Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.probap.church/sermons/85216/david-and-his-god/. Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions. Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt. [0:00] Good morning, everyone. Open up your Bibles, your copy of God's Word to 1 Samuel, chapter 16.! Today, if you're here for the first time or haven't been back in a while, like perfect timing, we're about to start a new series that will last anywhere from six to seven weeks on the life of King David. [0:25] And I've been very excited about this. David is one of my favorite Bible characters, always kind of has been one of the most intriguing men that we read about in the Scripture, for sure. [0:41] His character in the Scripture is very, very worth our time looking at and studying and learning from. So, oddly enough, I mean, I'm not surprised to hear this, but the life of David is mentioned or recorded roughly 66 chapters of the Divine Word. [1:00] That's more than Abraham, more than Moses, more than Joseph, more than Isaiah, a lot. He's also mentioned about 59 times just in the New Testament alone, so a huge, daunting thing. [1:15] So, God definitely, without question, when God brings something back up over and over and over, He wants us to learn from His providential interactions with David. [1:28] And the things that He accomplished through him were immense. Just to give you a really quick rundown, this is not even half of what you could say, but He united all the twelve tribes of Israel, and He brought them together into a single kingdom, which is no easy task. [1:47] He conquered Jerusalem, and He made Jerusalem the capital of Israel's political and spiritual life. He defeated all of Israel's enemies, namely, particularly the Philistines, and protected their borders from these pagan enemies, and actually became the overlord of a lot of those enemies, where they had to pay tribute and obey what David said. [2:11] He expanded the borders of the nation. He annexed the coastal regions. He also wrote the Psalms, as we're aware, about 73 of them, and He sang them. [2:22] And then, of course, who can forget the epic, legendary showdown between David and Goliath, something that most of us learn about when we were children, teaching us about faith and bravery and trust in God. [2:41] Even now, one of my girls' favorite Bible stories is David and Goliath, and that's when we bust out the foam swords, and they attack me, and they call me Goliath every time, so I've had my head cut off quite a few times lately. [2:55] So, one day I'll get to be David, maybe. But more importantly, I guess one of the biggest things is the Davidic covenant. 2 Samuel 7, God promised to give David an everlasting house, that one of his descendants would sit on the throne and reign forever. [3:16] And this would be, as we know, our Lord Jesus. So, much to say about David. So, just pray quickly. Lord, help me to, in some small way, be used today by pointing to your Word, and that your Word would have its desired effect upon our hearts, that your Holy Spirit would apply its truth to our souls, and it would work. [3:41] You'd be the spiritual surgeon upon our souls and our hearts today. I just ask that in Jesus' name. Amen. So, really quick, just some of the context in which we're going to land today in 1 Samuel 16. [3:56] You have a struggling nation. The nation of Israel is not doing well. They're marked by a lot of internal strife, this loose confederation of tribes seeking to unify, working together as a single nation, a lot of them looking out for their own interests, and also just concerned about the other tribes' ambitions. [4:15] A faulty priesthood was also there, given into immorality and corruption, characterized by Eli and his sons. And going on from there, as we'll look at more next week, instead of looking to God for leadership and for God to help them, they wanted to have a king like the pagan nations around them. [4:36] And Saul was that first king. And with some initial success, as we all know the story, eventually he turned from God and began to not obey God, and despite giving numerous chances to repent, never fully came around. [4:52] And we'll look at that later on next week. But earlier in chapter 13 and 15, Saul was told by the prophet Samuel that his dynasty, his kingdom was going to be torn from him. [5:05] Like, that's it. God's done with you. Very scary words. And that his kingdom would be given to a neighbor. And that neighbor would be David, a son of Jesse of Bethlehem. [5:17] So today, this is the first text that we see David's entrance onto the scene of God's redemptive story. So 1 Samuel 16, we're just going to, like, go through it piece by piece and unpack it. [5:33] So just kind of walking through the text. Verse 1, chapter 16. The Lord said to Samuel, How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being the king over Israel? [5:47] Fill your horn with oil and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided myself a king among his sons. And Samuel said, How can I go? [6:00] If Saul hears it, he will kill me. And the Lord said, Take a heifer with you and say, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. And invite Jesse to sacrifice. [6:13] And I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me him who I have declared to you. Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. [6:25] The elders of the city came out to meet him trembling and said, Do you come peacefully? And he said, Peacefully. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. [6:36] Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice. And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. Truly quickly, just walking through this text, you immediately catch Samuel grieving. [6:51] It says, so he's extremely saddened over the sin and failures of King Saul. Some people think that he's like whining and complaining. [7:02] I don't think that's really the case at all. I think that he spent so much time investing in this all, leading him, counseling him, days praying for him, serving alongside him, really hoping that he would be the king that the nation needed. [7:18] And he failed. Miserably failed. Despite all that Samuel had done to help him, he was rejected by God. And so Samuel was grieving over this, just wondering what God is going to do next. [7:32] So some of us have been there before. Have you? I have. Just spent countless hours loving, serving, counseling, discipling someone, and then kind of have that person reject those things that you've invested into them. [7:46] So it's painful. So he's wondering what is God going to do? And so God comes to his servants with a new direction, new orders. Here's what you're going to do. You're going to find and anoint a new king over the nation. [8:00] And that new king would be Jesse, as we see in our text, a descendant of Judah and Tamar, who was also a grandson of Ruth and Boaz, Bethlehem and Judah, Bethlehem Ephratah and Micah, as Cody read earlier specifically. [8:20] And Samuel, we see is afraid. He's like, well, if Saul hears about this out of jealousy, he may just kill me. Like if he knows I'm back to anoint a new king, kind of behind his back. [8:30] But God encourages him to go, says you're going to offer a sacrifice. And so that's what he did. He went to offer a sacrifice. And he shows up at the gates, and they're scared because he's the prophet. [8:43] And they're like, what have we done wrong? Is somebody about to die? And so he's like, no, no, no. I'll come peacefully. I'll come to offer a sacrifice. And he goes. And he doesn't hide his intention in being there. [8:55] He's walking in obedience to God. And so very often, really small lesson here, whenever we're overwhelmed, feeling just stressed out, can't see what to do next, usually it's just taking the very simple step of faithful obedience, like the very next thing. [9:16] Do the next thing. Be faithful to God and what he tells you to do. And this is what Samuel is doing. He goes without question. He obeys God. He does all that God requires. [9:26] And so that's what it says. He obeyed and came to Bethlehem. And so he got there. He's like, hey, consecrate yourselves. Get yourselves ready for the sacrifice, which more than likely meant washing themselves, perhaps their clothes for the sacrifice. [9:44] And then we get to the next section of this, and we see Samuel scoping out the sons of Jesse, just wondering who it is. I know it's one of these guys, but I don't know who it is. [9:57] And God's response to him, I think, is one of the most underrated verses in the Scripture. But look at verse 6. When they came, he looked at Elab and thought, surely the Lord's anointed is before him. [10:14] But the Lord said to Samuel, do not look on his outward appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees, not as man sees. [10:27] Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. Then Jesus called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. [10:38] And he said, neither has the Lord chosen this one. Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, neither has the Lord chosen this one. [10:50] And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, the Lord has not chosen these. Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. [11:01] And he said, neither has the Lord chosen this one. And Jesse made the seven sons pass before Samuel. He has not chosen any of these. And so here's what's going on. [11:13] Like, you know, Jesse thinks, surely it's got to be one of my bigger boys, one of my best looking boys. He just makes him kind of walk by. Samuel and Samuel is going, nope. The Lord has rejected him. [11:25] The Lord has not chosen him. So what's going on here is Samuel is being fooled into thinking that God will choose the biggest, strongest, best looking, pretty much in the same way that Saul was chosen. [11:39] If you remember, in 1 Samuel 9, 1 and 2, Saul came from a wealthy family. It says that Saul was a handsome man. There was not a man among the people more handsome than he, that his shoulders up, from his shoulders upward, he was taller than any of the other people. [11:58] So Saul was a very physically impressive man. And so Samuel's already thinking that it's got to be similar. And God's saying no. Because despite all the material and physical advantages Saul had, we all see that it afforded him no benefit at all because his heart was full of vanity, pride, and sin did not help. [12:22] God says to him, verse 7, underline it in your Bible, memorize it, do not look on his outward height or stature because the Lord has rejected him. [12:34] For the Lord sees, not as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. What a remarkable verse. [12:46] More on this later, but simply, what he's trying to say is, man wrongfully judges in ways others created in God's image merely by the outward appearance. [12:57] But God is more focused on the heart, the inner person. And so basically, Jesse's like, I mean, excuse me, Samuel, look, is that it? [13:08] Is that all your sons? So after inspecting them, doesn't find one. As we get to verse 11, then Samuel said to Jesse, are all your sons here? [13:20] And he said, there remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, send and get him, for we will not sit down until he comes here. [13:32] And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, arise, anoint him, for this is he. [13:45] Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. [13:59] Just one more verse. Now the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him. So we see in verse 11, he basically is just saying, hey, is this it? [14:13] Is there any other sons that you have? And Jesse may have just been sort of