Hope From the Word

Guest (Male): It's pretty obvious that most people focus primarily on outward appearances, but Pastor Bill Luebkemann says God is concerned with something far different.

Bill Luebkemann: 99 and 44/100 percent of the time, it’s the appearance that the world is after. That’s all that it’s about. Beautiful people, everywhere you look. If you drink this, eat this, follow this, buy these clothes, do these things, you’ll look like that.

And God doesn't care about any of that. It is not that He doesn't care very much; He doesn't care at all. He looks at the heart. Man looks at the outward appearance. I don't think I could make that any more clear.

Guest (Male): There is only one way to bring peace to the heart, joy to the mind, and beauty to a life. It is to accept and do the will of God. Welcome to Hope From the Word.

Pastor Bill Luebkemann is currently in a study of the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel, where we’ve been drawing many rich applications for our lives. Today we’ll return to a story probably familiar to most of you: when God was looking for the second king of Israel, a 16-year-old shepherd boy caught His eye.

Most people in that day thought it was a poor choice, but God saw a young man who was after His own heart. Here's Pastor Bill to tell us all about it in 1 Samuel chapter 16.

Bill Luebkemann: They all got there. They all were consecrated. They’re all ready to go. When they arrived in verse six, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.” Look, here we have Samuel doing exactly what the people of Israel did with Saul. No difference. He’s doing the exact same thing. He didn’t learn the lesson yet. He didn’t get it yet.

We went from one guy who was a head and shoulders above the rest, tall, good-looking guy and everything, great in the sight of the world. By the world’s standards, Saul was tremendous. And now we’re going to another one. Samuel thinks, “Oh, here’s a guy. Look at him. He’s tall and good-looking, handsome, whatever.” It was his appearance. We’re going to see that in the next verse. The minute he arrived, Samuel thought to himself, “Man, this must be the one God’s chosen.”

He didn’t get it. He thinks we’re going to go from one good-looking, tall, handsome dude to another good-looking, tall, handsome dude. While this guy might not be as good-looking, tall, and handsome as the last guy, maybe he’s the second-best guy that God could find. And in any event, if that’s who God is choosing, maybe he’s going to get it right. He thought that.

It doesn't really say here that David or his family—it doesn't say that any of these people, Jesse and his sons—it doesn't say that they even know what Saul’s about to do. I’m not even certain that they knew when it was all over. But we’ll come back to that. This conversation is going on in Samuel’s head with the Lord. When he sees this guy Eliab, he thinks, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord. This is it. This guy is the guy. Man, boy, too bad God didn’t appoint him king first. Had to waste His time with Saul.”

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” As many times as we read that, we can go home and do it again tomorrow. We will still look at the outward appearance almost every time. We’ll still do the same exact thing Samuel does.

It’s just our common nature here, our fallen nature or whatever. We always seem to like people who are like us. They look like us, they act like us, whatever. They’re from the same town. Whatever. We like them because of outward things when, in fact, it’s what the heart is that God is looking at. It doesn't say exactly what this guy’s physical attributes were, but we know that they are concerning his appearance and his height because that’s exactly what the Lord addressed here.

So Samuel was looking at Eliab’s appearance and his height. God said, “Don’t do that because I’ve rejected him. Period. End of sentence.” The Lord doesn't look at these things. The Lord doesn't look at the things man looks at. It might not seem fair because we can’t see someone’s heart the way God can. Maybe we can see a little tiny glimpse of their heart if we get to know them over some period of time, usually a long period of time.

We can never really see anyone’s heart to any great degree. It’s hard enough to see your own heart. But God sees everything. He sees what’s inside of a man, not just what’s on the outside. And man means woman also, by the way. He tells Samuel here, “Look, I’m not going to look at the things you look at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Now, it doesn't say the Lord looks mostly at the heart but a little bit at the outward appearance. It doesn't say that the outward appearance matters some, but it’s mostly the heart. It doesn't say, “The Lord looks mostly at the heart, but of course, you better be a neat dresser also.” When you go to church, you have to wear a suit and tie, because you have to dress your best for God. There are a lot of churches that are into that. Dress your best for God.

I’ve had people tell me that. Well, God looks at the heart, man looks at every—but we still feel you should dress your best for God. Well, it says right here God isn’t looking. So why are you dressing your best for someone who isn’t looking? God looks at the heart. Man looks at the outward appearance. God doesn't look at the outward appearance, not even a little bit. I mean, I do think when you come to church you should take a shower, but we get taken aback with this all the time.

