To download this sermon for future reference: Choose "Save As" from the file menu on your browser and save it as a text document. or You may also copy or highlight the sermon text and choose "Copy" on your edit menu. Open any text application and choose "Paste" on your edit menu. Select "Save" on your file menu to save the sermon to your hard drive. YOUR HEART MATTERS: CAREER MATTERS I Samuel 16:1-7 Jerry Vines 10/22/97 Life and Times of David, #1 The most mentioned person in the Old Testament is a man named David. He is mentioned 600 times in the Old Testament, and 60 times in the New Testament. It is arguably so that David may be the greatest man in the Old Testament. There are several great men in the Old Testament. There is, of course, Abraham who is the father of the nation of Israel. There was also Moses who was the great lawgiver of the Children of Israel. There is also David who was the second king in the land of Israel and the greatest king that Israel ever had. In many ways you could say that David was the greatest man of the Old Testament. His relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ is mentioned over and over again in the New Testament. The link between David and the Lord Jesus is unmistakable in the Bible. He is mentioned in the first chapter, on the first page of the New Testament, where Jesus is called the son of David. We find him on the last page of the New Testament in Revelation 22, where Jesus is called the "root and offspring of David." When Jesus was born the angels announced that Jesus Christ would be born in the city of David--Bethlehem. The Bible predicts that the kingdom which David reigned over would eventually be an eternal kingdom and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself would sit upon the throne of his father David. So, David in the Old Testament, in many ways, is a beautiful pre-picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a verse about David which is very unusual and I think it is the key to the meaning of the life of David. In I Samuel 13 there is a statement made about David that is made about no other person in the Bible. In verse 14 the Lord has said that Saul is going to be rejected as the king and another will be selected. "But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the hath sought him a man after his own heart..." That's repeated in the New Testament in Acts 13:22. David is known as a man after God's own heart. What does that mean? Does it mean that David was a superman? No. David was in many ways a very weak man. Does it mean David was a perfect man? Not at all. We'll find that David sins in many ways. One dark page of his life shows what a sinner indeed David was. It was not because he was some superman or because he was a perfect man. But he was a man after God's own heart. I think it means that David's heart was sensitive to God's heart. David was the kind of person God could get his attention. That's what God wants us to be like. God wants us to have a heart after His heart--a heart that is sensitive to Him. God wants to be able to make contact with us. David is a man after God's own heart. His heart was like the heart of God. When I talk about the heart in this life of David I'm not talking about that flesh and blood heart that pumps the blood all over your body. That's your physical heart. But sometimes the Bible uses that word, heart, to refer to something that is spiritual about you. It is something that is the spiritual center of your life. The Bible says that spiritual heart is very, very important. In Proverbs 4:23 it says, "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." Again, scripture says, "as a man thinks in his heart, so is he." So, David was a man whose heart was prone toward God. His heart was tender toward God. God wants us to have that kind of heart also. When you study the life of David you will discover that your heart matters. Your heart is very important. I think one of the reasons we love the life of David is because so many of us see ourselves in the life of David. In David you see hopes and fears. In David you see victories and defeats. In David you get a picture of yourself. The problems David experienced in his day are the same problems people are experiencing today. The solutions David found to his problems centuries ago are the same solutions that you and I find to the problems we face today. We have to have a beginning point. In I Samuel 16 we have that beginning point. As the scene opens David is nowhere to be seen. David is a shepherd boy, out tending to sheep. He is under the stars at night. He has a harp and is a musician. He is keeping his heart and his harp in tune with God. God is getting ready to reveal to David what his career is to be. God is getting ready to show David that He has some special things in his life. There's another statement that's interesting about David. In Acts 13:36 there's a very significant statement about David. "For David after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep..." That was David's career--what his life was intended to be. It was intended to be a life of service to other people. There are two basic relationships all of us ought to have. We ought to have that relationship between ourselves and God. Then, we ought to have that relationship between ourselves and other people. There has to be that up and