downplaying it because parents sinfully can sometimes have favorites and maybe David wasn't his. [14:25] We don't know. But he's like, yeah, there's another one. I forgot to mention him. He's keeping the sheep. No big deal. And Samuel's like, well, go get them then. We'll stand right here and won't get started until he shows up. [14:39] Go fetch him. So he does that. So we get a brief physical description of David when he arrives on the scene. And God says, this is the one that I have chosen. [14:51] And you see in verse 13, immediately, Samuel anoints David with oil, which is symbolic of the Holy Spirit, who descends on him. [15:04] It says, the Spirit of the Lord rushed, or meaning, it came down mightily and effectively upon David. So in the Old Testament, as most of us know, the Spirit came and rested on chosen individuals that God empowered to carry out the specific things He gave them to do. [15:25] And it's no different than David. And notice that the Spirit left Saul. And very, very scary. So, he had this anointing before his whole family. [15:37] There was three more anointings that came. One before the family, one before the tribe of Judah, and then another anointing as the whole nation's king that came later. But in verse 14, yeah, it leaves Saul. [15:51] Because without the Holy Spirit, Saul can no longer be any kind of an effective king for the nation. And a harmful, distressing spirit came from the Lord to torment him. [16:01] So something very scary and tragic. So, let's just get into some of the questions. That's sort of our, the overview of our text. [16:12] Let's just walk through this with questions. So a lot of this will be just background, things about David, but then getting into some other stuff. So what was David's background? [16:24] His Hebrew name, David, beloved one, which means strength, favor. Born roughly around 1040 B.C., so a very long time ago in Bethlehem. [16:36] His father was Jesse. The scripture doesn't mention his mother, but the Talmud mentions his mother. He also had two sisters. The Bible doesn't name his mother, like I said, but I think she was significant in raising these men. [16:51] He lived roughly 70 years, dying around 970 B.C. So we get a description of him here, his character, his physical physique. [17:04] So, look at 1612. We see that David was ruddy. And that means like a reddish or brownish color. It can mean red hair, ginger. [17:18] It was also used of Esau, the same word, Genesis 25, 25. More than likely, though, is denoting that he was physically fit, healthy, strong, kind of the opposite of like pale, frail, weak, just full of life. [17:38] And he had beautiful or bright eyes. So, this means that he had like this sparkle in his eye, this alertness, this vitality, and that not just of one who's strong physically, but one who's well spiritually too. [17:55] As we know that Jesus said in Matthew 6, the eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. So this was the description of David, like he had a clear conscience, a genuine relationship before God, and you can see it in his demeanor, in his eyes. [18:14] So, brought by a genuine relationship with God. And next it says he was handsome. So, appealing or good looking to the eyes. But it doesn't just mean, it does mean that, but it also just means that he had a very pleasant demeanor. [18:29] His countenance was attractive. He just entered the room and you felt at ease. You felt welcomed. You felt loved, easy to be around. So later on in chapter 16, verse 18, we learn that David was also, Saul's servant gives a description of David, and it says that he was prudent in speech, meaning that he was careful, he was well-spoken, he spoke very clearly, articulate, and he was also, that servant says, a man of good presence, a calmly one. [19:06] Again, like you felt at ease when you were in his presence. presence. So that's his physical descriptions of his character. Then he had a lot of capabilities. Alright, so he was a very gifted man and he developed all these skills that God had given him just by being faithful, hear me now, being faithful in everyday obedience and the concept that the western mind today, the western men particularly today, but think don't go together. [19:36] Like, you're either this or you're that. And David doesn't quite fit that. So, he was. We have the tough guy, the man's man. [19:51] He shoots guns, he hunts, he fishes, he knows how to survive in the wilderness, he boxes, goes to the gym, wrestles, fixes his own cars, and he watches war movies and westerns. [20:02] So, he had like that side of him. On the other hand, he was a very sensitive compassionate guy, sensitive, bookworm, writes poems and stories. [20:18] He watches rom-coms and dramas. He likes to bake. So, the British baking show, there is one guy in episode three or four, and he's like a really good baker, but he was like in the elite British regiment, the Cold Stream Guard. [20:35] He could just see Paul insulting him, and he would just be like, I don't care what you're saying. So, probably that kind of baker if he was one. So, moving on. So, no matter what, in David's life, there is something that appealed to each man in here, particularly men, I'll just say, something for us to relate to. [20:55] So, some of these capabilities, one, he was a shepherd. That was one of the first things mentioned about him. He's keeping the sheep, he's guarding and watching over the sheep, the youngest. [21:05] So, that means that his father trusted him to watch over the sheep. It could be kind of like grunt work a little bit too, but it was an important thing, and the flock had to be kept intact and protected from predators, moved from pasture to pasture. [21:21] And it says in 1 Samuel 17 that David protected the sheep by striking down lions and bears. Have any ever run into a bear in the woods? [21:32] I have. It's a pretty