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[0:00] The Pew Bible, it is page 238.

[0:17] So we've been doing a series through this book of 1 Samuel, and this is the halfway point in the book, and we'll see that as we dig in.

[0:32] But 1 Samuel introduces us to first the prophet Samuel, and then the first king of Israel, Saul, and finally tonight it introduces us to the one who would become the greatest king of Israel, King David.

[0:48] So let me read chapter 16, and then we'll dig into it together. And then what we usually do in our evening service is at the end, we have five or ten minutes for Q&A, for questions and answers.

[1:00] So if you have questions as we go along, you can jot them down or save them in the back of your mind and ask them at the end. All right, 1 Samuel chapter 16, the Lord said to Samuel, how long will you grieve over Saul since I have rejected him from being king over Israel?

[1:16] 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.

[1:28] 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.

[1:40] Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, do you come peaceably? And he said, peaceably, I've come to sacrifice to the Lord.

[1:51] Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice. And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, surely the Lord's anointed is before him.

[2:03] 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.

[2:16] Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel, 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.

[2:30] And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, the Lord has not chosen these. And Samuel said to Jesse, are all your sons here? And he said, there remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.

[2:46] And Samuel said to Jesse, send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here. And when 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.

[3:02] 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. Now the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him.

[3:17] And Saul's servants said to him, behold, now a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you. Let our Lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre. And when a harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well.

[3:33] So Saul said to his servants, provide for me a man who can play well, and bring him to me. One of the young men answered, behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him.

[3:50] Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, send me David your son, who is with the sheep. And Jesse took a donkey laden with bread, and a skin of wine, and a young goat, and sent them by David his son to Saul.

[4:03] And David came to Saul and entered his service, and Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor bearer. And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight.

[4:16] And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him.

[4:30] How do you recognize a great leader? You know, if you think about how people become leaders in different organizations or different countries, a lot of time it's based around who you know, right?

[4:47] It's all who you know. Your connections get you in the door, and maybe get you to the top. Or sometimes, on the other end, people say, no, it shouldn't be about who you know.

[4:59] It should be about what you can achieve, your merit. And so it becomes your score on a test, right? And the highest score gets you to the best job or the best, the highest place.

[5:16] Sometimes it's just popularity. I mean, you know, at one level, isn't that what voting is, right? Whoever gets the most number of people who say, I like so-and-so, they win.

[5:31] You know, it's interesting to think about how we think of a great leader. You know, maybe it's someone with a charismatic or outgoing personality who can draw a crowd. Maybe it's someone who's attractive or handsome.

[5:42] That never hurts. Maybe it's someone who has awards or achievements or skills behind their name. One of the major themes in the book of Samuel is godly leadership.

[5:55] And as I said, in this chapter, we're introduced to the one who had become the greatest leader, perhaps the greatest leader in the history of Israel, King David. And what this passage is showing us is how to recognize the leader God chooses.

[6:16] And what we'll see here, we'll see four things. We'll see one way, one thing. First, how not to recognize a leader. And then three qualities of how we can recognize a leader.

[6:29] So first, you can't recognize a leader by outward appearance. Okay, this is verses 1 to 12. And really, verse 7 is a key verse.

[6:42] What the Lord says to Samuel. He says, don't look on his appearance or on the height of his stature because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees.

[6:53] Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. There's this theme of seeing throughout this chapter. And especially in this verse about the difference between how God sees things and how people see things.

[7:07] And so, Samuel, it's pretty clear here. Don't look on the outward appearance. Now, if you read the story of Saul, or if you've been here the last several weeks as we've been looking at the story of King Saul, at the beginning, Saul seemed great by outward appearances.

[7:24] He's described in the beginning of chapter 9 as from a wealthy family, had the connections, a handsome young man, a head taller than anyone else.

[7:35] And in a society where he was going to be a military leader, not just an administrator shuffling papers somewhere, but he was going to lead the armies out to battle. Man, he was a head taller than anybody else.

[7:47] He was, that's the man you want to follow. Look at him. But in the end, as we saw last week, Saul didn't listen to God's word.

[8:01] And at the end of chapter 15, God says to Samuel, or Samuel says to Saul, because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king. Chapter 15, verse 23.

[8:12] And so in this chapter, God says to Samuel, it's time to move on. You know, we're not just going to, you're not just going to spend the rest of your life being sad over Saul not working out.

[8:25] I've got another plan. We're going ahead. And I'm not waiting for the people to demand another king. I'm going to go, I'm going to lead you on my own initiative. And so he tells him, go to Jesse, who lives in Bethlehem.