down relationship--a heart after God. There has to be that outward relationship--serving our own generation by the will of God. In this first study of I Samuel 16 I want us to see how God led David and how God leads us into our career matters. I want you to see how God leads David into this career which He has assigned to him. I. APPOINTED in God's PLAN. David is appointed by the plan of God. The main character here is not David at this point. The main character is not king Saul. The main character is not Samuel. The main character is God. God is the theme of these opening verses. It is God who is at work to bring about the circumstances of David's life so that he will be appointed to the plan that God has for his life. Samuel is an old man by this time. Samuel was the great prophet of God that had been given the unhappy assignment of going to Saul and telling him that God had rejected him as the king of Israel because of his disobedience. So, he's not a very happy man. He's mourning and grieving because of what has happened to Saul. I visualize Samuel as an old man with his beard down to his waist. I see him as God gives him this assignment. God says to Samuel, "You've grieved long enough for this rejected man Saul, I'm going to send you to Bethlehem because you have a new responsibility. You are now to point out the one who is going to be the next king." God said to Samuel, "I have provided me a king and I'm sending you to Bethlehem and we are going to find out who he is." Samuel is a little unhappy. He says in verse 2, "How can I go?" He knows this is a dangerous assignment. Saul is very suspicious and Saul knows it's all over with him. He's on the way out. He's not going to be king much longer. He is suspicious of any unusual movement, any out- of-the-ordinary activity. He doesn't know what may take place. Any movement that Samuel made that was unusual would immediately arouse the suspicions of Saul. Samuel said, "How am I going to do that? Saul will find out about it." God said, "Take a heifer--cow." That doesn't make much sense to us, but hang in there. Later on it will. Here's Samuel on his way over to the little village of Bethlehem. When he gets there the Bible says in verse 4, "The elders of the town trembled..." It scared them when he came. Samuel was not only the prophet, he was the civil magistrate. It may be there was a murder in the district and Samuel has come to adjudicate. Or maybe there has been disobedience and he's come on a disciplinarian trip. They are shaking in their boots. "What has Samuel come here for?" You and I know something they don't know. We know there is something hidden here that they don't see. You and I know that God is working out a plan. The plan of God has two aspects to it. It has God's part and the human part. When God has a plan for a person's life there's the heavenly call. But there is also the earthly circumstances. These circumstances are going to all combine because God is working behind the scenes to bring these circumstances together. Here comes Samuel. They are scared and trembling. They ask, "Do you come peaceably?" Then they see that heifer. A cow never looked so good to them in all their lives. When the prophet came with a cow they were getting ready to have a church service. You've never seen Dr. Lindsay and me come into church with a cow, have you? We don't worship that way now. But in the Old Testament day a heifer or cow or animal was a part of worship. It was a part of the sacrifice. So he is saying by bringing the cow that we are going to have a worship service. He tells them to get Jesse who was a well-known respected man in that city, along with his sons and get them ready because they are going to be part of this worship service. Samuel is arranging the earthly circumstances because God is going to appoint a new leader. When the present leadership is undesirable and unacceptable to God, the appointment of a new leadership is very, very crucial to God. He tells them to get Jesse and his boys and have them come before him. God has already told Samuel that He is going to select the next king. About this time Jesse and his sons come in. They start with the oldest one first. His name, in verse 6, is Eliab. When I read about Eliab I picture someone who is tall and handsome. He is muscular. He has those rugged good looks about him. I picture him as the running back of the Bethlehem High School football team. Samuel looks at him and says, "Boy, that reminds me of Saul. He's got to be the one--the choice of God to be the next king." God says, "No, Eliab is not the one." The second son of Jesse comes before Samuel in verse 8. His name was Abinadab. Kids, have you ever seen such unusual names? You thought your names were unusual that your parents gave you. How would you like it if your parents had named you Abinadad? I picture Abinadad as an intellectual. He has coke-bottle glasses. He has an IQ of above 140. He is college- trained. He's smart. Samuel may think, "This is the one. Surely a young man that smart is God's choice to be a king." But look at what God says in verse 8, "Neither hath the Lord chosen this." Here comes the third son. His name is Shammah. When I look at Shammah I imagine in my mind somebody who is really up-to-date. He has on his Calvin Klein jeans, his alligator cowboy boots; he is cool, cool, cool. Samuel says, "The king