scary thing, especially in the dark. It's very, so he would just go toe to toe with these things and wouldn't hesitate to face them. So he had serious guts. [21:44] And furthermore, something you might think about is being a shepherd out in the hills, out in the wilderness, it afforded him a lot of time to think, reflect, pray, to spend that time thinking about the shepherd metaphor and how God relates to his people as a shepherd and promises to lead, provide, and protect his people. [22:06] As he later wrote in Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leaves me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. [22:19] He leaves me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. So he was a shepherd at heart. Secondly, we learn that he was a singer and poet. [22:33] David is referred to in 1618 as he is skillful in playing on the harp. So skillful was he in playing that he actually brought refreshment to Saul's distressed soul that tormented him. [22:49] And in a manner that in this way God used the evil of Saul to bring David actually into the court of the king and the washful eyes of the army. Elsewhere in 2 Samuel David is referred to as the sweet psalmist or singer of Israel. [23:08] So he showed immense sensitivity the right expression of emotion in the psalms that he wrote and sang. He truly believed that God's gifts and God's endowments were to be developed and used in a way that honored God and that served other people around him. [23:29] And then thirdly another characteristic or I guess trait would be that he was a soldier. It's usually singer poet soldier doesn't quite go together. [23:41] In this case it does. He was like the epic warrior poet. So we get this image of David being this ragtag inexperienced green kid that shows up to fight but that's not how he's described. [23:54] he's referred to by Saul's servants in 1618 as a man of valor a man of war. A term biblically meaning that he was brave courageously fierce to fight in hand to hand combat a man of war meaning someone who was trained in the weapons of that day in a very well you know capable fighter in any situation fighting warrior and then following that time after he fought Goliath he only grew in that ability he only grew in that skill to be a warrior on the battlefield and so legendary was his fighting ability that later the women sang in 1 Samuel 18 7 they sang to one another and celebrated Saul has struck down thousands but David tens of thousands so his prowess on the battlefield meant also that he drew naturally drew the best fighters of his day they wanted to be around him they loved him and respected him so the seals the rangers the delta force the SAS guys they all wanted to hang out with David and fight alongside him so he could take any guy in this room easily so record all his greatest battles or seen in 2 Samuel chapter 8 just a list of all his victories in a time where warfare was close and personal so that's his background it's a little bit about him but secondly all those things are cool interesting whatever but this is the second question what was [25:40] David's distinguishing trait in God's eyes alright and the simple answer is his heart was God's in our context today in verse 7 you see Samuel inspecting Jesse's sons and surely this is the Lord's anointing and God says no and again do not look at his outward appearance man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart so if we in our culture we worship I mean worship outward beauty physical attractiveness youthful allure and our culture pushes and pressures particularly girls and women guys aren't excluded but just women particularly just hear me on this they push you so hard to look outwardly attractive and if you could only let that deep profound truth just sink in how different would your life be how much of your anxiety and fear of like other people judging you be removed if you just understood that that's not what [26:59] God really cares about that's not what he looks at James Montgomery Boyce wrote about this text these words are not only a statement of the clearness of God's vision and his capacity to judge they're also a statement of our limitations and of course the crux this is of course the crux of the problem it is not just that God can see clearly it is that God alone can see clearly at best we only see the outward appearance God looks upon the heart so the heart is used roughly a thousand times or more in the scripture making it one of the most common terms about humans in the scripture God created our hearts to be the center of our emotions our affections our desires our intellectual moral activity a vital part of our spiritual makeup and the scripture says a lot about the heart Proverbs 27 19 as in water face reflects face so the heart of a man reflects the man meaning that the heart reflects the person's true nature [28:12] God ultimately cares very little about our outward appearance and this isn't a license just to be nasty and sloppy that's not what we're saying most of you are mature enough to know what we're aiming at I know some people dress down on purpose because they want people to think that they don't care about their outward appearance and they really do also the wisdom writer wrote keep guard over your heart with all vigilance for from it flows springs of life and Jesus indicated to those who rejected him you are the ones who justify yourselves before men but God knows your heart does that make you scared God knows your heart he sees past what man cares about so in summary outward looks and appearances are an inadequate measuring scales to weigh someone's true love and devotion to God inadequate outward appearances cannot rightly predict someone's love for God or their inner beauty or anything else some of the most attractive people some of us know are some of the ugliest people we know very true so don't be fooled spend less time on your outward appearance if we're coming here and more time on your soul coming here each day think of these things they cannot accurately predict someone's faithfulness to God as Jesus said because from the heart overflows! [29:51] our actions right that's Mark 7 21 the Bible informs us that the Lord weighs the heart Proverbs 21 2 he considers he examines he judges the heart so referring this is I need to make clarification when we're talking about David's heart or our heart we're talking about the regenerated saved heart someone who's been born again not the fallen corruptible heart so that's kind of what we're focusing on today but one of my favorite verses that I learned as an early believer 2nd Chronicles 16 9 for the eyes of the Lord roam to and fro over all the earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are fully devoted to him so examine yourself as I've had to do some this past week do you value your outward appearance over the state of your own heart and your soul what is your time and your money and your attitude reflect are you aware that vanity is a sin and to live in front of a mirror is probably the saddest place to be be more concerned about your soul and furthermore don't overlook other people or underestimate other people whose outward features may not be exactly what you think are attractive because that person could very well be someone meaningful in your life very important so what was it about [31:37] David's heart well in first Samuel just flip from chapter 16 really quick three chapters back first Samuel 13 we'll look more at this passage next week but this is when God has rejected Saul he tells Samuel he's done and God says this to Samuel first Samuel 13 verse 13 Samuel said to Saul you have done foolishly you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God with which he commanded you for then the Lord has established your kingdom over Israel forever but now your kingdom shall not continue now here it is listen the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart that is speaking of David so what does it mean to be someone after God's own heart quickly what it definitely doesn't mean I think you all would know this is it doesn't mean perfection it doesn't mean sinlessness it also isn't this like high spiritual state of like nirvana that you reach either and it's also not something that you're just born with it's not a natural trait but this is a huge distinguishing character despite all of David's son and failures later on [33:02] Paul addressed the Jews in Antioch in Acts 13 and he said he raised up David to be their king of whom he testified and said I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my own heart who will do all my will so what on earth does it mean again to be a man or woman after God's own heart well after hearing a lot of bad reading a lot of I didn't think helpful things reading some of the old dead guys looking at the language I'm going to define it it's just very simple foundation this way a man or woman after God's own heart is one whose deepest heart desires and longings are for his God shown or revealed in how one lives one whose deepest heart desires and longings are for his God shown or revealed in how one lives alright so remember [34:06] David wasn't perfect he had massive sins we'll read about later but this is how God chose to define him and have him remembered by as one who was after his own heart and this just really means that the overall bent of his heart was towards God that his great love and desire for God was the overall trajectory of his life Jonathan Edwards wrote heart heart of a man cannot be brought to a higher excellency than to have delight in God and complacency or satisfaction in the divine excellency and glory and this is what David wanted he wanted to be in God's presence he wanted to behold God's glory so this is a zealous spiritual passion for God whose life is in harmony with God's heart very simple just follow me it just means like one that loves what God loves one that hates what God hates one that gets angry about what [35:14] God gets angry over one who loves the purposes of God his heart is in agreement and in one accord with God that's what we're talking about here his heart beats with God David wrote in Psalm 27 he says one thing think about all the times you pray and ask God for things one thing have I asked of the Lord that I would seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all my days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple so how would you finish that sentence or start that sentence one thing I have desired the Lord that which I seek after fill in the blank and in that answer reveals much about the choices and priorities about the way we live and respond to things David's answer reveals why God says this man's heart beats after mine so what does that look like and again it's shown in how we live and how that's manifested this joyful obedience to God's commands to be satisfied in God himself not just the gifts that God gives us or the good things he blesses us with but each gift makes you love the giver more a posture of gratitude and thankfulness towards God so loving him it's really just a picture of the great commandment to love him while our heart soul mind and strength really quickly [36:50] I think it's important to say this we're not talking about just passionate mere emotionalism okay being passed off as true spiritual passion we're talking about passion that's rooted in the knowledge of the truth the Bible warns such a person desire without knowledge is not good Proverbs 19 2 on the other hand we don't want to swing the pendulum the other direction and just say hey we want to get away from the rah rah rah emotional crowd like we just want to be thinkers alone want to ignore emotion and push back against emotion