[8:39] You know, it's interesting. God doesn't tell Samuel in advance exactly who he's supposed to anoint. He sort of gives him enough instructions to lead him to the next step of the way. And, you know, if you've been following, if you've been following God for some time, sometimes you realize God has this pattern where he only sort of shows you the next step that you need to take.

[9:00] And he doesn't show you three or four or five, six steps ahead. He's doing this here with Samuel. Sometimes if we knew what was three or four or five or six steps ahead, we wouldn't do any of it. Right?

[9:12] So he leads us one step at a time. That's a side point. But so Samuel gets there and he looks on Eliab, who is the oldest son. And he says, he's tall, he's handsome, strapping young man.

[9:28] It's got to be him. Right? And in that society, the firstborn son got the double portion of the inheritance. He was sort of carrying on the family line.

[9:40] And Samuel says, it's got to be him. And God says, oh no. God says to Samuel, don't look for another Saul. That was the mistake.

[9:52] Saul was the king the people wanted. And the people demanded. They demanded a king now. And it wasn't really God's timing. But God said, okay, make them a king.

[10:05] Give them the king that they want. And they got the king that they wanted. And God says to Samuel, but we're not doing that all over again. It's not my way.

[10:17] We're not. Don't judge by outward appearances. Don't look on how tall he is. How strong he seems to be. You know, it's interesting.

[10:27] He goes through this whole, means this long verse, from verse 6 all the way to verse 11. He's just going through, sort of going through the list of Jesse's sons. Not this one. Not that one.

[10:38] Not that one. None of these. Do you have any more? Is this all you have? Oh yeah, there's one more. He's the smallest one. He's, he goes and takes care of the sheep so the rest of us don't, can do more important things.

[10:54] Right? We didn't, you see, no one expected David to be chosen. Samuel didn't expect it. Jesse didn't expect it. The rest of the brothers didn't expect it. Samuel was, they were all looking for a guy like Saul.

[11:09] A guy with an impressive outward appearance. And God says, no, that's not how you can decide. That's not how you can discern a godly leader. By outward appearances.

[11:22] Or by physical characteristics. So that's the first thing. The leader God chooses isn't necessarily the one we'd expect. And you can't determine that by outward appearances.

[11:34] But now we see three qualities of the leader that God does choose. Of David. Verse 13 is a key verse in the chapter. It says, Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers.

[11:48] And the spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. It's the first time that David's name is actually mentioned. Right? There's this sort of tension in the story. It's not this one.

[11:59] It's not that one. Not that one. None of these. Who's it going to be? And he's finally introduced. And finally he's named. And what do we learn about him? The spirit of the Lord rushed upon him.

[12:11] Came upon him. That's how he's defined as someone who is spirit filled. So that's the first characteristic that we see of a godly leader. Someone who's filled with the Holy Spirit of God.

[12:24] And what's distinctive about David. Is that the spirit of God rushed upon him. And it says from that day forward. Because it also says.

[12:35] If you were. Again if you were here for the story about Saul. It also says the spirit of the Lord rushed upon Saul. At one point. At a couple points actually. But it was.

[12:49] God empowered Saul. For specific tasks. At specific times. But. It was sort of.

[12:59] The spirit was sort of upon Saul. But never completely inside him. Never. And the spirit did not remain with him. But here it says.

[13:13] The spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. It's the same. I mean. It's interesting. It's the same language that we use in a wedding ceremony. Right. From this day forward.

[13:24] You know. Permanently. And that's what we see is throughout David's life. The spirit of God remained upon him. And even when he had his greatest failure.

[13:34] Later on. Years later. When he had his greatest failure. And committed adultery with Bathsheba. And then had Uriah killed. To try to cover it up. He cried out to God in prayer.

[13:45] He said. God don't take your Holy Spirit from me. In other words. Don't let me become like Saul became. A desolate man.

[13:56] Who was far from God. He said. God don't take your spirit from me. Restore to me. The joy of your salvation. And grant me a willing spirit to sustain me. That was David's prayer.

[14:08] That God would never take his Holy Spirit away from him. And he didn't. So that's. What we see. And if you look at verse 18.

[14:20] We see the same thing. This man describes David. And he gives some attractive characteristics of David. And perhaps of David's family as well. But he ends by saying.

[14:31] The Lord is with him. That's sort of the climax of how he describes David. He says he's a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite. And he's skillful in playing music. And can do all these other things. And the Lord is with him.

[14:43] And that's what matters more than anything else. The Lord is with him. So he's filled with the spirit. The Lord is with him. The second thing. That we see. About David. Is that he's a servant.