really has to know how to get along with people and people have to look up to him as being classy. Maybe this is the one." But God says is verse 9, "Neither hath the Lord chosen this." The Bible doesn't mention the other sons. Jesse has 8 sons. Three are mentioned and the next four are not. There is a very important spiritual principle I want all of you to get (especially the boys and girls). Look back at what the scripture says in verse 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." All we see is the outside. God sees the inside. Boys and girls, over at your school you saw the ones who had the pet watches. You saw the ones with the Elmo knapsacks. You saw the ones with the Jaguar shirt. You saw the outside, but God saw the heart--the inside. There's a tendency in our culture to be impressed by the outside. We think because a person is handsome or beautiful that makes them more valuable than someone else. We measure people's worth on the basis of how much money they have or what kind of car they drive or what kind of clothes they can wear. We get the idea that only those who are attractive and only those who are well to do and only those who are unusually talented can be used of God. But this verse makes it very clear that God is not impressed by outward things. God looks at us on the heart. He wants to know what's on the inside. Do we have a heart after God? Do we have a heart sensitive to God? God has this fascinating tendency to take those that the world looks down on and people don't care anything about and pick them and choose them to do unusual things for Him. Let me read you a couple of verses. I Corinthians 1:27,28 says, "But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And base things of the world and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are." That is saying that God chooses not on the basis of outward appearances; God chooses on the basis of what He sees in the heart. We should never, ever be unkind or make fun of people on the basis of what they may be on the outside. Just because they may not be unusually attractive doesn't mean they aren't very, very special to God. Everybody is special to God. Boys and girls, it doesn't matter how you look. It doesn't matter what kind of clothes you have on. You are important to God. You have been appointed by God. He has a plan and a purpose for your life and He's looking to see what you are on the inside and how much you love Jesus on the inside. That's wonderful! The Lord looks on the inside. By this time Samuel is kind of puzzled. He says in verse 11, "Is this all your children?" Have you ever been given an assignment by God or God asked you to do something and you tried to do it and yet it didn't seem to work out? You might wonder what the problem is. That must have been the way Samuel felt. He had been assigned a job to select the next king and yet everybody who came in front of him God said, "That's not the one." Now, Samuel says, "Is there anybody else?" Look at what Jesse says in verse 11, "There remaineth yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep." His own father didn't have much stock in him. At this time, David is probably a young boy about 16, doing the very ordinary, mundane, run- of-the-mill kind of things. He's just taking care of the sheep. He's kind of the runt of the family. Unpromising. Even his own father didn't see any potential in him. He hadn't even bothered to invite him to come. Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he comes hither." Samuel becomes aware that here is someone who is in the appointment of God. He is appointed by the plan of God. God has a career staked out for this boy and Samuel senses that God is doing something unusual. Sometimes you and I get the idea that God has forgotten us. Somehow God is not really going to use us. But before you were born, before this world came into existence, God devised a plan for your life and a purpose for your life and He is working the circumstances of your life in such a way that one day you'll fall right into the grove of God's career and plan for your life. This is an encouraging word to us in the Lord's work. Sometimes you might wonder about the future of the church and the Lord's work. "Who's going to take over when the servants of God are gone and the leaders are gone?" Don't worry about that. Right now, God is getting people ready. He is preparing people right now. You don't have to worry about the future of God's work. As long as God's work is in existence, God will be preparing and shaping and molding His leaders to lead that work of God. There's a boy out there tending sheep and God has His eyes on him. By the way, be careful what you are doing every day. Somebody is watching you. Be faithful to what you are doing right now. God may be getting you ready for something else. God may be checking you out, looking in your heart to see if your heart is tender and sensitive to Him. Career matters. David and we are appointed in the plan of God. David and we are - II. ANOINTED by God's PROPHET. In verse 12 Samuel sends and brings him in. That must have been an ordinary day that day. Probably David's day started like it always did. When he got up in the morning the first thing he does is go down to the brook and wash his face. Then he gets the feed for the sheep and he's tending the sheep. He's watching those