You can get roped in on this. I can talk about it today, and you can go out and about your business tomorrow, and you’ll get suckered into something going on. You’ll think because the appearance is such that it looks right, that you’ll think God is in it or God approves of it or God must surely be with that person, or whatever. It’s the world that emphasizes appearance. All you have to do is watch television or drive down the highway and look at the billboards on I-95 or look in a magazine or whatever.

Everything is about appearance. Sure, I know, once in a while a magazine has a scratch-and-sniff thing as part of an ad. We have a new kind of coffee; scratch this thing and you can smell it. Or perfume; scratch this thing, smell the perfume. But 99 and 44/100 percent of the time, it’s the appearance that the world is after. That’s all that it’s about. Beautiful people, everywhere you look.

If you drink this, eat this, follow this, buy these clothes, do these things, you’ll look like that. And God doesn't care about any of that. It is not that He doesn't care very much; He doesn't care at all. He looks at the heart. Man looks at the outward appearance. I don't think I could make that any more clear. We can go out tomorrow and be fooled with this. Let’s pray that God plants it in our mind that anytime we see anything in the world that caters to appearance and looks, then we need to remember this is not of God.

Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. So Jesse moves on to son number two. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” So, one at a time, these seven sons go by. Nope, not him. Nope, not him. Nope, not him.

And we start with the oldest, tallest, most handsome, whatever. We go through seven sons here, and that’s all the sons that the man appears to have because his number eight son isn’t even important enough to be invited to the party. He’s not even there. He’s just a runt, just a kid out tending the sheep, doing the work that the servants would do. He’s a nobody. Not because there’s any particular thing wrong with him, just because of his age and the pecking order.

He came last. And so they didn’t think highly enough; they didn’t even go get him. No one said, “Hey, David, come in from the field. We’re having an offering here. We’re having a barbecue, Memphis style.” So Samuel looks at all these sons, and God says, “Nope, not that one. Nope, not that one. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.” And the Lord has not chosen these. So he asks Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”

I want to submit to you tonight that Samuel here is walking by faith, not by sight—something it says over in 2 Corinthians, maybe in chapter five, verse seven: “We live by faith, not by sight.” And look, that’s what this guy was doing. This guy knew that God had sent him there. Samuel knew, “God sent me here to anoint a son.” And well, I just saw all his sons, or so he thought. And well, God doesn't want any of them.

Wait a minute. Am I hearing from God here? You ever get that feeling like you thought you were doing something the Lord wanted you to do, but it isn’t quite meshing for you? It’s not quite clicking? Something isn’t going right, and you think, “Did God really call me to do this? Did He really call me to do whatever crazy thing it is that I’m doing?” So he asks Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”

Samuel, I think, is walking by faith and he knows. Well, God sent me here. This is the guy. These are the sons. There must be another one because God said it’s going to be one of his sons. There must be another one hiding somewhere. You can see that he might have been questioning his faith. He might have been wondering. But he asks the question. “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered, “but he is tending the sheep.”

Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.” So he sent and had him brought in. He was ruddy with a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; he is the one.” Some people say David was only 10 years old when this happened. Other people say maybe he was as old as 15. It would seem like he was somewhere in that range of 10 to 15 years old.

He was a runt, the smallest one, the least important one. He wasn’t necessarily one of the better-looking ones. He wasn’t one of those either. And he was out in the field there. They didn’t even think enough of him to tell him it was time to eat. He’s out there doing this work of tending this flock, wasting his time, the dirty work that the servants would do. And now Samuel says, “Bring him in here. We ain’t going to do anything until he gets here.” And the Lord speaks to Samuel and says, “He’s the one.”

So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power. Samuel then went to Ramah. So he anoints the guy. Now, it doesn't really say here that anybody knows what happened. We’re going to find out in the next chapter that David just goes back to tending his sheep. “Oh, well, I’ve been anointed king over Israel. I guess, well, who knows? It’s not going to happen yet, so I’ll go back and I’ll just mind my own business until then.”

Look, Saul got saved on the road to Damascus, and you read about him doing a few things, and then there’s a period of like 12 or 14 years when Saul disappears off the face of the earth, not even commented about in the Bible. He doesn't surface again for more than a decade later, when God was working in his life. I have no doubt he was preaching the word or sharing the gospel and telling people about the Lord, but he was also growing up in his faith and coming to an understanding and the Lord was teaching him things.