[14:55] Now most of. Most of you. If I ask you. What's the first thing David does. When he's a young kid. What would you say?

[15:07] Well he goes out and he kills Goliath. Right? Isn't that the most famous. Story about him. He kills this great giant Goliath. But it's.

[15:17] And he does. That's the next chapter. But it's interesting. That. The way he's presented to us. In the book of Samuel. The first thing he does.

[15:27] Isn't. Some heroic feat. It's not. Standing up in front of thousands of people. And giving a rousing speech. And having everybody saying. Yay David.

[15:38] He doesn't. It's not immediately getting a great following. The first thing he does. Is he enters the service. Of King Saul. He becomes. A kind of therapist.

[15:50] For Saul. And a personal assistant. His armor bearer. He becomes a servant. To. Actually. A man who was.

[16:00] Far worse than he was. In. In some senses. As a leader. That's interesting. So he's a spirit filled.

[16:13] Servant. And third. He's a peacemaker. David brought. Some relief. Even though it was temporary. Relief. But. David brought relief. To Saul's troubled.

[16:25] Soul. Verse 23. Says. Whenever the harmful spirit from God. Was upon Saul. David took the lyre. And played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed. And was well.

[16:35] And the harmful spirit. Departed. From him. Now. Maybe you have questions. About a harmful spirit. From the Lord. What's going on there. Was it a demon. Afflicting Saul.

[16:46] Was it an angel. Who was punishing him. Or convicting him. And Saul didn't want to listen. Was it just a general malaise. That overtook him. Was it. Does it overlap at all. With what we would call. Mental illness today.

[16:57] Or is it something. Completely different. These are good questions. We can talk about them. In the Q&A. But they're not the main point. Of this passage. So I'm happy to get into them later. But the.

[17:07] The main point. That the author wants us to see here. Is that. Is not exactly. Precisely. What was the nature of. The spirit afflicting Saul.

[17:19] But that David. Was able. To bring a relief. To Saul. When. It seems like. Nobody else could. I mean.

[17:29] I mean. Whatever it was. It was a pretty serious thing. This was really eating Saul up. And when David came. And played his music. There was a peace.

[17:41] That came over Saul. He experienced the kind of peace. He didn't find anywhere else. So that's how we're introduced to David.

[17:53] Is the one God has chosen. To lead his people. Not because of his outward appearance. But God. We see him as a spirit filled. Servant. And a peacemaker.

[18:05] Now. There's a lot more. We'll learn about David. In the weeks to come. As we keep going through. Samuel. And David was a great leader. Whose legacy endured. For generations to come. But you know what.

[18:16] David. There's a psalm that says. David served God's purpose. In his generation. And then. He died. So you might ask.

[18:26] Well what's the point of learning this. Learning all of this about David. He's not here today. He's not going to lead you. But you know.

[18:36] Throughout the Old Testament. There was a promise. That God would raise up. Another leader. Who would be like David. The greatest leader.

[18:46] In all the history of Israel. Who would be like David. But even greater. Even better. So the prophet Isaiah. Spoken about another leader.

[18:58] Someone who is yet to come. In some of these same terms. Isaiah said. Isaiah 42.1. Says. Behold. My servant. My chosen one.

[19:09] I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring justice. To the nations. And then later on. He described the servant of the Lord. And he said.

[19:20] You won't be able. You would never guess. From his outward appearance. That this was he. Isaiah 52. 13. Says. His appearance. Was marred.

[19:31] Beyond human resemblance. He had no form. Or majesty. That we should look at him. And no beauty. That we should desire him. He was despised.

[19:42] And rejected. By men. A man of sorrows. But then he says. This man. Would bring peace.

[19:53] Would make peace. Between God. And man. Forever. Isaiah says. This man would be pierced. For our transgressions.

[20:04] Crushed. For our iniquities. Upon him. Was the punishment. That brought us. Peace. And with his wounds. Were healed. You might ask.

[20:16] Who's this man. That Isaiah was talking about. And describing in the same way. That David. Was described. Well in the New Testament. We see the answer. That it's Jesus himself.

[20:30] Jesus was the. A descended. From. David. But Jesus is. Introduced in exactly. The same way. In the gospels.

[20:40] Right. When Jesus comes on the scene. As an adult. What's the first thing he does. He gets baptized. And the spirit. Descends upon him. Like a dove. And a voice from heaven.

[20:51] Says. This. Is. My. Son. I'm well pleased. With him. And in Jesus. First public speech. In the synagogue.

[21:02] At Nazareth. In Luke chapter 4. He said. The spirit. Of the Lord. Is upon me. Because the Lord. Has anointed me. To preach good news. To the poor.

[21:14] To proclaim liberty. To the captives. And recovery of sight. To the blind. To free those. Who are oppressed. To proclaim the year. Of the Lord's favor. You see.

[21:26] Like David. But even more. Jesus was filled. With the spirit. Of God. From start. To finish. Completely. Constantly.

[21:39] And like David. Jesus was a servant. What did Jesus. Do. When he was on earth. He never wrote a book. Didn't publish.

[21:52] Something. Go on a speaking tour. He didn't become. A military leader. And drive the Roman army. Out of Israel. In fact.

[22:06] He had a relatively small. Group of people. That followed him. And there were others. Who opposed him. He spent time. With people.

[22:16] Who were. Lepers. And he cleansed them. He spent time. With people. Who were. Afflicted. With. Evil spirits.

[22:29] He brought peace to them. He. He healed the sick. And he fed. Multitudes of people. And he lived as a servant. And ultimately. His life ended. By giving his life on the cross.

[22:42] Jesus said once. Jesus said. The son of man. Referring to himself. He said. The son of man came. Not to be served. But to serve. And to give his life. As a ransom. For many people.

[22:54] He says. That's why I've come. To be a servant. You know. Even more than that. He's a. He was. Filled with the spirit. He was a servant. He was the.

[23:05] Greatest peacemaker. The world has ever known. And you know. David. Played. The harp. Or the lyre. When Saul was troubled. And Saul got some. Temporary relief. But you know what.

[23:16] It kept acting up again. In the same problem. As we'll see. Saul's. Saul is continually troubled. Even pretty much.

[23:28] Until the day of his death. And David brings temporary relief. At times. But it was. A limited.

[23:38] Kind of peace. He could bring. But Jesus brings. Lasting. Healing. And lasting. Deliverance. You know. One of the most extreme stories. In the whole Bible. It's one of my favorite stories.

[23:50] But it's pretty extreme. Is in Mark chapter 5. When Jesus. Encounters a man. Who's literally. Killing himself. He lives in. The graveyard. He's tormented.

[24:01] Not just by. A harmful spirit. From the Lord. But he's. By a legion. Literally. An army. Of demons. Says he was crying out.

[24:12] And cutting himself. With stones. He was isolated. From all human contact. People would just try to tie him up. And he'd break the chains.

[24:25] He was restless. Like a raging sea. It says night and day. He would cry out. In anguish and rage. He could never rest. He was living like an animal. No one else cared for him.

[24:37] No one else dared. To come near him. Except one day. Jesus. Took his disciples. In a boat. All the way across the lake. In the middle of a raging storm. To go visit this man.

[24:48] It's interesting. Jesus crosses the lake. Visits this man. And crosses all the way back. The only man he visits. And it was a crazy. Journey in the middle of the night. With a crazy storm.

[24:59] That he went through. To get there. Jesus was very intentional. To visit this man. And he comes on the scene. Where no one. Would dare to go. To this man.

[25:10] Who is literally. Tearing his life apart. And the guy doesn't quite know what to do. He's both attracted to Jesus.

[25:20] And repelled by him. At the same time. But Jesus with his word. Cast out. That army of demons.

[25:31] And at the end of the story. The man is sitting there. Clothed. And in his right mind. He was crying out in rage.

[25:42] He was cutting himself in anguish. He's sitting peacefully. At Jesus feet. Clothed. Decently. Thinking clearly. For the first time in years. His humanity.

[25:55] His dignity. His dignity. His dignity. Is restored. This man was. Out of control. And Jesus speaks. Peace to his soul. Just as he. Stilled the storm at sea.

[26:07] And you know what. It wasn't just a temporary thing. That man never went back. To his old life. Living in the graveyard. And said.

[26:17] He wanted to come with Jesus. And Jesus actually said. No. I want you to go. And tell others. How you've experienced. God's mercy. From me.

[26:30] Now the whole point of this story. Is if Jesus could save. And heal. And deliver. A man like that. He can surely.

[26:41] Save. And heal. And deliver. You. No matter what you've been through. No matter how. Tormented you are. On the inside. No matter what you've done. To yourself in the past.

[26:52] No matter how. Dark. Your world. Feels. No matter how alone you feel. If you feel that no one. Can ever come close to you. Or ever would want to come close to you.

[27:03] Jesus. Does. He can. And he will. And he can bring peace. To your soul. He can bring hope.

[27:16] To your life. He can cast out. The evil spirits. By the power of his word. Jesus is stronger.

[27:31] Than everything that afflicts you. And he's come to set. Us free. Jesus came to bring us. Lasting. Peace. And wholeness.

[27:41] In Colossians. It said. He made peace. Through his blood. That he shed on the cross. He paid the price. So that we could. Be at peace with God.

[27:54] And be forgiven of our sins. And be set free. To live for him. And Jesus said to his disciples. My peace. I give you. I give.

[28:04] Not as the world gives. Do I give to you. Jesus gives peace. That the world can't give. You can't find it anywhere else. But Jesus gives. That deep.

[28:15] And lasting. Peace. He's the ultimate peacemaker. You see. David. Was a great leader. And we'll learn more about him. But the goal.

[28:26] In life. Our goal. Our goal here tonight. Is not to emulate David. When we look at David's life. The goal is not to be exactly like David. In every way. In fact. There are some ways.

[28:36] You shouldn't be like him. But David points forward to Jesus. And that's. Who we can trust. That's the greatest leader of all.

[28:47] And that's who we're called to emulate. And to follow. You see. This is who we're called to be. As followers of Christ. People who are filled with the spirit of God.

[28:58] Who are servants. Who are peacemakers in the world. You know. It doesn't really matter what you look like. On the outside. Your outward appearance.

[29:10] Kind of clothes you wear. That's not how God. Judges you. But if you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[29:26] You are. He will send. His spirit. To come upon you. And to fill you. And to. Live in you. And to assure you.

[29:38] Of his. Love. And his salvation. And his promise. Jesus said. The heavenly father. Will give the holy spirit. To those who ask him.

[29:50] He loves to do that. And you know. We're also called to be servants. Like David was. You know. Sometimes. You know.

[30:02] Sometimes I talk to people. Who have just. Begun to believe in Jesus. And just begun to follow him. And sometimes. They get really excited. And they. They say. Man. I want to go and. Preach to thousands of people.

[30:13] How to. Teach me how to preach. Or. I want to go and. Go to other countries. And. You know. Lead mission trips. And. And. And I want to. I want to do great things for God.

[30:24] And. That may be. Part of what he has for you. Along the way. But sometimes. You might need to start. Like David did. By being a servant.

[30:35] Even a servant. To someone. Who is a difficult. Person to work for. Saul. Was a difficult person. To work for. Sometimes.

[30:46] Jesus. Puts us in places. Where we can serve. Someone else. So we can learn. Humility. Because. Before. You can learn.

[30:56] To lead. And rule. You have to learn. To serve. Because. If you don't know. How to serve. You will never be able. To lead. Well. Finally.

[31:12] By the power. Of Christ. We're unable. To be peacemakers. In a troubled world. Jesus said. Blessed. Are the peacemakers. For they will be called.

[31:23] Children of God. Jesus is the ultimate. Peacemaker. Who made peace. Between humanity. And God. He makes us. A way. That we can approach. God. And be at peace.

[31:34] With God. And he sends us out. That we can be ambassadors. Of that peace. And sometimes. Being a peacemaker. It's hard. It's painful. When you're in the middle.

[31:46] Of a tense relationship. Between other people. And you're trying to help them. Be at peace. With each other. When you've been offended. And you are trying to both. Honestly confront. Another person.

[31:57] But also. Be willing to extend. Forgiveness. To them. If they admit. They're wrong. Even. Even partly.

[32:08] That you're. Gracious to them. That's a hard place. To be. Being a peacemaker. Is no easy thing. You need the power of Christ. To be with you.

[32:24] But God uses people. Like you and me. As his way. Of bringing peace. To troubled souls. And between troubled people. So that's what we see tonight.

[32:35] We see that. How we recognize a leader. How we become a leader. It's not about. Outward appearance. It's about being filled. With the spirit. It's about being a servant.

[32:48] It's about being a peacemaker. And the way we get there. Is through the greatest one of all. Jesus Christ himself. Let's pray.

[32:59] Lord God. We thank you. For King David. And for how you shaped him.

[33:11] Into the man that he was. And we thank you. That in him. We see. A little picture. Of our great King Jesus. Who was.

[33:25] Full of your Holy Spirit. Who was a servant. And who came to bring. Us peace. By shedding his blood.

[33:37] On the cross. Lord we pray that. I pray that we would trust. Jesus tonight. And I pray that by your spirit.

[33:48] Working in us. That we would become more like him too. In your name we pray. Amen. So we have a question.

[34:01] I would like to make a comment. Compend your crucifixir time. And I傘ingale. Like in the church. Like in the church. Thank you. Thank you. So I had a question. So.'' I was a question. A relief. A relief.

[34:12] A relief. Thank you. To be from it. Or I could ask for theENT's. March 6 anything other than night.