May the Lord be pleased to bless
us together as we consider his word this morning. Let's turn
to the first book of Samuel chapter 16 and we'll read verse 7. The first book of Samuel chapter
16 and verse 7. But the Lord said unto Samuel
look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature,
because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth not as man
seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord
looketh on the heart. these words that the Lord spoke
to Samuel are indeed very significant. They are very significant for
us all. They do not only refer to this
occasion when Samuel came to anoint a king, it relates to
all of our lives as we meet with people, meet with one another
And we may very easily come to a wrong conclusion. Now we should
not forget Samuel was a favoured prophet of the Lord. Samuel was
a man who had been called very clearly to that important position. And yet we learn from this that
even the best people can be deceived if they look in the wrong way. Now Samuel had previously anointed
Saul king and we might think well Samuel surely you should
have learnt a lesson because Saul looked a very noble person
a very goodly person to look upon. And surely now you know
that the Lord has said that Saul will not continue. You are to
anoint another in his place. Surely Samuel you know not to
look on the outward appearance. We see Samuel coming in this
way. And what does he see? He says,
He looked on Eliab and said, surely the Lord's anointing is
before him. Well you see, it wasn't to be
so. It wasn't somebody who was well
appointed. It wasn't somebody who had a
good countenance to look upon or of his height. It was what
was in the heart. And how important it is for all
of us to realise in our lives today that what the Lord spoke
here is so, so relevant. He said, for the Lord seeth not
as man seeth. For man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. And we must realise
that our hearts, as we may look upon one another and judge one
another, how sometimes we can indeed draw a wrong conclusion. We can make a wrong assessment
of the situation. And there are many references
in the Word of God to this, but perhaps particularly in Jeremiah's
day. And Jeremiah was reminded how
this was true. And he tells us, the heart is
deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know
it? We should not forget a statement
like that, as we try to assess our own ability to understand
things. to realise that our heart by
nature is deceitful, above all things, and desperately wicked. They're very powerful words,
aren't they? And very necessary words, that you and I remember. And the Prophet says, who can
know it? It's left to ourselves, we do
not understand our own hearts. And so often we may make a wrong
assessment and come to a wrong conclusion until the Lord touches
our hearts. And then we realise how deceitful
we are ourselves. And then the Lord tells us through
Jeremiah, I the Lord search the hearts. I try the reins, the
reins being the innermost beings of our person. I try the reins even to give
every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of
his doings. You see the position here is,
we need to first of all examine ourselves. to see where we stand
in order to come to a right understanding of others. We understand how
deceitful our heart is, then it may give us a better understanding,
as we may perhaps judge others. And in this particular view here,
we see that Samuel was judging Eliab on his appearance. But he looked very good. He looked
very suitable. Yes, he looked a very appropriate
person to be anointed as king. And how he was deluded in that
assessment. We should realise we can be deluded
in our assessment of people. We might think, oh well, they
are doing all the right things. And they look very suitable,
but they may not be in accordance with the Lord's will and purpose. And it was a very salutary word
that was spoken. I have refused him. We have to remind ourselves,
we are fallen creatures. And so often we look on the appearance,
don't we? And we judge by the appearance. And we are to be reminded. Now I'm not saying that sometimes
that is not right. Sometimes an appearance can be
good. But we should not leave ourselves to just judge on that
situation. Because the Lord said He had
refused him. And the Lord therefore doesn't
look on the outward appearance. He doesn't look on how we appear
outwardly. He looks at the heart. He looks at the heart. And it's a very solemn statement
because there have been those people that I have known of who
have appeared to be good Christians. Yes, they've come and worshipped. They've gone to the holy place.
They've gone there perhaps for all the services. Yes, and on
outward appearance they've looked a wonderful example. And yet,
their heart's been wrong. There's been no life in the soul.