lions and bears to be sure he can ward them off and the sheep won't be harmed. Maybe he has his harp and he's been working on a song. He was a songwriter. Been on the Hit Parade several times. He's tuning up his instrument, working on a song about the Lord. All of a sudden, here comes a breathless messenger. "David, Samuel the prophet has come to town and he has sent for you." "Me?" "Yes, he has sent for you." We are given a description of David here. Look at verse 12. "...Now he was ruddy." That probably means he had red hair and had a temper to go with that red hair. We'll find out that's true. "...a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to." That means he was a handsome, good-looking boy. But God has just said that the outward appearance doesn't matter. Outward appearance neither qualifies nor disqualifies you for the service of the Lord. It really doesn't matter; not a factor. We think to serve the Lord that you have to have a scintillating personality, be good looking, work well with people. Those aren't the qualifications. The real qualifications are--do you know how to pray? do you know how to weep? do you have a family you have dedicated to the Lord? There's the description. The Lord says, "Arise, anoint him: for this is he." Can you imagine how Jesse and the brothers of David must have been? Here comes young David. His muscles are strong from lifting those sheep. His eyes are clear from viewing those sights in nature. His heart is clean and pure because of his relationship with God. There he stands and it's almost like the Lord just put His arms around Samuel and whispered in his ear, "Samuel, he's the one." A number of years ago, back in 1987, at the SBC in St. Louis, I had preached the Convention sermon that day on the inspiration of the Bible. We have it in a booklet called a Baptist and His Bible. After that was over, Dr. Charles Stanley came up on the platform and embraced me and said, "God has told me that you will be the next president of the Southern Baptist Convention." I nearly had a heart attack. Who me? No way. Couldn't possibly be. All I can say is that evidently the Lord did reveal that to him because I served for two terms. That's kind of the way it was with David. The Lord whispered to Samuel, "That's the one." Isn't it amazing how God puts His hands on people? Unlikely people. Think about our Lord Jesus. Brought up in a little town of Nazareth as a boy. Kind of a looked down on, hick town. Born into a poor family of Mary and Joseph, the most unlikely setting of all. From that came the Savior of the world. Don't worry about your background. God has His eyes on you. God has a plan for you. Verse 13 says, "Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren." That was an animal horn, flask, filled with a specially prepared olive oil that was used anoint prophets, priests and kings. He took that oil and anointed, that is, he poured that oil on David in the midst of the people. "And the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward." That is so, so important. Those whom God appoints, He also anoints. If God gives you a job to do, God will enable you to do that job. The oil in the Bible is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. The oil is shapeless. It's a beautiful symbol of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was anointed by the Spirit. After he was baptized the Spirit of the Lord, as a dove, came down upon Him. When He preached his first sermon in Luke 4:1 he said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to preach the Gospel." Jesus was anointed for His ministry. The early disciples were promised by the Lord these words, "Tarry ye in Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high." The Holy Spirit would endue them, give them power. The anointing of the Spirit would equip them to be the witnesses God wanted them to be. God's Holy Spirit will anoint you and equip you for the job He has given you to do. If God wants you to do it, He'll give you the anointing of the Spirit to do it. The anointing for service is a special touch for a special task. One time Paul said, "I thank the Lord because he has enabled me, putting me into the ministry." When God puts you into a place of service, God also will enable you to fulfill that service. Now, David has the Spirit of the Lord from that day forward. III. ASSOCIATED With God's PEOPLE. David has now been told that he is the next king of Israel. What do you think David did? Do you think he ran over to the clothing shop and got himself suited up for a king's robe? Do you think he got fitted for a crown? Do you think he had some calling cards printed out that said, "David, Future King of Israel?" No. Look down at verse 19 and see what David did. In verse 19, when he is sent for later on, where is David? With the sheep. He's just going right back to work. Back to the job God had given him at that particular time. No miracles occurred. No sounds out of the sky. He's been told, "God has a special plan for you David, you'll be a king one of these days." He goes right back to his task. He's going to learn some things as he wrestles with those lions and bears. He's going to fight a giant one of these days. You better wrestle with your lions and bears where you are because God has giants for you out in the future. He is associated now with God's people. See what happens. Could there be a greater contrast in all of the Bible? Verse 13, the spirit of the Lord comes on David from that day forward, but look at verse 14, "The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him." That's something that could never be said of you and me as New Testament Christians. When the Holy Spirit comes into the life of a believer, the Holy Spirit is never withdrawn. But in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit could depart. Here's Saul who had every opportunity, chosen to be the first king of Israel. But because of his disobedience the Spirit of the Lord departed from him and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. It caused him to tremble. From the Lord? When you read these kinds of statements in the Old Testament, keep in mind that he's talking about the ultimately sovereignty of God. God is sovereign over everything. In some kind of judgment way here comes a miserable spirit upon Saul. He is a miserable man. He is emotionally disturbed. Was that psychological or spiritual? I think in the instance of Saul it was both. It originated from the spiritual, but don't assume that all emotional disturbance is because of a physical problem. Sometimes people have emotional difficulties because of physical problems or chemical problems. A number of years ago we had a young man in our church who was a runner. He ran in marathons. One day he just kind of went berserk. He just announced that he was Jesus. No one could persuade him that he wasn't Jesus. He just left. That boy just wandered all over the country for several days and finally wound up in an emergency room in a hospital and the doctor who was tending to him noticed something, ran a few tests, and found out that his body was depleted of certain necessary chemicals. He had not replaced them after his distance running. When they put those chemicals back in him he just cleared up and was right back to normal. The human body is an amazing thing. Sometimes there may be chemical problems. In many instances people who are experiencing psychological difficulties are experiencing them because of spiritual causes. Saul was. He was disobedient to God. He was miserable. So, the servant said we better find somebody who can play and try to soothe Saul. In verse 16 they said, "seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp." The therapeutic power of music has long been known. Music can tame the savage beast. Music is very, very important. It can have a soothing effect on people. That's why we found out people work better with good music around them. We live in a world of music, don't we? How important is music in church! Every Christian needs three books when you come to church. You need the Good Book, the pocket book and you need the hymnbook. Thank God for music. I preached when our choir was in Louisville at the National Quartet Convention. I preached on II Kings 3:15 where they wanted the prophet Elisha to prophesy. He said, "Bring me a minstrel." Someone to play on the harp. When the minstrel played the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. How important is music. But in this instance the music is going to cover over the problem rather than help deal with the problem. Music can help; but music can't heal. Only God can heal. So, they looked for someone who could play. Who do you think they found? What's his name, boys and girls? David. There's another description of David down in verse 18. "He is cunning in playing (what he is musically), and a mighty valiant man and a man of war (what he is militarily), and prudent in matters (what he is socially), and a comely person (what he is physically), and the Lord is with him." That's the key to what he is spiritually. It says four times about the life of David, "the Lord is with him." That's the key, boys and girls. That's the key, young people. That's the key, ladies and gentlemen. Whatever you may have, the thing that really matters is "is the Lord with you?" Do you have Jesus in your life? Here's a man who is appointed to be a king and his first assignment is to be associated with a backslidden king. David is faithful to serve this backslidden king, Saul. He is never one time unfaithful to him. He never one time tries to take matters in his own hands and help God deal with this ungodly king. He just faithfully does what he's been assigned to do. He plays on his harp. Verse 23, "And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him." This is the very man who will soon hate him. This is the very man who is going to try to kill this young man. Boys and girls, keep in mind that your heart matters. Keep in mind that in your heart matters, your career matters are very important because God has a plan for you. If you will have a heart that will be sensitive and in tune with Him, He'll use you in a great way. Do you know Jesus as your Savior? That's the first step to having a heart after God's heart. COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: The text contained in this database is protected by copyright and International Law, and is solely owned by it's authors. The reproduction, or distribution of this product, or any portion of it, without the expressed written authorization from the contributing authors is forbidden. Remember, this database is to inspire the development of new messages to further the kingdom's work.