men particularly you have emotions I don't care how tough or how you try not to show them you have them and they're either going to control you or you can learn to control them with God's help that's just how it is and so we we kind of push back against both camps a little bit so we're talking about right thinking and right feeling in accordance with that but see the overall it means to ask this question what was it about David like why did God love him so much [38:10] I gotta put things in perspective very clearly it says in 1st Samuel 16 18 that Saul's servant he makes all these things he's a man of war he's skillful etc but then he says the Lord is with him that's like the distinguishing thing here David loved God so much because God loved David first and was with him and had chosen him first or excuse me Psalm 78 verse 70 this is a characteristic because we can't fall into this trap of like David was just this awesome guy and God said you know what I'm just so moved by David I'm gonna do something David was a terrible sinner just like us but God chose out of his grace Psalm 78 says he chose or he elected David his servant and took him from the sheep folds from following the nursing ooze he brought him to shepherd [39:11] Jacob his people Israel his inheritance so out of sovereign grace God chose David and used him and anointed him so again a picture of what it means to be a person after God's own heart so we see that he was a man after God's own heart because God's heart was with him he chose him out of his grace so remember just a few characteristics here and we're getting close on time but to remember this means ones whose deepest heart desires and longings are for his God all right scripture tells us much about the heart of David all right so ask God to give you a heart like this this is just four characteristics so this could be application but first of all it means integrity of heart it says in first kings nine four David your father walked with integrity of heart and uprightness doing all according that [40:14] I had commanded him in keeping my statutes and rules integrity in this context just simply means a being complete or undivided all right in contrast to David's heart Solomon it says when he was old turned away from the Lord it says his heart turned after other gods because his heart was not fully or wholly gods like his father David so meaning that the idols in our hearts can chop up and divide our heart so that it's not whole before God so do you have a heart marked by integrity or wholeness towards God or have you given it to idols that you love more so integrity of heart openness of heart is the second one David prayed in psalm 26 vindicate me oh lord for I have walked in my integrity and I have trusted in the lord without wavering prove me oh lord and try me test my heart and my mind so meaning his heart was open and transparent before [41:24] God I know it sounds silly but some of us live as if God doesn't know our heart like we don't really act like he doesn't see what we're doing and he really doesn't David didn't live that way he was honest and open and transparent about his heart before God so do you live as if God doesn't see your sin or isn't aware of the condition of your heart are you open and transparent about your relationship with him are you open thirdly it means brokenness of heart psalm 51 17 David wrote the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and contrite heart oh God you will not despise to mean that David was very sorrowful and repentant over his sin it broke his heart because he sinned against God so is your heart filled with a godly sorrow a godly brokenness before [42:26] God when you sinned against him saying you and you alone have sinned against and done what is evil in your sight then fourthly and lastly it means truthfulness of heart David prayed psalm 15 1 and 2 oh lord who shall sojourn in your tent who shall dwell on your holy hill he who walks blamelessly and does what's right and speaks the truth in his heart alright so we all know what this means it means that a true worshiper of God treasures God's truth and his inward parts in his heart so do you confess to God just with your lips or also with your heart is God's truth not just on your lips! [43:14] treasured! in your heart your regenerated heart and then lastly and we're done but in our text today what do we learn like what is David pointing forward to so think on it David was contrasted with the people looking on his outward appearance we tend to overlook God's wonders all the time because that is our focus instead of the heart so this looks forward and prefigures the one who would come in David's line Christ rejection and humility as we're aware Isaiah 53 3 and 4 he was despised and rejected by men a man of sorrows acquainted with grief as one from whom men hid their faces and he was despised and we esteemed him not surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we esteemed him stricken smitten by [44:17] God and afflicted so Jesus our Lord was not the Messiah that most of those people were looking for they were looking for an outward impressive warrior king physically strong that would unite the people drive out the Roman invaders and reestablish national pride and respect here great again is what they were expecting that is expecting honestly however God has chosen his own agenda not man's agenda and he sent his son knowing that he would be despised and rejected there is nothing in our sinful flesh that was looking upon Jesus with awe nothing no outward glory at all that we would be drawn to him Jesus suffered greatly and was abused internally on our behalf. [45:17] And he was overlooked. God the Father, though, found him beautiful and delighted in him because of who he was. And Christ accomplished our great salvation. [45:32] Pray with me. God, we're... God, we're...