And they've died in their sins. How terrible, how sad to think
of a situation like that. To be lost at last. While the
Lord says here, he doesn't look like man does. Poor old man. We look on the outward appearance,
but the Lord looks on the heart. And so we need to be very careful
in our assessment, not only of other people, but also an assessment
of ourselves. Because in ourselves, left to
ourselves, we should know that there dwells no good thing. That's good when the Spirit of
God convinces us of that. Like the Spirit of God convinced
the Apostle Paul, it was a painful lesson to learn. But my friends,
it's a good lesson to learn, to prove that we are unrighteous. And the Lord tells us, when he
was on the earth, he said, from within, out of the heart of men
proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts,
covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye,
blasphemy, pride, foolishness. Now you think of that list, and
the Lord says, they come from the heart. Well, do we fall down
before God and put our hand up and say, Lord I'm guilty. I'm guilty of that. That's what
proceeds from my heart by nature. Listen to what the Lord says. They proceed, they come from
our heart. Evil thoughts. And that's comprehensive by itself,
isn't it? And then adulterism. fornications,
and murders, and thefts, and covetousness, and wickedness,
and deceit, and lasciviousness, and evil eye, blasphemy, pride,
and foolishness." And I say, does that really, does that really
come from my heart? Well, I believe when the Spirit
of God works in our heart, we learn more and more of the sinfulness
which dwells within. And my friends, these things
are only subdued by the grace of God. They're only subdued
by the grace of God. And therefore, if they exist
in our hearts, well, no doubt they exist in everyone's heart. And I believe then, when the
Holy Spirit of God applies these words to ourselves, and we cry
guilty before a holy God. We understand in a little of
what the Lord spoke to Samuel. For the Lord seeth not as man
seeth. You see, you and I don't see
what goes on in another's heart, do we? We don't see what goes
in there. My friends, by nature, It is
a den of iniquity, of every evil thing. That's our heart by nature. And when the Spirit of God convinces
us of our sin in that way, we cry out, unclean, unclean. We look then to the Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ. For the Lord seeth not as man
seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord
looketh on the heart." Now thankfully, we have a wonderful
example. And that example is indeed our
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have a description of
the Lord Jesus Christ and what people looked on him and thought
about him and how many people had a wrong impression of what
the Lord Jesus Christ was we read in that 53rd chapter of
Isaiah and we're told for he shall grow up before him as a
tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground He has no form
nor comeliness and when we shall see him there is no beauty that
we should desire." It's the very opposite to what we see here
in Samuel looking upon Eliab. We see by nature there will be
nothing in the Lord Jesus Christ that we would find attractive. You know, people, they portray
in paintings sometimes a picture of Jesus as a very wonderful
and beautiful person to look upon. Well, we only have to go
back to the previous chapter in Isaiah 52 and we read the
description. As many were astonished at thee,
his visage was so marred more than any man. and his form more
than the sons of man. That was a prophetic picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore we see in this
picture nothing naturally to attract us to the Lord Jesus
Christ. We bless God that it is so. Why
is that? Why do we bless God that it is
so? It's because of this. It is only
the Spirit's work, the Holy Spirit's work, which attracts us to the
Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing naturally attractive
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's nothing of the outward
appearance. But we might say very reverently,
as we look at the heart, of the Lord Jesus. What do we observe
there? We observe purity. We observe
no sin. We observe mercy. We observe
love. We observe compassion. Not things which are outwardly
evident, but they are revealed to our spiritual soul. And that's
then what attracts us to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we have really a very
clear analogy in this situation. That the way that we by nature
assess a situation, and we by the Spirit are able to assess
the situation. The Lord seeth not as man, for
man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. So this morning, how do we view
the Lord Jesus Christ in our estimation? How do we view him? Do we look
and see the beauty and the wonder of the heart of Jesus? And is there therefore a drawing
influence in that to our hearts? So there is that drawing and
in that drawing there is therefore a uniting are uniting together
because we recognise our great need of a Saviour. Surely we come in then with a
line of that hymn we just sung, Jesus is the one thing needful,
I without Him perish must. She asks the Spirit of God, directs
us to the the great difference between our view, our natural
view and our spiritual view. Then to realise how important
it is that we don't view things naturally, but we view things
spiritually. And Lord seeth not as man seeth,
Naturally, we view things very differently. But when the Lord
opens our eyes, when the Lord gives us that spiritual sight,
we see things differently. We see things differently with
regard to one another, and we see things differently as regards
to ourselves. Won't it be a wonderful favour
for us? Now, in order to prove these
things, you know the Lord tests us and the Lord tries us. The psalmist knew about this
situation and we know what it was, that he was indeed tried. He was tried and tempted. In
so many ways, yes, the Lord tried the psalmist. And he tells us,
or at least, rather, as Ikaiah tells us, by these things men
live. Now, what did he say? The psalmist
said, Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end,
but establish the just. For the righteous God trieth
the hearts and the reins. He tries us. He tests us. What a blessing it is to have
a God who doesn't leave us to our own understanding. He didn't
leave Samuel here, did he? He didn't leave Samuel to assess
things on a natural level. He came to him and he spoke to
him. He told him. You see, then you
see, when the Lord had addressed Samuel in this way, when one
or another of the sons of Jesse came before him, he was able
to say, neither has the Lord chosen this. It didn't matter
then how good or how well it was. Then he had to come and
ask the question, are here all thy children? Is this the truest
situation? Well, no doubt on this occasion
Samuel was being tried and tested. He'd been told to go and anoint
one of Jesse's sons and it appeared they'd all come and gone. Well,
what's to be done now? Are here all thy children? And Jesse said, well, there remaineth
yet the youngest. Behold, he keepeth the sheep.
Berkshire's saying, well, he's not of any consequence. He wasn't there with them. He
was out in the field. He was keeping the sheep. You might think, well, they've
been called to the sacrifice, yes, but he still has to go there
and keep the sheep. And the Lord said, or rather,
Samuel said, send and fetch him, for we will not sit down till
he come hither. And he was brought. And what
was the result? The Lord said, Arise, anoint
him, for this is he. God tries the hearts and the
reins. It's a wonderful favour, isn't
it? To realise that we have a God who does try us and test us. to see the reality of our thoughts
and our intents. Yes, He tries us. He puts us
through the sieve. He puts us through the fire in
these times of testing. He trieth our hearts. Well, we should bless God that
it is so. The Lord is like that. We can
go back perhaps to Solomon. Solomon in his day, you know,
he was a godly king. Solomon still required the lords
to look upon him and remember him for good. And David gave
his son a charge. And this was the charge that
David was given. Remember David just wrote that
Solomon referred to and David was blessed by the Spirit of
God and he came and he addressed his son shortly before he was
to be taken from his earth and he said Solomon my son know thou
the God of thy father and serve him with a perfect heart and
with a willing mind for the Lord searcheth all hearts and understandeth
all the imaginations of the thoughts." David knew his heart. My friends,
it's a blessing if God shows us our hearts, the imaginations
of the thoughts left to ourselves. How often we have imaginations
and we need to be reminded of the truth of this and he searches
all the hearts and the Lord understands all the imaginations of the thoughts. What do we think? What do we
think? Just pause for a moment in our
minds. What do we think? Oh, our thoughts. How they wander on, don't they?
Are they always good thoughts? They're not often good thoughts,
they're often bad thoughts. Is pride mixed with the thoughts?
Pride is often. Perhaps we could say nearly always
mixed with the thoughts. But then, David goes on to say,
if thou seek him, he will be found of thee, but if thou forsake
him, he will cast thee off forever. Take heed now. Take heed, Solomon. The Lord has chosen me to build
a house for the sanctuary. Be strong and do it." It was a great job for Solomon
to do. In order for him to do it rightly
and in the fear of the Lord, they were reminding him to beware
of his own heart and his own thoughts, and to only do those
things which were in accordance with the Lord God, that he might
be blessed with a perfect heart and a willing mind. So we see the outworking of these
things. Man looketh on the outward appearance
But the Lord looketh on the heart." And how we know that Solomon
in his life was called to appoint one another to work in the temple. And God ordained those people. And God directed David, Solomon
rather, to speak to those people and to instruct them and to give
them those positions that was right and was in accordance with
the goodwill and purpose of Almighty God. Now, there is in our nature
sometimes those things which need to be corrected. So difficult
it may be for us, but we are thankful that we have the Word
of God which comes and speaks to us how comprehensive we find
the word of God so often in our lives. So appropriate it is,
and remember Solomon, he knew many things, he had many things
to learn, he was able to speak of them. And he tells us this
in the Proverbs, in the 14th chapter, 10th verse 4, he says,
the heart knoweth his own bitterness. I believe when the Spirit of
God shows us how we err, perhaps, in our assessment and judgement
sometimes, and then the Lord directs us to look into ourselves,
into our own heart, and we come to realise the truth of heart,
knoweth his own bitterness, and the stranger doth not intermeddle
with his joy." This is the personal religion between our souls and
God. And the Lord does bring us into
these times of bitterness of our heart. Bitterness there is,
as we look within and we see the evil there. And it is a bitterness,
the heart knows it. Our innermost being knows the
truth of these things. As the Lord comes and directs
us, the heart knows its own bitterness and the stranger does not enter
middle with his joy. You see, people don't understand.
But God directs us. And it will be a very encouraging
thing when we have the awareness of the Spirit of God speaking
into our hearts, directing us, instructing us, correcting us,
dealing with us, and the effect will be to thank God that he's
not cast us off, that he's not cast us aside, but he is dealing
with us, and therefore that bitterness which we've had, we find now
an understanding of God's dealings with us, and a realisation that
it is the Holy Spirit of God that's dealing with us and directing
us to the many mistakes and the foolishness of our own lives.
And as we understand then that God has taken us in hand, what's
the effect? Joy. Spiritual joy. The Lord hasn't left us. The
Lord hasn't forsaken us. Now, the Lord hadn't left Samuel. No, Samuel was fearful, really,
of this position, having to go there. And the Lord gave him
an excuse. He gave him a situation that
he could do to offer a sacrifice so that it wouldn't be observed
what he was doing and Saul wouldn't really recognise the situation. The Lord is merciful, my friends.
The Lord does sometimes produce positions for us so that As it
were, we're able to hide behind the situation so that God's purposes
will be fulfilled. He was allowed here to go and
offer a sacrifice. It was a reasonable thing, it
was a legal thing, it was a right thing. He didn't have to go and
proclaim on the house stops that he'd come to anoint one of Jesse's
sons, because that would have been anathema to him. The Lord
allowed him to do this as it were in secret. He was able to
come and still perform this work, still perform this which God
had instructed him to do. God's purposes were going to
be fulfilled. Yes, God was going to have David
anointed and Samuel was to be the one who was to do this. But
Samuel, although he was blessed, you see, with this way of operation,
we still see that he was but a man. And he was just a man
like you and me, with light passions, we just look on the outward appearance
and we make a wrong judgment. So we see the Lord saying, O
Samuel, Samuel, look not on this countenance or on the height
of his stature, Because I refuse him, for the Lord seeth not as
man seeth. For man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." Now that is a
wonderful blessing, because the work of God goes on in the heart. My friends, we don't want A work
of God that just occurs in the mind. Many people just have a
religion of works. That's a head knowledge. They
fulfill that which they think will equip them for heaven. They do that which they think
will qualify them for a place in heaven. But the Spirit of
God works through the mind into the heart. And the heart is affected,
our innermost being. And the effect of that is between
our soul and God. It's not something that we wear
on our arm as it were, displayed to everybody. It's that which
God works in our heart. God, the Lord, seeth not as man
seeth. You see, man cannot look into
the heart, but God looks into our heart. Now, initially, that
may be a very sad and solemn wake-up call, when we realise
the all-seeing eye of God looks into our hearts. And everything
is revealed. Everything. Everything. Just think of that very carefully.
Everything that you and I think is revealed to our God. The things
that we perhaps don't really understand we're thinking, are
still revealed to the Lord. And it's a very searching, and
it's a very solemn situation. So we read, but the Lord looketh
on the heart. What a blessing it is that God
does indeed look at the heart. And we read in the Gospel of
Luke of what the Lord says there. He said unto them, the Lord Jesus,
Ye are they which justify yourselves before men. how easy it is for
us to try and justify ourselves before men. But God knoweth your
hearts. We are not to try and impress
men. God looks at our hearts. God knoweth your hearts. For
that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the
sight of God. That's a very powerful thought,
isn't it? That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination
in the sight of God. You see, the Lord looks at the
heart. Well, my friends, it's a very important thought, isn't
it? That the Lord looks at the heart.
As I thought about this, the words in Malachi seem to be so
really appropriate as well. In the third chapter of Malachi,
you may remember, it's a very well known chapter, it speaks
about those that fear the Lord, how they spoke often one to another.
But right at the end of that third chapter we read this, Then
shall ye return. return. That means to come back,
turn back from the way we were going perhaps. Then shall ye
return. What will happen then? And discern. Godly discernment
is a wonderful blessing. And discern between what? The righteous and the wicked,
between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. What that means is, there may
have been that wrong discernment, that wrong understanding between
him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. We can
make a wrong assessment Samuel made a wrong assessment. It appeared
to be good and it appeared to be right. But God had to speak
to him. Sometimes God has to speak to
us and to alert us to our position and he points to our heart and
he points in that way as he did to David so many years ago and
he said Thou art the man. It comes home then. It comes
directly to us. Thou art the man. That's what
we need to look at. Our heart. Then we see things
in God's sight. So this word and to discern between
the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God
and him that serveth him not. Where there are those who are
serving God, and there are those who are serving him not. And
how we need to have a right discernment. And that discernment is only
as the Lord reveals to us, first of all, ourselves, as we see
our heart being deceived above all things and desperately wicked,
and then to desire to see things in God's sight and in God's ways,
and to have the assurance then that the Lord directs us, not
only to man, but to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. All these things really are to
direct us to ourselves, to then to make us cry out to our God,
that he will reveal Jesus to us, the one thing needful. I, without him, perish must. How true it is. Lord, that we
might home in on this vital element, this vital consideration, to
know the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember those words, to know
my Jesus. crucified, by far, excels all
things besides." May that be our real prayer. Because if we
are so concerned about that, if that prayer is answered, everything
else, you see, falls into its right place. And what do we do? We bow down and we worship. You see, Samuel was able to worship
the Lord because God had directed him and blessed him and instructed
him. and so may we be able to bow
down and to worship the Lord so that his name may be lifted
up and honoured and glorified and remember these words that
the Lord said, for the Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh
on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh at the heart. Amen.