold, I have seen a son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite,

who is a skillful musician and a mighty man of valor, a warrior, one prudent in speech and a handsome man, and the Lord is with him. So Saul sent messengers. To Jesse and said, send me your son, David, who is with the flock. And Jesse took a donkey and loaded it with bread, with a jug of wine and a young goat and sent them to Saul by David, his son. And David came to Saul and attended him.

And Saul loved him greatly. And he became his armor bearer. And Saul sent to Jesse saying, let David stand before me for he's found favor in my sight. It came about whenever the evil spirit from God came to Saul. David would take the harp and play it with. And Saul would be refreshed and be well. And the evil spirit would depart from him. Okay. Isn't it just like God?

First of all, to have a sense of humor, right? Can we all see just a little bit of sense of humor in this? Like the only one who can really comfort Saul is the one who's going to take over for him. The only one who can really comfort Saul is the guy that's going to be the next king. But isn't it just like God to put David in a place where he could learn what it looks like to be the king?

Was Saul the best king? No. But did he understand administration? Yes. Was Saul the best king? No. But did he understand military leadership? Yes. Was Saul the best king? No. But did he understand how to run the palace? Yes. And now David would learn at the foot of the king, everything that he would need to know about being the king. He learned to be a leader as a shepherd.

He learned to be a king as a harp player for King David. And isn't it just like God? To put us exactly. Where we need to be. Listen, even if it's in the presence of the enemy, because even in the presence of the enemy, God taught him everything that he needed to know. And this story of David is just so beautiful. And so next time, next week, we will look at David and Goliath.

Of course, one of the most epic stories in all of the Bible. But for now, let's close in prayer. Father, we come before you and I thank you for your word. And Lord, as it. Is heavy on my heart. I just pray that. That you would help us to be men and women of God who do not allow the flesh to be what dominates our lives. Father, that we would be like Samuel, that we would be like David, and that we would not have a heart like Saul, who is far from you and fails to not only see the sin in our lives, Lord, but fails also to repent of the sin in our lives.

Father, give us give us hearts after you. Or give us hearts. That are tender to your conviction or give us hearts that are sensitive to your spirit. And Lord, give us hearts that are willing. Willing Lord to repent. And father, continue to move in us. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed.