1 Samuel 16 (Part 1) Bible Study (David Anointed King) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Praise the Lord. Amen. First Samuel chapter 16 in our bible study. You know, there are people who, have different concepts of what worship should look like in the church, and I know that there is criteria of what worship should be like, but one of the criticisms is that we shouldn't draw from the Old Testament principles of how we should worship in the new covenant. And I'm sure you can go back and forth and there can be some theological sparring there, but I just think very simply that I refuse to believe that there is more extravagant passionate worship in the old covenant than in the new.

I think we should be Whatever we see in Psalms is wonderful, but in the new covenant understanding what we have in Christ, should we not be more explosive and passionate and deep and serious about worship? Maybe you would disagree, but that's not the point of the bible study tonight because we're in first Samuel chapter 16. And at this point, we just covered in three different weeks of the same chapter, chapter fifteen, one of the major turning points in the history of Israel's monarchy. In chapter 15, it really serves as a landmark for how we understand Israel and its formation concerning God's purposes on the earth. And one reason why it is a landmark is because the first king of Israel who was anointed and chosen by God, was told that he would no longer occupy the throne.

In the prime of his rule and reign, he was demoted. He was removed. He was canceled, if I can use that word today. But for the right reason, because this man, this king who was supposed to obey God and represent God, performed a very severe act of disobedience that was a blatant rubbing of rebellion in the face of a holy king, the real king. And as a result of that, he would lose his purpose on the earth and he would lose his calling.

And the same man who was commissioned by God to highlight Saul and to anoint him as the king, was the same man who would give the announcement that he lost the favor of God and he would no longer be the man that he was initially set apart to be. And it was an interesting confrontation, wasn't it? Between Samuel the prophet and Saul the king. And it's in the last two verses that we read what happens to Samuel. Samuel and Saul, we are told, would never meet again after that.

Until until death, they would never see each other face to face. But more than that, we are told that when Samuel departs from Saul after he tells him this this tragic news, that he grieved over Saul. And then we come to chapter 16 and that's where we are leaving off. We're seeing now Saul continue to, rather Samuel continue to grieve and how God is going to lead him in that place to not just deliver him from that condition, but but move forward in the program that God has for his people. And so when we come to chapter sixteen, sixteen, we are going to be introduced to a very well known character, a real person that existed in history and his name is David, son of Jesse.

It's amazing how much the scriptures dedicates to the man David. Consider the terrain. Consider the chapters that are given to this man in his life. And because of that, we're gonna learn much about God through his life. We're gonna learn a lot about the person of Jesus Christ considering that he came from the line of David.

We're also, as we always do week after week, are gonna draw from practical principles of holiness because you and I serve the same God that David loved. And so we read in chapter 16 verse one. 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.

I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons. And Samuel said, how can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me. And the Lord said, take a heifer with you and say, I've come to sacrifice to the Lord. And invite Jesse to the sacrifice and I will show you what you shall do.

And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you. Let's pray very briefly here. Lord, we thank you for the word of the Lord. Give us the grace and the wisdom now to receive in the power of the Holy Spirit. Take these truths and would you embed them, would you stitch them on our hearts, that they would not be able to be removed, they would not be easily forgotten.

We long, oh God, to be molded. We long to be formed and shaped into the image of your son. Use this chapter to do just that in our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen and amen.

Samuel is still grieving. Samuel was heartbroken. Samuel was a true leader of his people. You know why? Because even when a man like Samuel confronts sin and somebody like Saul who falls greatly because of his sin, the man, as we read in in a couple weeks ago, we read that he was angry with Saul, was also heartbroken over it.

There was a tenderness about this man. There was a softness. There there was a great sensitivity to the failures, not just of his own life, but even over other people's lives, in a way that didn't condemn them, but in a way in which he had some kind of grace to be broken over them. And that was certainly true here. This man grieved over Saul because he realized that his sin had consequences in his life, and not just his life, that his sins assaulted the glory of God and not just the glory of God, but his actions potentially would affect the faith and the formation of the people that God had a plan for.

And so here he is sitting, perhaps at home, meditating, being broken, expressing his grief. But interestingly enough, all for a sudden as this prophet is doing something that is commendable and exemplary is rebuked by the Lord. The Lord said to Samuel, how long will you grieve over Saul? Notice, God is not correcting the fact that he was grieving. There's room for that.

But the issue here with Samuel is that there was a prolonged and there was an extensive sense of pain. There was a sense in which he he really had genuine reason to be this way, but it reached the point, it crossed the boundary where even God himself says, enough is enough. You gotta get out of this. You can't remain in this place. You can't stay in this condition.

Now that would seem as though God lacked compassion, but it's not true. It's because God possesses a wisdom. And what you see here is that this excessive lamenting was now borderline dangerous concerning Samuel's spiritual state. And I wanna ask the question tonight, at what point does being sorrowful, or heavy, or in pain, or having heartache, at what point does it cross the place of being righteous and holy and appropriate to being inappropriate dangerous and even wrong? Any ideas?

So when you begin to now not trust the Lord because of the pain that you're experiencing. Sure. Anything else? Very good. Both answers are exactly the two points that I had in mind.

The second point was, when it comes to the point not just when you when you stop trusting God, but it affects your service to the Lord. And that's exactly the two dangers that are presented here concerning Samuel. Notice here that though he had reason to grieve over Saul's sin, as Paul told the Thessalonians, we do not grieve as the world grieves. There is an element of hope even in our grief, and that hope is so powerful, it's so imparted into us, that it actually caused us to not just be able to, yes, have the freedom to shed tears and to to take time to consider and meditate, but to walk with God still, trust God still, and even worship God through whatever you are enduring. So the hope that we have does not permit us to to come to a place where we begin to question or assault the character and the nature of God.

And that's important because I look at this verse here and I wonder if if at any point Samuel remembered how God called him. Do you remember? Before King Saul was rejected, there was another spiritual leader that was rejected. What was his name? What was his name?

He was the high priest. Eli. Eli was rejected. And I want you to go to chapter three very carefully and quickly to see the condition in which the nation was in. When Samuel was called and it makes you think, Samuel, do you forget?

Did you forget how God moved at that time for you to not see it here and now? Chapter three verse two. At that time, Eli whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. Why would the scriptures tell us that Eli was borderline blind? For the same reason we are being told about the lamp in verse three.

The lamp of God had not yet gone out and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord where the Ark of God was. The reason why we are being told of the eyesight of Eli and the lamp, if you remember, in chapter three, many weeks ago, many months ago, it's because those things were the reflection of the spiritual condition of the leadership at this time. The leaders did not have vision. The leaders did not have clarity because of their sin. Because of their lack of concern of God's holiness, they could not see right.

Remember Eli, though this is speaking about a physical dimness, when he saw Hannah praying, thought she was a drunkard and condemned her when she was broken in the presence of God. And the lamp of God, which was the only source of light in the entire tabernacle, if that lamp had gone out there would be no way to see and to perform service in the tabernacle. And that lamp though it was dimming and it was almost out, speaks again of the lack of light in the spiritual leadership. But it wasn't completely out and that's the point. Because after we're told about Eli's lack of sight and the lamp of the Lord almost going out, God calls Samuel In that kind of condition, in that kind of atmosphere.

And I wonder if he thought himself, now that we lost the king, and that the nation won't be the same and there's gonna be great disappointment and great concern of where we're gonna go from here. I wonder if he had thought, well, that's when God called me. We've been through this before. I've seen this before. I was called in a very similar predicament.

But no, I don't think he did. I don't think he did because he's prolonging his grief. It's reached the point now where God has to step in and correct him because there's a potential risk where he is now thinking to himself, how is God going to deliver? How is God going to actually lead us out of this pit? Where are we going to go from here?

And listen, if our lament begins to blind us from seeing the faithfulness of God, from seeing His power, His sovereign authority over all affairs concerning your life and the rest of the world, then you know that you have reached the point where the grief, exactly a worldly grief. And not the one that Paul speaks about with a hope. But secondly, grief becomes dangerous when we lose our grip on our service to God. See, this flag is here When you see that your frame of mind is being affected, where you you can't see yourself even walking in the call that God has called you to, walking in the obedience that you know that he's called you to, that's when you know that whatever you ever experienced that's hurt you, is doing more than it should in your life. This is very important because what Samuel is experiencing is the pain from the failure of another person.

Somebody that he's invested so much in. Somebody that he has instructed. Remember that first time he was anointed, he stayed on the rooftop to instruct him. All the things that he poured into him, all the chances that he's given, and it's just failure after failure after failure, and this man is disappointed. And And I wanna tell you this, a lot of genuine good hearted Christians sabotage their callings because of other people's failures.

You see it all the time, man. You see it happen all the time. And sometimes it happens when there's just disappointment from people, whether you're in the leadership or you're in the congregation. Disappointment. And you don't know why you would sign up for ministry when people come in and just make a mess out of it instead of bringing blessing to it.

This is especially true for those who've experienced spiritual abuse. That's a real thing by the way. And it usually comes from leaders or those that have influence in your life, and and you collide with hypocritical behavior and it knocks the wind out of you. I'm telling you, I've seen people where it knocks the wind out of them so much that they can't read their bible ever the same way again. Some of them don't even step foot in a church for decades.

And if they do show up to church, they don't sing with the same passion again. They they don't consider and and prayfully ask God with zeal to be used by God again. And so you have to be extremely careful when you experience failure from other people. There is room to process. There is room to step back.

There is room to get counsel even, but when it comes to the point where it paralyzes you, you're allowing Satan to influence you. This devil is a very tricky devil. And you might think, are you reading too much into this? No. I'll tell you an example.

Why did the disciples fall asleep in the garden when they were supposed to be praying? Why? Good job. We think they were just tired. It was a long day, they were sitting through a lot of teaching, they just had supper, it was very late at night and they just got sleepy and they fell asleep.

And then we use that to condemn ourselves when we get tired when we pray. It wasn't because of that. The reason why they fell asleep is found in the gospel of Luke. Would you like to see it? In chapter 22 verse 45.

Luke twenty two forty five tells us the main reason why these disciples could not pray. And when he being our Lord rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for what? What does it say? Sorrow. Sorrow.

Why were they sorrowful? Because just a few verses ago, Jesus sat with them and said, you know you guys are gonna deny me. Right? And Peter couldn't fathom it and the disciples joined him in that self confidence, no we will not. They just heard according to John's gospel, lesson after lesson in which Jesus even had to console them because they're now hearing and it's becoming clear, you're gonna leave us?

We we thought you were the messiah. Aren't you ushering your kingdom? What what all the miracles now you're gonna just depart and we can't come? And so they were just overcome by what you can say is a misguided disappointment. Disappointment in themselves, disappointment in the news of where this is all leading to, and because of the sorrow that overwhelmed them, what happened?

It sabotaged their praying. And Jesus says and he said to them in verse 46. He didn't say, oh look, they're sorrowful. He said, no. Why are you sleeping?

Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation. So even though they had genuine sorrow, even the Lord himself saw that it's reached a point where now it's affecting their holiness. You cannot afford not to pray in this moment though you're overwhelmed because Satan will take advantage of the fact that you are sorrowful to keep you from praying. And if he can keep you from praying, you can't stand against temptation. Do you see how tricky this is?

Do you see how discerning we need to be? Do you see that just because we feel something and it's a very real feeling, it doesn't justify certain actions? Now you're saying, does that mean that I can't grieve at all? No. You know that.

I hope I don't have to explain that tonight. But there there comes a point where even the Lord himself says, enough is enough. You can't stay like this. And there's some people who stay like that because of trauma in the church. There's some people who stay like that because of different different sources of grief.

The loss of a loved one because of death, Because of a trial that is unexplainable, they just overcome. And what you need to understand is, though you there is room to be able to express your heart, be careful that Satan would use that to sabotage your ministry. To keep you from exercising your gifts. To have you stay in that place as long as possible and keep you ineffective. Because feelings are very real, but there's something more real beyond this flesh.

You have a calling. You have a purpose. You have a mission. And many people don't realize what sorrow can lead them to, whether it's self inflicted or caused by someone else. But if it can move you away from serving God, then there needs to be an alertness even in our sorrow.

In fact, look at this, seems like God gives an insight to one of the cures of overcoming this. What does he say? Fill your horn with oil and go. I will send you to Jesse. He's like, okay.

The way out of this is you obeying. The way out of this is you getting up. It doesn't help you to stay in that place. It doesn't help you to remain in your house in the dark and just rehearse these things. Idleness is very dangerous and sorrow can lead to idleness.

And David, the man that we're gonna study for the rest of this bible study, David himself knows what kind of temptations can creep up when you stay at home, when you're supposed to be out on the battlefield serving the way God's called you to serve. It could be that Samuel was so paralyzed that he couldn't even move forward in his ministry as a prophet. God steps and says, hey, listen. It's not over yet. It's as though we can safely translate these words in the following way, why are you still sorrowful?

Listen, Saul's failure didn't affect my plans for Israel and you still have a mission to accomplish. Go. Get up. And the thing that will help you and I endure and push forward and move forward are those same two truths. God is still on his throne and two, as long as you have breath, you still have something to do.

And it worked. This prophet got up and he moved forward. And the same truth applies to all of us. Be careful how the enemy can tempt you. He can do it through sin.

Listen. He can even do it through sorrow. And so, he hears this news and it's the cure for his mourning, and I love the prophetic hint about this. I can see it. You can you can sense it.

That this news that there is a new king that would be found in where? Bethlehem. From who? The line of Jesse. I wonder if there was a jolt of excitement.

I wonder if there was a jolt of There's a sobriety to his spirit. There's someone else that you have in mind and now this time it's not the people. It's not the people who are choosing the king. God himself is choosing the king. I wonder what kind of confidence was surge into this prophet.

And like us today, the cure to not just this kind of morning, but all morning is the news. That there is a king who has come from the line of Jesse born in Bethlehem. And it's not David, it's the son of David, Jesus Christ. And so we see here that Samuel is excited. Maybe, we can't read into it, but whatever exciting he might have had or might have strength he might have discovered in this moment was quickly met by fear.

Verse two, and Samuel said, how can I go if Saul hears it? He will kill me. Doesn't that say something about how degenerate Saul has become up to this point? The king has become so reckless, so unhinged, so unpredictable that that this prophet was convinced, hey, Lord, look, I told him what you told me in chapter 15 and he was willing to rip my coat. If you're gonna send me now and news goes to him that I'm anointing his successor, I'm a dead man.

You're setting me up to die. Now, I read this and you're gonna discover something if you haven't already. Chapter 16 reveals the humanity of this prophet. In verse one, we see the prolonged mourning. In verse two, we see a fear that's actually causing him to be hesitant to obey God.

And later on, he actually calls somebody the king in his heart when God said, you've missed it. The prophet missed it of who was supposed to be the king among Jesse's sons. Goes to show that even the greatest men of God are still sons of Adam. They still make mistakes. They still have shortcomings.

They get dressed the same way you get dressed. They eat certain amount of meals the same day that you do. They have to do normal things like laundry and cut their hair. Be careful of elevating men who are used by God to the point where you think they're invincible. I love that the Holy Spirit here shows the transparency of this man's shortcomings.

He got sad too long. He got scared when God told him to do something. And a prophet who hears God senses the voice of God unlike any of us can experience, actually missed it when he was trying to find God's next king. How can I go? How is this the same Samuel that we've been studying up to this point?

How is this the same prophet? The man that was willing to stand before Eli as a young kid, say, you know, you're gonna be judged. The one who removed his own sons from leadership positions when they were compromised. The one who rebuked the whole nation and the one who even corrected and pointed out the sin of King Saul is now afraid? Now you're scared.

When God assured you that you were gonna go and you were gonna find this king, He assured you. Now now you're actually worried for your life? How did this happen? Because of verse one, the fruit of prolonged mourning. What do you mean?

I mean, this man came to the point where he was so focused on the issue and didn't include God in it or consider God's ways in it, that it now made him impaired to seeing God in other things. See, when we have faith in God, we have faith in all things and for all things. If we just have faith for some things, it won't take very long be before that lack of faith seeps into other things. And this man that couldn't see God in fixing this problem of this king being dethroned, now couldn't see how God could protect him from the same king. And so we're called to have faith in all things and trust God for all things, and he didn't have it.

He had to snap out of it. He was he was in the flesh for a little bit. It's quite amazing. It's quite amazing what can happen to even prophets. Do you think God had mercy on him?

I think so. And God is much more merciful than people are because he brings us concern and God gives him a solution. Here's a solution. Take a cow with you. If you're scared, take a cow with you and tell people when you arrive there that you're here to make a sacrifice.

Interesting. Interesting. How does that come off? In in the immediate sense, some might even say, hey, that sounds like that sounds like being duplicit. That sounds like a lie.

You're going to anoint a king and God is telling you go and tell them that you're actually gonna make a sacrifice? You can't argue God out of this. God said it. Let's just set that straight. God said it.

This isn't reading into something, God commanded this as a solution. So let's put that aside. Secondly, we know that our God does not lie. He's not a deceiving God. He's not a God that's afraid of man.

So what's going on here? What's going on here? Why are you saying this when in reality the the the core of the matter is that you are sending him to anoint a son of Jesse. Well, if he said go and make the sacrifice and tell people along the way, if they're saying, Samuel, where are you going? Well, I'm going to Bethlehem to make a sacrifice.

That's what I want you to tell people. If he went and he told people this, and he didn't make a sacrifice, that is what? That's a lie. That's wrong. That's evil.

That's wicked. That's deceiving. But God did issue it. He said, go. It's a legitimate ordinance that I want you to perform and in that what's gonna happen is, it's going to lessen the suspicion of why you are actually there.

So, if he performs a sacrifice, it's not a lie. It's true. But what God is asking of Samuel, is that he does not in prudence need to share the whole story. You don't need to tell you don't need to tell everybody why exactly you're here. You don't have to tell everybody the details.

You don't have to go and announce it to everybody. Why? Because that would produce more evil than good. Why? Because King Saul, if he was willing to kill the prophet for anointing the man, then surely he would be willing to kill the successor to his throne.

And so this is not a matter of dishonesty, this is a matter of wisdom. It's a matter of wisdom. And for Samuel to be open about David's anointing, would not only put his life in danger, but the future of God's program and plan. And we might not be convinced of this, so I'm gonna show you another example in a moment, but here's the point I wanna make. Concealment of a matter is not the same as falsehood.

Concealment of a matter is not the same as falsehood, and the secret was not to protect a sinful or selfish ambition. It's not like I'm hiding this because there's something that I don't want people to know because I know it's wrong. That's not what's being done here. The secrecy here is actually a form of protection and guarding from the wrong people of discovering something that would only introduce more havoc than harmony. And so God in his wisdom says, Samuel, go perform a sacrifice and when people ask, tell them that you're gonna do this, but you know the real reason why you're going.

Do we see this anywhere else? Rahab, potentially. Some would say that there is a justified kind of, and we talked about this in Exodus. It's in the same book, and I would point to it and maybe you guys don't remember, but Rahab might be an example. In Joshua's leadership, he did this in a certain way.

Would you like to see it? Go to Joshua chapter two. I want you to see it for yourself. Because why are we doing this? We're defending God's integrity and his holiness.

And a lot of believers think black and white and don't realize there are nuances. In Joshua two, look at this in verse one. And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men, what's that word there? Secretly. He sent two spies.

Secretly. Why would the Holy Spirit tell us that he sent two spies secretly? The whole essence of sending spies is that they're going secretly. You going as a spy implies that you're not making your identity known, You're concealing your identity. You're coming in and you are merging amongst those that you are trying to find information from.

So why go out of the way to say secretly? Because Joshua didn't keep it a secret to the Canaanites. He kept it a secret from the Israelites. Do you guys remember this? Joshua made sure that no one from Israel knew that he was sending two spies into the land of Canaan.

Why? Because the man learned from experience. That's why. Because in his generation, when there were spies sent out and he was a part of that group, 12 of them, 10 came back with a bad report and it brought the the deflation to their faith and it introduced unbelief among the Israelites and it cost them the promised land. And Joshua as a leader knew, I'm not gonna risk it again.

I'm gonna send two this time. Remember the testimony of two or three. I'm gonna send two, and just in case they come back with a bad report, nobody will know that they went even in the first place. They'll deal with me directly. Is that deception?

Is that lying? No. It's something called wisdom. In fact, look at the description of Joshua in the last chapter of the book before Joshua, before Joshua's leadership is manifested. In Deuteronomy thirty four nine, look at this.

This is the fruit. Chapter two Joshua is the fruit of Deuteronomy thirty four nine. And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom. Oh, he had wisdom. And you know what wisdom does brothers and sisters?

Wisdom doesn't just know what to say, it knows what not to say. Wisdom knows who should have access to certain information and who can't handle that information. Wisdom knows how to lighten the burden on other people, especially as a leader, and not overly burden people with what you may know, what may be happening behind the scenes. And so Joshua here is exercising wisdom. Wisdom not just from learning from the past, because that's the essence of a lot of wisdom, but wisdom in knowing who his people were.

I know my people. I know what's happened. I know what they're susceptible to, and so I need to protect them. This is a righteous thing. I need to protect them.

We have a mission to fulfill, and if this goes crazy, we might have to go through this wilderness journey once more and I'm not willing to do that. So he conceals, he hides it, not he's hiding Don't take this and say, I'm not gonna tell people what I'm doing in secret of my sin. That's wrong. And you learn from, I believe last week or two weeks ago that you can't conceal your transgression. That's not what it's talking about here.

Sorry to disappoint you. There is an application here of prudence and that's what's happening in first Samuel 16. God here knows his people. God here knows the circumstance. Under this particular circumstance, this was necessary.

And Samuel had to trust that, and so he he obeys. And look at the element here of obedience, another instruction to obedience. Verse three, and invite Jesse to the sacrifice and I will show you what you shall do. I love that. Invite Jesse, and from there, I'll tell you what you need to do.

Well, well, well. I look at a man like Samuel the prophet and I'm encouraged because even Samuel the prophet did not have the full picture all at once. Even Samuel the prophet was led by God step by step. You know why that's so sobering to me? Not just because he was a prophet but because he is considered one of the greatest men of prayer in all of biblical history.

And this man who prayed and cried all night, even this man could say, I don't know. Even this man could say, all I know is what I'm supposed to do now, but I have no idea what I'm supposed to do tomorrow. Oh, really? Why? Because God chooses to do that with his children.

That's an intentional thing. So if Samuel the prophet, the prayer warrior, the man who heard God's voice, heard God's voice in the moment as though you can hear my voice on this microphone. If such a man did not have the full blueprint of his ministry and his life and his future, why are you so frustrated with yourself? Why are you beating your head against the wall? Why are you questioning if God is leading you?

You know, many people ask, brother, I don't know when, how, where God is leading me, and what I'm supposed to do. That's okay. I have those questions too. But this is the initial answer that I give, I try to give to myself, and I try to give to others. Number one, ask and wait on the Lord continually.

Ask and wait on the Lord continually. And and don't make it a burden, make it a a thing of invitation. Lord, I'm doing this, this is where I'm at. Do you have something else in mind? Lord, if you want me to do anything other than what I'm doing now, just let me know and I'll obey you.

Talk like that. And then secondly, serve God to the capacity in which he has given you and revealed to you now until he makes the next step known. God knows how to speak. And when God speaks, it's not muffled with confusion. Was that God or was that me?

That's not how God talks. When God reveals, it is loud and clear and if you ever question God's clarity of where he wants you to go, trust me, he wants you to serve him more than you do. So what was he supposed to do? With whatever revelation he's been given for the moment, you go perform the sacrifice, invite Jesse, and then what? I'll tell you when it comes.

When it comes, I'll let I'll let you know. And so if you ever felt for a moment, I don't know what God's ten year plan for me is, and I don't know where I'm supposed to go next, and and maybe I'm not as spiritual as that person, that's why that person knows everything. Samuel the prophet didn't know. Comfort yourself with that truth. He didn't know.

But what he needed to know is what you and I need to know, that every step of obedience, no matter how long we're in that season, we have no idea how God will providentially use that step of obedience to affect generations even. See, trusting God at this point, not knowing who God could have said, go invite Jesse and listen, he's not gonna bring this this one kid, his his youngest named David. That's the one though. So when you go, just ask for David. Ask for David.

Get it over with. We have no time to waste. We need to get the next king in line. He doesn't do that. Why doesn't he do that?

I can come up with maybe some reasons, but one reason I'm about to find out is that through that silence, Samuel's gonna learn something about himself. Through not revealing the identity of David to be the king, Samuel would make a choice in his heart that was wrong and he would be further sanctified. Do you see why God doesn't tell you everything all the time? Because it's in that silence that he wants to do a work in you that only that silence can bring about. And so, he found out, well, okay.

I'll go. I'll invite him and I'll see what Lord you have next. Verse four. Samuel did what the Lord commanded. You know why I love that?

I don't know if he still felt the fear or not, but he still obeyed God. Samuel did what the Lord commanded. He trusted God that this plan would work. And what happens though? And came to Bethlehem.

The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, do you come peaceably? So maybe the the fear was evaded from him, but now as he comes to Bethlehem, the elders of the city realize here's the prophet and he's probably hunched over with his staff as an old man walking towards them, and they're looking at each other like, did anybody invite Samuel here for a conference? Because I don't know why he's walking in our direction. And they're trembling. Why do you think they were trembling?

He's the prophet. He's the man of God. He speaks the word of the Lord. Doesn't tell us why, but it'd be a fun discussion. Why do you think they were trembling?

I read that. I said, why were they so scared? Any ideas? Maybe the fear was legitimate. Why would you be afraid of a man of God stepping in close proximity where God tells him things unless you had something worthy of being fearful of.

Interesting. I wonder if that is that is the case. Guilt produces fear. Guilt produces fear in many different things. Could be that.

Some would say it's because what they learned perhaps from chapter 15, what did this old man do to a name, a king named Agag? He hacked them to pieces. He brutally slaughtered this unrighteous leader for all the wickedness that he did as a command by God. And imagine that's the last thing you heard of Samuel and he's coming into your neighborhood. But I think the heart of the matter is, is he coming to bring judgment?

Whether it's something that they knew of their own citizens, Bethlehem, we're not the best of saints in this town. So they ask him, do you come peaceably? Do you come peaceably? And Samuel says, verse five, peaceably I've come to sacrifice to the Lord. Peaceably I have come.

In our gospel, when we go places, we come with the message of peace. We come to bring good news. The gospel is not bad news, it's wonderful news. And it's so wonderful that the mountains on which the feet step on with the gospel are blessed and called beautiful along with the feet of those who carry the gospel. And so, if you ever hesitant to preach the gospel, realize in that moment, sober yourself up, I have the best news that any human can hear.

Right? I heard I read somewhere, I forgot who said it, but they said, I refuse to let the greatest story ever told become the greatest secret that people will not hear. I will declare it to people. I'm not ashamed of the gospel. What's it What's what's there to be ashamed with the gospel?

That you're a sinner? That you're you're bound for judgment, but God took care of all your judgment? Not because you did anything, but because he he exercised your righteousness and died on the cross for your sins? Like, what can be better than that? I come peaceably, consecrate yourselves, come with me to the sacrifice because a peace offering had an element of fellowship and eating after the sacrifice.

And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. Now look at verse six. When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, surely the Lord's anointed is before him. Like in seven verses, you see Samuel the human very clearly, don't you? And then the Lord speaks, verse seven.

But the Lord said to Samuel, do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature because I have rejected him for the Lord sees not as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. The Lord looks on the heart. One of the most popular well known scriptures, unfortunately, butchered by some to justify some kind of behavior. God knows my heart.

God knows my heart. That's why I dress like this. Because God knows my heart. Right? That's why I do this.

Because God knows my heart. He knows why. We won't need to go there tonight, do we? I hope not. There's a lot of things that we can pull out of this and maybe we'll touch on more next week because there's no way we can cover this in in one sitting, this chapter.

It's it's too dense. But I learned at least two things concerning Samuel, maybe you have something to add to that, but I learned at least two things concerning this man of God in this moment where he he falls short. Number one, it shows that we are capable of not learning from the past. It shows that we are capable of not learning from the past. This man made a judgment.

Surely this, the eldest of Jesse's son, surely look at him, look how tall he is, look how broad his shoulders look. I heard his voice, he's a commanding voice. He's handsome. Surely, this is the king. Does that sound familiar?

It does sound familiar. And if you forgot, go to chapter nine verse two concerning Saul, when we are introduced him. And he had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulders upward, he was taller than any of the people.

And you would think that after learning from this, you just spent a season of of grief over a man who had the looks, the charm, the personality, the gifting, but didn't have the character to carry him in his calling. You saw the flaws. You saw the disasters from such an individual, and you would think that you would calculate in your estimation of who's before you. Just because he has the outward appearance doesn't make him kingly worthy. But he didn't learn.

He decided for this king the same way Israel decided for the first king. He was no different. He was no different in choosing than the people who are in an apostate condition. How do you make sense of this? It's a very very wonderful illustration how most people today treat their sin.

They never learn. And they commit the same sin that caused them grief just a week ago, just a month ago, just three months ago. They go back to it over and over and over again, and somehow they're convinced that it won't be like last time, or the pleasure in my sin see, the thing with temptation is listen. Whenever temptation whispers in your ear, they will never bring to remembrance the sting of that sin. Never.

Temptation cunningly only shows you whatever sensation that brought you pleasure in that moment, every single time. It will never bring to your memory remember the pain and the shame and the guilt and the vows that you made that you would never do it again? Never ever ever ever. Remember how good it felt? Remember how much profit you made?

Remember how you got away with it? Never will tell you of the things that wrench your heart or cause you to lose sleep at night. And it's amazing here that Samuel the prophet we just read a few verses ago that God said, get out of this. You're grieving too much. He didn't even consider that When he looked at this king and said, maybe he's the one.

In fact, he didn't even say maybe he said, surely this is the one. A great deterrent to temptation and I'm I'm not saying that what Samuel is doing here is outright sin, but it's a wonderful parallel. A great deterrent to any temptation, having a grip on your mind that would lead to you making decisions, is to ever keep before you the stings that those sins afflicted you with. You want temptation to lose its power? Do one of many things and rehearse in your mind, this thing lied to me last time.

This thing deceived me last time. And maybe it's something that you've never been introduced with. So consider the failures of others who have fallen into that same sin. This destroyed them. That's why we have these things in the Bible, just in case your circle of friends isn't too grand.

You have a Saul. You have a David. As heroes? As examples of both good and the ugly. And this man amazingly, didn't consider that this can be a colossal failure and he said in his heart, surely this is the guy.

You didn't learn that outward appearance doesn't make somebody justifiable for a position of leadership, did you? But secondly, it shows us that we are capable of being influenced by the world. Who thought like this? Israel did and they weren't in the best spiritual condition when they made that decision. I looked at this and I thought to myself, even Samuel was magnetized by the power of outward appearance.

Even Samuel was drawn in to the point where he began to esteem and consider the worth and value and make his decisions the same way that an apostate people did. Why? Because he's exemplifying to us just how strong the pull of attraction is when the eye of the flesh is entertained. Samuel shows just how quick you can go from thinking in the spirit to thinking in the flesh. He's demonstrating here that even at important moments in your life, you can make decisions that would alter it if you're not careful.

And it's amazing because what Samuel is showing here, the utter importance of being in tune with God's heart and mind always. You and I can't afford a moment to slip. You and I must walk in the spirit, not 90% of the day, all the day. And God made it very easy for us and we'll get to that in a moment, but think about this. If you don't, if you're not convinced of how powerful this is, then consider this thought.

That the man that Samuel was told by God to choose, David. Not because of his appearance, but because of his heart. Right? David's heart, not his appearance, was what drew God to choose him to be the shepherd over Israel. That same man, when he became king, what happened?

Let me just read it to you in second Samuel 11 verse two. It happened late one afternoon when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house that he saw from the roof a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful. He asked for her name, he called her into his room, he slept with her, she was married, he got her pregnant, he killed the husband and he tried to cover his sin. Where did it all start? He saw.

Samuel, he saw. And what did he see? Well, God's correction tells us, don't look at his appearance. Don't look at his stature. Where did this whole thing even begin from?

The garden. And Eve saw that the tree was pleasant to the eyes. So our perception, our flesh, the things that cause our hearts to flutter and our minds to go into imaginations, that pull is very strong. It happened to a prophet. It happened to a man who God selected because his heart was so enthralled and consumed with loving him.

Be careful. And here we are and we think that we can just go on through our day without spending time with God. How do I protect myself from this though? I don't wanna be like that. I see it there.

Why is it there? It's to tell me that it's possible. So how do I protect myself? Did I wake up a couple? The bible gives you prescription if you would just listen to it.

The scripture tells us exactly and it's one of the most common verses that we all know, perhaps we know it but we don't understand the power behind it and I'm ending it with this verse in Romans twelve two. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. That by testing, you may do what? Discern. That you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

I wanna tell you something. This world has a gospel and they come with different faces and different tunes and different different lures. But the same goal, this world longs to every single day, doesn't give up, doesn't doesn't rest. Every single day it has one ambition, to conform you to itself. Your thinking, your convictions, your plans, every single thing about you, what the world longs to do, is squeeze you into its mold.

This verse is not given to worldly people, it's given to the church. Do not be conformed and the consequences of being conformed to the world, some of you really need to hear this, so listen very carefully. Do not be conformed to this world because the consequences are many and here's one of the consequences, that it has the ability to blur your discernment from understanding the will of God. It clouds your thinking to the point where you don't walk out and make decisions that are good, acceptable, and perfect. I'm sure and I hope there's not one person in here that doesn't long to live their life in a way that they make decisions that are good, acceptable and perfect.

But the world wants to conform you where? In the arena of the mind, so that you can't discern that, and based on that lack of discernment, you begin to make decisions and frame your convictions in a way that steers you apart from the path of God's perfect will for your existence. And you don't even know it. Because you think that this world is neutral concerning your spirituality, when in fact it has an evil plot for your mind. So then what is the antidote?

What is the protection? What is the remedy? What is the shield? Well, he tells us, be transformed. How?

By the renewing of your mind. This is where it needs to change. The mind, not your emotions, your thinking, the collection of your thoughts, your thought patterns, the the the thing that you open the drawer and then you pull out that that envelope that says, what I believe. Who am I? Who is God?

What is life? And God, out of all the means I remember sitting when I was in advertising, and I'm sure this guy was obviously, he was saying it mockingly. He says, out of all the ways, this atheist guy, out of all the ways that God could have revealed himself, he did it with a book. He did it with a book. He couldn't just appear in the sky.

He couldn't just and he was saying, I'm not even gonna tell you what he said mockingly. But, yeah, God chose to reveal himself through a book. And it's through his word and my exposure to it that has the power to begin to rewire, realign and renew my mind. That's where it is. It's very simple.

I told you, it wasn't complicated. Here's what begins to happen. You don't just have the ability to to reference certain scriptures and you know how to be more in tune with bible study. No. There is a transformation.

That word in the Greek is the same word used when Jesus was on the Mount Of Transfiguration and he transformed. There's an actual powerful thing that's taking place in your mind and what it does is it begins to now give you a sense of discernment. This is so powerful. In which you are now able to navigate through life and make decisions that are good, acceptable, and perfect. So what happens is when you come to this word and you allow it to wash over you, and listen, as as powerful as memorization is, just read it.

Just re just expose yourself to it and and watch what will happen to your brain, to your thinking, to your emotional capacity and state and condition. It's a there's a supernatural thing that begins to take place in you. And you know, at least in part, that one of the ways in which somebody has been so consumed with this process is that whatever situation is thrown at them, in their minds they can respond biblically. It's like they the mind just it's able to go to a scripture, it's able to go to a scenario, it's able to go to so many places because their minds have been so convinced and consumed with the word of God. So what begins to happen?

You don't see beauty the same way the world sees beauty. You elevate beauty at a different standard than the world does. You don't see trials the same way. You don't see sin the same way. You don't see the things that bring people joy the same way, and it's effortless.

Why? Because all you've been doing is coming to the word and the word is renewing your mind and things begin to happen in you. And then from that place, you're able to have a discernment that is incalculable in value. It's a wonderful confidence that you have that in this season of life, with the decisions that need me make, I know that I will be closer to the will of God than anybody else. That's why in my life, I don't take advice from people that do not renew their minds with the word of God.

How am I gonna trust in the discernment? How am I gonna trust in the discernment of a Christian that doesn't look any different than the world? I need to discern the will of God in my life, and not just for me, I'm gonna go to those who know the will of God because they have been renewing their minds and they've been transformed. I would suggest the same for you. And so, you look at temptation differently.

You look at qualifications in somebody differently. And that is something you and I all have access to and it is the great protection. Samuel was learning this, and God is patient. He he teaches us through experience as well. But Samuel was learning this, you are seeing this the way that I don't see.

I see it differently than you. And you and I, we acquire a sensitivity to the wisdom and the knowledge of God as we expose ourselves to his word which renews us and then transforms us. So you're saying, brother, why should I read the bible every day? For many reasons and here's one, you inherited discernment that will protect you and guide you in this life in a way like nothing can. God will honor you as you honor his word.

Oh, there are many things to learn from this chapter, but we will reserve it for next week. And so if you are in a place today where you're like, I don't know where I'm at right now. I don't know the next step. Take comfort to know that Samuel didn't know either. But also, be challenged to know that discernment only comes with a renewal of the mind.

You want the will of God for your life? It comes from the transformation that is surging from this book. This is a supernatural book. That's why even when I go through Old Testament books, like Ezekiel or Leviticus, I believe that I'm going to get a discernment. I'm gonna know something about God.

I'm gonna know something about life, because the scripture promises me. Promises you the same. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you give hope for those who have fallen, whether it's great falls like David, what we would consider minor fall falls like Samuel, who didn't know how to manage his emotions, who didn't know how to believe you when it came to a call to obey you, and who even didn't think like you in a brief moment when you called him to be a vessel that would represent him. Lord, thank you that at no point with Samuel did you condemn him or shun him or remove him because you knew that he loved you and he desired to be your servant, that he gave up so much to be the man that he was.

And thank you, Lord, in our own lives that we can take comfort, that when we make hiccups and we might even sin or we we think in a way that we shouldn't have thought or we were deceived for a moment or we we weren't as mature as we needed to be spiritually, you do not disqualify us. You teach us as you taught Samuel. You disciple us. Your patience is so great, greater than our patience even for ourselves. Lord, in this moment, we are stirred afresh about one of the aspects of the power of your word that it grants us a discernment to see as you see which is the best way to see.

And we pray Lord that there would be a renewed passion for personal devotion to the word of the living God. We ask Lord that if there's anybody in here who's fearful, fearful because they don't know the next step and there's silence, help them know that just as you were silent with the choice of a king, through that silence you taught Samuel something about himself. Help us believe that there is not one season, not one day wasted with you. Every single season, every single moment you use. Your scripture says that you test the righteous.

Even when they wake up, you test the righteous. And in this place, Lord, we feel rich to know that we have the living God on our side and that we have the living word at our disposal. Forgive us for our laziness. Forgive us for our lack of faith. Forgive us for not seeing the word as we ought to see it.

But Lord, as gracious as you were to Samuel, so you are to us. Help us to think like you, feel like you, move when you want us to move, stay when you want us to stay. We worship you, Lord. And we're excited to see how you see men. The heart.

The heart. Your name we pray. Amen. Amen. Can we stand and worship God together, please?