And so this guy David is going to be the king, but he’s still got a ways to go. And he’s going to learn a lot of lessons out there shepherding the flock. Remember, he’s the guy that wrote Psalm 23. He wrote a lot of Psalms. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Well, what better guy to know that than a guy who was a shepherd all those years? So Samuel anointed him.

The fine Jewish historian Josephus says in his writing that Samuel whispered in David’s ear, “The Lord is anointing you king.” But it doesn't really make it clear here one way or the other. But it doesn't seem like they all knew about it. And as we go forward here, we’ll see that even more so that that seems to be the case. But the Spirit of the Lord comes upon David in power. Samuel moves on. Now, the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him.

Look, it seems like this was the transition in God’s sight. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, was off of Saul and onto David. David’s the newly chosen king. He’s not going to be anointed king in a public ceremony for like 25 more years. Saul’s going to live for around 20 or so more years after this point. But God’s imprimatur, if you will, God’s approval, God’s Holy Spirit at this point is on David and not on Saul.

And Saul has here an evil spirit from the Lord to torment him. What’s that talking about, an evil spirit? Look, there’s been lots of stuff written about what that means, whether it was a demon that the Lord dispatched to torment Saul, whether it just refers to his own human spirit as he sat there and considered what could have been, what might have been, what should have been, the things he messed up as he realized he wasn’t going to be king, that he was not going to be leaving a legacy, that he might have been mad at himself, he might have been very troubled just within himself.

And that’s one possibility. Another possibility is, like we said, maybe it could be a demonic spirit. It could just be, well, Jesus said if you kick out the evil spirit and get the house all tidy, that evil spirit might come back with a bunch of his friends and move in and make the play. It could just be that the absence of God’s Spirit allowed an opening for some evil spirit to come in there.

But Saul was tormented by this spirit. Saul’s attendants said to him, “See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you.” I don't know how they knew that, but seems like they did. “Let our Lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the harp. He will play when the evil spirit from God comes upon you, and you will feel better.” This was almost like a lyre. This was like a guitar, almost.

This was not what you see in the Philadelphia Symphony with the big giant harp and somebody strumming on it. This is not the kind of thing you see when the angel sitting on the cloud playing this big harp. This was something that might have been more akin to a portable musical instrument, kind of like a guitar. And they said, “Let’s find ourselves a worship leader, so that when the evil spirit comes, you can worship God and perhaps as you worship God, the spirit will leave.”

Even as messed up as Saul was, it seemed like from time to time he did worship God. In some way he may have still been a believer. I’m not going to sit here and tell you he’s not in heaven. I don't know the answer to that question. But clearly he was tormented here and they realized if maybe we worship the Lord, that’ll drive that evil spirit away. That evil spirit won’t be able to listen to that. And perhaps that’s the reason why it was successful.

So Saul said to his attendants, “Find someone who plays well and bring him to me.” One of the servants answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the harp. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the Lord is with him.” Well, how about that? Now here’s a kid that is anointed the king just out of the blue, completely totally, nobody’s even heard of him.

His own family doesn't even think enough of him to invite him to dinner. He’s been anointed king. He goes back out and he’s tending the flock, and he’s probably wondering, “If I’m going to be the king, maybe I should be doing—maybe I should get some guys together and go kick Saul out of the palace over there. What do I need to do to bring about this thing?” We sometimes in our lives, if the Lord has laid something on our heart that we should be doing, sometimes we think, “Well, what do we need to do to bring this about? What do we have to do here to make this happen?”

I think the answer is that God makes things happen; we don't. And this David could have been sitting out on the field wondering, “If I’m the king, what should I be doing?” And if he was wondering that, well, he’s about to find out that God takes care of all the things. He could choose you. He could redeem you when you were born in sin and you were following the ways of the world in sin. Somehow He managed to find you and get you saved. I’m speaking to those of us here in this room today now.

Somehow He managed to find me. I was out doing my own thing when I was 24 years old. When I met the Lord, I wasn’t seeking God. I was seeking a few other things which we won’t get into, but the Lord wasn’t really one of them. I was asking God to help me get what I wanted, and instead He gave me Himself. Instead, He brought me into that knowledge of what I really needed. What I really needed was what I didn’t know I needed, which was a knowledge of Him.

And He brought me into that place, and you could probably all share the same kind of story. There are none that seek after God, no not one. You are not God’s prize possession when you accepted Him. He didn’t say, “Oh, man, look at my fine specimen here. He or she accepted me. I’m so proud. Look at this, look at this.” It was all Him and none of us. 100 percent Him, zero percent us. Not 99.9 percent Him and 0.1 percent us. It was all Him and none of us.

And He’s able to bring about His will, and He’s able to make things happen that He wants to happen. And here—here’s this guy, this son of Jesse, who’s sitting out there, young man, tending his flock. And they’re calling him a brave man and a warrior. He hasn’t even done anything yet. Maybe they know about the bear and the lion that we’re going to read about next week. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man, and the Lord is with him. Well, they were certainly right on that regard.

Then Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.” So Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and a young goat and sent them with his son David to Saul. I’m not sure if he was sending a gift to Saul or just sending some food so his kid could eat. Might have been sending provisions with him. But David came to Saul and entered his service.

Saul liked him very much, and David became one of his armor-bearers. Then Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, “Allow David to remain in my service, for I am pleased with him.” Whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would take his harp and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him. Look, David spent all this time out in the field tending his flock, playing his harp because he had nothing else to do.

And you can discover that he had a great relationship with the Lord as you read through the Psalms because maybe because he was bored. He didn’t have anyone else to have a relationship with. Maybe that’s what drove him to have a relationship with the Lord. I don't know. But he certainly must have also learned patience. He learned how to wait on God all of those years. He doesn't seem like he was in a hurry. He knew how to worship the Lord; you can tell that by reading the Psalms also.

And Saul was so impressed with him, he liked him very much. Saul didn’t know this guy’s been anointed to take your job and your palace and everything else. He didn’t know that. And here is David, who’s been anointed the king and now through this set of circumstances that would almost seem to be random, you read this and say, “Man, how did that come about? How did that happen?” You ever find yourself someday, you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time and you wonder, “How did I get here?” or “What am I doing here?”

Why did I pick this road to go down, or why did I stop in this store? You just never know where God wants to use you for whatever reason, either in the life of someone else or who knows, maybe in your own life. Maybe the reason why you took the wrong turn and now you’re in the traffic jam is because you need to learn patience. I don't need to learn any more patience; I’ve been in enough traffic jams.

But you see the Lord brought this all about here. And you see what I want you to see is: Samuel was a guy that had faith, David was a guy that had patience and he was waiting on God. And apparently he knew something was up. I’m not sure if Josephus is right or not, but I think he knew something is up and he’s got to be thinking to himself, “Man, I’m anointed king. This guy doesn't know it, and now I’m in his palace and he’s my best friend and I’m helping him.”

And you see as we go through these next few chapters over the next few weeks, at no time does David ever try to kill Saul. He never tries to do any harm to him. He’s always looking out for the good. He’s truly a friend to this guy. He’s going to take the guy’s job not through his own choice, and he truly is a friend to him at every point of the way, allowing God to work in His timing.

And when the spirit came, David would take his harp and play, and Saul would feel better and the evil spirit would leave him. We’ll do chapter 17 next week, where we’ll look at what happened with David and Goliath and how this little skinny runt of a kid—I’m calling him skinny and a runt, but we don't really know that. We just know he was young and on the social ladder not very important.

And it seems like in chapter 17, well, Saul must have sent David home because Saul’s out in battle. And this battle’s been going on for 40 days at this point. So when Saul goes out to battle, David must have gone home and his father put him back to work tending his sheep. So he thinks to himself, “Well, I think I’m going to be the king here and I was with the guy, but now I’m not,” and he must be—I think he might be a little confused, wondering what’s going on. But it seems like he has the faith to keep walking with God.

Guest (Male): You’ve been listening to Hope From the Word. We’re currently in a study of 1 Samuel. You can hear this message or more Hope From the Word with Pastor Bill Luebkemann by going to ccmarlton.org. Pastor Bill’s messages can also be found by downloading the Hope FM app on your smartphone or tablet. Or if you prefer to listen via podcast, you can find Hope From the Word wherever you find your podcasts.

We’d love to have you join us at Calvary Chapel of Marlton either in person or online. Our Sunday service begins at 10:00 a.m., and there’s a Wednesday evening service at 7:00. To catch us online, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel at Calvary Chapel of Marlton or just go to our website for the link at ccmarlton.org.

And if you’d take a moment to write to Pastor Bill, it would be such a blessing to us. We’re thankful each and every time we hear what God is doing in our listeners’ lives, and we want to pray for you too. Either email us through the website at ccmarlton.org or call 856-983-1662. We’ll continue our study of 1 Samuel next time on Hope From the Word with Pastor Bill Luebkemann, a presentation of Calvary Chapel of Marlton.